Cherekana Feliciano

Cherekana Feliciano is a family history enthusiast who has been doing family history research for over fifteen years. She currently serves as the vice president of the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society- NJ Chapter (AAHGS). Since discovering that her “missing” great-grandmother was buried in New York City’s Potter’s Field, she started paying closer attention to burials and gravesites, as she came to recognize that one’s status in life often followed them in death. When an opportunity arose to present at a Black History Month event, she chose to focus her research on Black cemeteries in New Jersey. Nothing could have prepared her for the amazing and rich history she would uncover and continues to uncover in her research. In 2020, Cherekana had the opportunity to present her research at the State Library of New Jersey in Trenton and at the Genealogy Society of New Jersey’s annual conference. She has a BA in History from Rutgers University and a JD from the University of Maryland School of Law in Baltimore City.