Editor’s Note: This blog was written before the news that our beloved board member, Rohulamin “Ro” Quander, passed away on August 16, 2025. This sudden and devastating loss will be felt deeply in many corners across the city, and we extend our sincerest condolences to his loved ones. In this post, Collections Intern Saleana Copeland reflects on her experience learning his family’s story while preparing the Quander Family Papers collection (MS 0986), donated by Judge Quander in August 2023. Thanks to her work, this collection is now ready for the public.
Cynthia Amkwandoh, Rohulamin Quander, Dr. Linda Quander, Ernest “Kweku” Amkwandoh, Jr., Ernest “Kweku” Amkwandoh, Sr., and Helene Quander Hutchinson pose together during the Quanders United, Inc.’s Tricentennial Celebration, June 1984.
Interning with the DC History Center offered me the extraordinary opportunity to help preserve the legacy of the Quander Family—one of the oldest, best-documented African American families in the United States, whose story spans continents, centuries, and generations.
I began my internship by conducting preliminary research on the Quander Family in The Quanders, written by Rohulamin Quander, author, native Washingtonian, retired DC administrative judge, and president of the Quander Historical Society. The book details a fascinating journey, beginning with the Fanti Tribe in Ghana and a mistranslation between the Ghanaian-born Egya Amkwandoh and his enslavers. Amkwandoh’s name is misunderstood as “I am Quando” and this misinterpretation led to the anglicized Quando/Quander name, used to identify this family over the ages, making them the best documented African American family in the United States. Since 1926, the primary branches of this extensive family tree have come together for consistent family reunions. Throughout the centuries, numerous Quander family members have made significant contributions to American history, particularly in the Washington, DC region.
Saleana Copeland stands in the DC History Center’s collection space while she works on processing the Quander Family Papers.
Much of my time processing the Quander Family papers took place in the surveying stage, where Autumn Kalikin, senior manager of collections, and I meticulously inspected and accounted for each piece donated by the Quanders. This process introduced me to several striking materials, emphasizing how valuable this collection will be to researchers and memory workers. The collection stretches back to the mid-19th century and includes vital genealogical and family history records like deeds, bills of sale, manumission records, and family narratives.
The collection’s robust record of the Quanders enslaved by George Washington at Mount Vernon is of special note. Following emancipation, the Quander family was able to reconnect the branches, establishing a family reunion tradition that it maintains to this day. In this pocket of a long history, researchers can witness the meeting of the past and the present, with multiple generations posed in warm, candid family photos. The Tricentennial Family Reunion of 1984 is a trove within itself, as that was the year that the American Quanders became acquainted with their Ghanaian family, sharing space for the first time in centuries.
This Pan-African connection began while Judge Quander was teaching at his alma mater, Howard University. When Ghanaian students revealed the significance of his surname to him, he began to investigate the possibility of meeting this distant family. The result of his efforts is realized in the collection of hundreds of letters sent from Ghana in response to his article, published in a Ghanaian newspaper. This series of materials had the most emotional impact on me. The writers of these letters vary from distant family members seeking a connection, to scholars who wish to assist with this research, to members of the public who simply sought out a pen pal. Yet, the commonality in all these letters was the pulsing heartbeat of excitement, pride, and reconciliatory glee that this tie, thought to be permanently severed by the legacy of enslavement, would be mended by sheer curiosity, will, and familial love.
An indoor picnic in St. Augustine’s Parish Hall during the Quanders United, Inc. Tricentennial Weekend, June 22-24, 1984 in Washington, DC.
This quality of the Quander Family captures historians and citizens so completely. In many ways, the family and their collected history represent an American ideal much greater than what its reality often offers us. The family has many professionally exceptional members; lawyers, educators, clubwomen, members of the armed forces, entertainers, historians, artists, and humanitarians are all represented. However, each time I chatted with Judge Quander, he emphasized traits that lean away from prestigious titles. To him, the Quander Family is simply a family of hard-working, God-fearing, community-oriented folks who seek to cultivate each place they land. I can’t help but contemplate how eloquently this description reflects the true essence of the African American journey in this nation.
It has been nothing less than an absolute honor and joy to serve as Collections Intern for the Quander Family Papers held at the DC History Center. In addition to organizing these materials, I completed the digital processing work, creating descriptions and a finding aid that will hopefully lead curious minds to this invaluable collection. Over lunch, Judge Quander and I discussed our connections to Howard University and how best to connect DC State Archivist Dr. Lopez Matthews’s work at the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center with the Quanders Family Papers to what the DC History Center has recently acquired. In my future efforts as a research assistant at Howard University and in my journey to becoming a public historian, I intend to maintain the strong connections I built and strengthen the bridge between Howard scholars and the DC History Center.
Saleana Copeland
Saleana Copeland, originally from West Philadelphia, is a Ph.D. student at Howard University in US History with a minor in Public History and has recently completed her term as Library and Collections Intern at the DC History Center. This project and her processing work was supported by the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation. The Quander Family Papers collection (MS 0986) is available for reference at the Kiplinger Research Library, by appointment. Interns at the DC History Center are compensated in alignment with equitable labor practices.