UpFront with NGS: African American

Showing posts with label African American. Show all posts

23 March 2016

Discover Your African American Ancestors at the NGS Family History Conference

Discover Your African American Ancestors at the NGS Family History Conference

Diversity is the hallmark of the National Genealogical Society (NGS) 2016 Family History Conference at the Greater Ft. Lauderdale/Broward County Convention Center from 4-7 May. The conference will offer more than ten fascinating lectures on African American genealogy. Many of the lectures will provide intriguing insights into little known chapters of African American history. One such lecture examines the Confederate Army pension records for “…those colored men who served as servants and cooks in the Confederate Army in the War Between the States…” Another attempts to solve the mystery behind the flight of the free Creoles of color from Pensacola, Florida, to Tampico, Mexico, prior to the Civil War. Yet, another delves into the history of the Plaçage, women of color who were the common-law wives of colonial French and Spanish men.

Click Here to View the List of African American Sessions

Conference attendees interested in uncovering their African American family tree will also learn about invaluable archival sources that can aid their research. Two case studies illustrate the challenges of tracing ancestors from slave days to the 20^th century. The first focuses on records that uncover the new identities created by former slaves in the post-Civil War era. The second details how one genealogist identified slaves of Roseland Plantation in Louisiana. Other lectures discuss how manuscripts, census slave schedules, Freedmen’s Bureau records, African American cemeteries, and Black college newspapers can advance your genealogical research.

In addition, ten lectures focus on DNA and genetic genealogy, including an overview of GEDmatch.com, a look at ethical questions about DNA testing, and discussions on how the use of autosomal DNA, YDNA, and mtDNA can advance family research. Another nine address the challenges of researching female ancestors.

In all, the conference will feature 180 lectures both for those new to genealogy and for seasoned researchers. For more conference information and to register, go to the 2016 NGS Family History Conference. An early bird discount is available through 31 March 2016. Though individuals may register at the door, registration for all meals and social events closes on 22 April 2016.

Register Now for the Early Bird Discount

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NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.

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Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

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16 February 2016

National Trust for Historic Preservation's African American Historic Places Database

The National Trust for Historic Preservation maintains an African American Historic Places Database.

This database lists more than 7,000 historic places from across the nation that are significant in African American history and culture. The information was gathered from various landmark lists, historic site directories, walking tour brochures, and recommendations from state and local preservation offices. This database not only provides recognition for these typically overlooked places, but is a tool for historians, city planners, zoning boards, preservation organizations, and others to better understand the African American experience in a specific town or region.

You can also access an article, Preserving African American Historic Places By Brent Leggs, Kerri Rubman, and Byrd Wood.

This is not the only web site to feature an African American historic places database, the National Park Service maintains the National Register of Historic Places Program and in February highlights featured African American historic properties.

I also found some state databases of interest such as the African American Historic Sites Database (a project by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities).

Are you aware of other databases which focus on African American historic places/sites?

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NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.

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Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

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Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com

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Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

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04 February 2016

Rootstech Index-A-Thon -- Freedmen's Bureau Records -- TONIGHT (Thursday)!

The power of numbers is great. We’ve previously talked about the Freedmen’s Bureau indexing project, most recently in Milestones Reached in Freedmen's Bureau Records Indexing Project (21 December 2015) and previously in Freedmen’s Bureau Records -- Volunteer indexing effort of 4 million freed slave records underway (22 June 2015).

Well, Rootstech will be doing both “live” and “virtual” indexing of this project as part of an index-a-thon. This means that up to 135 individuals in SLC can physically sit there and do indexing (that’s the live component) and anyone else from the comfort of their home can also participate (that’s the virtual component).

The event will start today (Thursday, 4 February 2016) at 7:30pm MST. You can catch a video on The Freedmen’s Bureau Project Facebook (FB) page, https://www.facebook.com/DiscoverFreedmen/ which talks about the index-a-thon. From what I can tell, there will be live-streaming available on the FB page for the duration of the index-a-thon.

If you have not participated in a FamilySearch indexing project before, you will need to download the FamilySearch indexing program on your computer.

The mentioned live stream program will start with an introduction to the project and how to get started though experienced indexers can get started right away.

For further details, please check out this link.

A major goal of the project is to have these records fully indexed by Juneteenth (19^th June 2016).

Crowdsourcing (aka collaborative efforts) can accomplish amazing things. What better way to celebrate Black History Month than to make this incredible resource available to researchers.

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NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.

