SKIP AND GIGI BEST-RICHARDSON
Skip Richardson is a retired, disabled Army veteran with twenty-two years of service. He is the Co-Owner of Best Richardson African Diaspora Literature and Culture Museum in Tampa, Florida. The Richardson’s have been bookstore owners since 1987; Skip manages the bookstore and is the Chief Financial Officer. They are members of the Association of African American Museums, Florida Antiquarian Booksellers Association, Sons and Daughters of the United Middle Passage, and Afro American Historical and Genealogical Association. Gigi and Skip have both lived and worked in Turkey, Korea, and Germany.
Gigi is a Historian (Phi Alpha Theta), Genealogist, Speaker, and a Virginia Humanities Scholar. She is an award-winning author. Her book, “Thomas the Melungeon: His Locust Family of Free Persons of Color Civil and Revolutionary War Patriots” – Vol 1 was published in 2015 and has been recently revised. She attended Morgan State University’s Graduate Program 1992-1996.
She is a member of many national hereditary societies, i.e., The Order of First Families of North Carolina; Daughters of the American Revolution; Vice President of SDUSMP, and Historian General of the Society of the First African Families of English America. She consults with many other genealogists and speaks professionally to large and small groups.
Gigi is the Vice President of Afro American Historical and Genealogical Society, where she utilizes research skills and records primary documentation. She is the Docent of the nonprofit museum and teaches clients genealogy in proving their pedigree through several generations. She has verified her progenitors in colonial America, including her 9th great-grandmother. The latter arrived in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1619.