When National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Tara Roberts first saw a photograph at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History & Culture depicting the underwater archaeology group Diving With a Purpose, it called out to her. Roberts joined them—and started on a path of discovery more challenging and personal than she could ever have imagined. From the coasts of Senegal and South Africa to the waters of St. Croix and beyond, she confronted the Middle Passage's harrowing history while uncovering her roots and exploring what it means to belong.

Interweaving deeply personal storytelling with historical insight, Roberts reflects on the resilience of the human spirit, the importance of remembering the past, and the shared threads that connect us all. Her journey, also captured in the podcast Into the Depths, offers a rare and intimate look at history, identity, and discovery.

Roberts is the first Black female explorer ever to be featured on the cover of National Geographic magazine. She was named the Rolex National Geographic Explorer of the Year in 2022 and a Fellow at the MIT Open Documentary Lab in 2019. She spent her early career years working as an editor for women and teen magazines like Essence and CosmoGirl.

"Written in the Waters" is available wherever books are sold.

A National Geographic Explorer in Residence, Tara Roberts spent the last few years following, diving with, and telling stories about a group of Black scuba divers as they search for slave shipwrecks around the world. Her journey was turned into a six-part, National Geographic–produced narrative podcast called "Into the Depths," as well as a cover story for the March 2022 issue of National Geographic magazine. Roberts has also worked as an editor for CosmoGirl, Essence, AOL, Ebony, and Heart & Soul magazines, edited several books for girls, and founded her own magazine for women "too bold for boundaries." She spent a year backpacking solo around the world and interviewing young women changemakers. Her journey led to the creation of an award-winning social enterprise to help fund their big ideas. Additionally, Roberts served as a fellow at the MIT Open Documentary Lab from 2019 to 2021 and a director of communications at Ashoka. She graduated cum laude from Mount Holyoke College.

Dr. Thanayi Jackson is an American historian who studies transitions from slavery to freedom. Her research examines the politics of race, gender, and partisanship. The San Jose, California native earned her PhD at the University of Maryland, College Park and has held positions at San José State University, Berea College, and is currently Associate Professor of History at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Jackson recently completed an essay on capitalist-activist Mary Ellen Pleasant’s role in gold rush San Francisco politics for a forthcoming published volume by the Colored Conventions Project. Her current research examines the historical writing of William Wells Brown and Civil War era intellectual abolitionism.