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Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

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Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com

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Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

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01 February 2016

Virginia Untold:African American Narrative will be unveiled today

To kick off African American History Month, we’ll first talk about the Library of Virginia (LVA).

TODAY – the initial release of this database is supposed to occur. I am so excited to see this that I am blogging about it in advance! As soon as I have an active link to the database, I will update this post.

In the meantime, this database has been supported by a crowdsourced transcription project called Virginia Untold: African American Narrative (this is the link to the transcription page where you can assist in getting these documents transcribed).

The names of millions of African Americans, slave and free, who lived, worked, worshiped, loved, and died in Virginia, are buried deep in the archival records and manuscript collections housed at the Library of Virginia. Untold Virginia: African American Narrative seeks to find these long silent voices. Whether contained in local court and state government records, private papers and business records, or newspapers and journals from the time, the untold narrative of a people is waiting to be discovered.

In support of this new database, there have been a series of blog posts talking about select types of records that will be included:

There is also a helpful related page where the Library of Virginia staff have compiled the raw date for databases part of the African American Narrative. These indexes are presented as comma separate value (CSV) files (will open in Microsoft Excel or similar programs). These files are a great way to see all of the data for each identified database in one place.

Certificates of Importation (csv)
Coroner's Inquisitions (csv)
Deeds of Emancipation (csv)
Free Negro Registrations (csv)
Free Negro Requisitions for Public Use (csv)
Free Negro Tax Records (csv)
Freedman's Contracts (csv)
Freedom Suits (csv)
Indentures of Apprenticeship (csv)
Petitions for Reenslavement (csv)
Petitions to Remain in the Commonwealth (csv)
Slave Requisitions for Public Use (csv)

Do you know of any planned database releases this month as we celebrate African American History Month?

Did you discover a key find in this new LVA database?

Editor’s Note: Related posts ...

o Rosenwald Schools & post Civil War African Americans -- a disappearing legacy that need your support (2015)

o African-American research doesn't only happen in February -- some new resources to check out! (2014)

o “The First Frontier” for African American Research guest post by Sharon Leslie Morgan (2014)

o What's the truth behind the legend in many African American families about having a Native American ancestor? (2014)

o African American Oral History, guest post by Sharon Leslie Morgan (2013)

o African American Researchers Must Dig Deeper, guest post by Sharon Leslie Morgan (2013)

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NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.

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Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

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Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com

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Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

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08 December 2015

Rosenwald Schools & post Civil War African Americans -- a disappearing legacy that need your support

Per the National Trust for Historic Preservation ...

In 1912, Booker T. Washington approached philanthropist Julius Rosenwald about his concept to build rural schools desperately needed for African American children across the segregated south. That partnership sparked an initiative that eventually created more than 5300 schools, vocational shops and teacher’s homes across 15 states in the South and Southwest from 1912-1932.

Many have already disappeared and those that survive are often dilapidated, in disrepair and soon will be just another part of disappearing history.

Read this brochure to learn more about the initiative and the resulting schools (the map on page 11 gives you a sense of schoolhouse distribution) and the efforts to preserve those buildings still standing.

Earlier this year there was a conference held about the Rosenwald Schools and you can access session videos on YouTube.

Not sure if there was a Rosenwald school where your ancestors lived? Check out the Fisk University Rosenwald Fund Card File Database. Do note that the database is extensive though not necessarily exhaustive. Fisk University is home to the Julius Rosenwald Fund archives (scroll down to R and you will find several finding aids).

I searched on Leflore County Mississippi and there are 35 Rosenwald Schools listed.

In my research I cam across the following resources.

+ Remember the Rosenwald Schools (The Journal of the American Institute of Architects)

+ New Film Puts the Spotlight on an Early Civil-Rights Donor (The Chronicle of Philanthropy) [corrected to Puts]

+ Trailer for the above Film

+ To save a schoolhouse – and history (CNN)

Do also check out any resources specific to the state and/or county where your ancestors lived. For example, the North Carolina state Historic Preservation Office has created a map showing Rosenwald Schools with links to the relevant Fisk database entry as well as the National Register of Historic Places nomination form. There is also a web site dedicated to these schools in NC with lots of neat information. The Past is Prologue has collected info on Rosenwald Schools in Georgia and a Google (TM) search on Rosenwald + state/county of interest will bring up all kinds of interesting information on these schools.

Did your ancestors attend a Rosenwald School?

Have you visited a Rosenwald School?

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NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.

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Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

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Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com

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Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

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Want to learn more about interacting with the blog, please read Hyperlinks, Subscribing and Comments -- How to Interact with Upfront with NGS Blog posts!

