A team of genealogists from Ancestry.com published a report today [pdf] that alleges to link President Obama to John Punch, one of the first — if not the first — African to be legally recognized as a slave.

The Census Bureau just released reams of data from the 1940 U.S. Census online (the website's been up and down all day; if it doesn't work, try later), and you are going to spend the next hour or so tooling around on the website. I know because I just did it myself.

After 72 years of being kept confidential, the 1940 census will be released on April 2. This is exciting news for historians with an interest in the Great Depression and general census enthusiasts. Actually, it is kind of neat, and the records will be available to anyone online. You just can't search by name, in case…

Growing up, Joe Mozingo assumed his last name was Italian, or maybe French Basque. And then he met a distant relative named Sherrie Mazingo. Sherrie is black, and she had news: Their common ancestor was, too. How cool is that?