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Timeworn and slightly yellowed, the hauntingly beautiful photo was in itself a sight to behold. But it was the story behind the image--a proud Black woman in a lace dress--that 14-year-old Sara Saunders of Milwaukee will always remember. Her grandmother, Julia Saunders, a genealogy buff, explained that the woman was a slave and Sara's great-great-great-grandmother.

"She had a hard life," says Sara. "When I think about her and my other ancestors, and what they went through to make it, I'm even more determined to become a surgeon or an inventor, something positive."

Experts say Sara's pride and resolve are not uncommon among children who know their ancestry. "A family tree is a way of saying `This is who I am.' For a child, that's powerful," says Richard Newman, Ph.D., director of the W.E.B. DuBois Institute for Afro-American Research.

The study of lineage, genealogy, is discovering the account of the descent of a person, family or group. It is often not easy. Our enslavement left us Black folks a fractured people, and elders are sometimes loath to revisit the past. If you choose to trace your roots back only a couple of generations, you can do it with photos and oral histories. But if you want to go back further, be prepared for extensive database searches. Whether you trace your ancestry back two generations or ten, just know that children of any age can be part of the experience.

PHASE ONE: GET STARTED

First educate yourself. The Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society, which is based in Washington, D.C., ([202] 234-5350), caters mostly to scholars, but it can also be a great source of information for amateur genealogists. To make tracing your family's roots exciting and a lot of fun for your child, follow these steps:

* Look at the family photo album. Use pictures as a show-and-tell vehicle for your young one to help bring family elders to life.

* Interview family members. Plan visits or phone conversations with older relatives, and use audiotape or videotape to record the conversation. Starting with the eldest relative, encourage your child to fill in the blanks by asking questions like "What was it like growing up when you did?" "What do you remember your parents telling you about their parents?" But be prepared to help your child understand why she's reacting if Grandma gets sad, silent or angry.

* Collect family information. You've seen the pictures and heard the stories; now's the time to see what written documentation you can put your hands on. Make it into a sort of treasure hunt; search your home for family Bibles; birth, marriage or death certificates; and immigration papers. As you unearth each item, explain its importance to your child.

* Visit your local library or go on-line to research records. For computer-savvy kids who would like to dig deeper, the Internet is a real gold mine. Good Web sites include RootsWeb.com; pbs.org/kbyu/ancestors/teachersguide/; and Ancestry.com. Once the genealogical groundwork has been done, phase two can begin.

PHASE TWO: CREATE A TREE

Your child's age will help determine how you go about creating your family tree. It can be as complicated--or as simple--as you choose to make it. Here are some guidelines to keep in mind.

For 3-to-5-year-olds: Keep it simple. Kids this age love arts and crafts, so you can either draw or cut and paste a large tree on construction paper. Depending upon your child's dexterity, let her do as much of the drawing and pasting as possible. Begin the tree with your child and his siblings, then go back to you and your partner, assigning each branch to a different family member. Next, go to your child's grandparents and great-grandparents, tracing as far back as possible. For each person listed, write his or her birthday, birthplace, marriage and death date. When completed, this makes a personal, and treasured, wall hanging for your child's room.

For 6-to-11-year-olds: These children can make the tree themselves and write the names and dates. They can also use a less literal graphic such as the box and line charts found in books. Computer-savvy youngsters may want to enlist the help of on-line Web sites to conduct research, compile findings and download charts. Some Web sites such as Afrigeneas.com allow kids to showcase their hard work by publishing their family trees on-line.

For 12-year-olds and older: Children at this age can work independently of adults. You can invest in programs like Family Tree Maker 9.0 (FamilyTreeMaker.com) or Family Origins (FamilyOrigins.com). To download its free software, check out genealogy.com.

Bear in mind that without an unlimited amount of time and money for research, there will probably be some branches on your tree that will never be filled in. But that's okay. Like Sara, your children will still gain a deeper understanding of themselves through their history. "I feel good about the fact that I can look at pictures of people in my family and know that they were an important part of the history of our country," says Sara. "I'm lucky that my grandmother cared enough to teach me those lessons."

Samantha Hunter is a freelance journalist in New York City.