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23 April 2015

Disappearing History ... Post Civil War Black Towns are Dying

I always hate to hear about the loss of history – be it documents, memories, stories, buildings, communities, and more.

This was reaffirmed as I read “Black towns, established by freed slaves after the Civil War, are dying out” in the Washington Post last month.

Sugarland was founded on Oct. 6, 1871, when three freedmen — William Taylor, Patrick Hebron Jr. and John H. Diggs — “purchased land for a church from George W. Dawson, a white former slave owner, for the sum of $25,” Reese says. The founders made a small down payment and continued to pay until the debt was settled. The deed dictated that the land be used for a church, a school and “as a burial site for people of African descent.”

Today, Sugarland is mostly horse country with million-dollar homes that sit on rolling hills. Many of the houses that former slaves built have been torn down. The forest has overtaken lots where freedmen once lived. The winding dirt roads that separated this black community from a white world are now paved.

This article gives fascinating insight into not just Sugarland and into the history of the rise and fall of the so-called Black towns established after the Civil War.

A related article, also published in the Washington Post is All-black towns across America: Life was hard but full of promise.

If you Google Search “Black Towns” or “All-Black Towns” you will find many references to these communities and unfortunately, many of them are to the fact that they are disappearing, such as “One by one, Missouri’s black towns disappear.”

Did your ancestors live in an All-Black Town? Does it still exist?

Editor’s Note: This past weekend I was in Washington DC and couldn’t believe how far along the construction on the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Though the physical elements of historical black towns will probably continue to disappear, this museum is part of the effort to help preserve African American History, including all “Black Towns.”

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NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.

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Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

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Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com

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Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

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16 April 2015

2015 "Safe Day" (16 May 2015) -- Woodland Cemetery (Newark NJ) -- Family Gravesite Visitation & Tombstone Recording Day

Cemeteries represent our history. They are also places to celebrate the lives of our ancestors.

In a month there will be a special day held at Woodland Cemetery (Newark NJ) – called “Safe Day.” This cemetery is in the urban area (inner city). It’s been vandalized like several others throughout the country, or those that go unattended. It has no onsite caretaker or fencing. People are free to come and go as they please and unfortunately, often damage the tombstones.

This “Safe Day” is an opportunity to help maintain the cemetery and to also record tombstone inscriptions and/or take digital photos of the tombstones, all while part of a group and with the added protection of the Newark Police Department. This event has been taking place for over 16 years!

If you are not able to attend, you can contact the organizers in advance if you seek inscriptions and/or pictures of family tombstones.

See the image below for the full details!

It is always great to see a community of volunteers do all that they can to help preserve a cemetery, especially one that has long been neglected and at risk.

Here are some related resources:

+ Woodland Cemetery (Newarkcemeteries.com)

+ Historic – Woodland Cemetery – Newark, New Jersey

+ Woodland Cemetery: Damage and Neglect Prevents Safe Day 2013 (includes some photos of the cemetery)

+ Woodland Cemetery (FB Page with images)

Do contact the organizers with any questions:

Mary Lish, mary.lish@gmail.com

John Sass, JAJS918@aol.com

Editor’s Note: The announcement was posted with permission of the event planners. Thanks to Joann Mcmillion for posting this on FB where it caught my eye.

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Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

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Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com

08 February 2015

Starting TODAY -- SiriusXM to Launch "African Ancestry Radio"

We often talk about genealogy-themed television shows and today let’s discuss a new radio show!

Hosted by Gina Paige, co-founder of African Ancestry, and award-winning producer Shirley Neal, "African Ancestry Radio" will launch live on Sunday, February 8 at 12:00 pm ET on SiriusXM Urban View channel 126 with Louis Gossett Jr. and Aunjanue Ellis as their first celebrity guests. Launched in celebration of Black History Month, the show will feature the hosts leading the conversation on heritage and guiding SiriusXM listeners of African descent looking to more accurately and reliably trace their roots.

... After the broadcast, "African Ancestry Radio" will be available on SiriusXM On Demand for subscribers listening via the SiriusXM Internet Radio App ...

Read this article for more details.

If you happen to catch this program, we’d love to hear what you thought about it!

Editor’s Note: If you do not have access to Sirius XM Internet Radio, you can sign up for a free trial.

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NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

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Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com

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Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

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Want to learn more about interacting with the blog, please read Hyperlinks, Subscribing and Comments -- How to Interact with Upfront with NGS Blog posts!

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