Welcome back to the 409th episode of the African Roots Podcast! You can always reach me at africanrootspodcast@gmail.com

Well everyone I hope that spring is finally arriving where you are. It’s the end of the month almost and the year is moving quickly.

This week I have been  reading articles about preservation and that seems to be the word of the day these days. I love to see the many projects unfolding all over the place. Cemetery preservation projects are going on, in many places in the country. I know that two major cemeteries are capturing attention in St. Louis, Memphis and other cities as well. But–we are involved in preservation project as researcher. Our goal is to preserve those untold stories as well. By the way, I hope that some of you are using the free database for Zion cemetery if you have ties to Memphis. Anyway–these are projects that we should all support.
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Cubans Discovered Singing Ancient Song in Near-Extinct African Language

I was excited to read a story about preserving the culture of people once enslaved. A documentary called “They Are We”. It focuses on the Ganga Longoba, in central Cub, who have maintained their African culture. But suprisingly the people in the small village was signing a song that is part of a community in West African whose language is almost an extinct language. The people in Cuba have maintained and preserved their tradition through songs from their own country. Through the centuries the people have taught the song to their children, granchildren, and on to the present. www.remezcla.com This story is preservation in its purest form. Simply elders passing a song down to the next generation.

What an opportunity for a DNA project matching the Cubans to their Sierra Leone cousins.

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If you missed Tuesday’s recent episode of BlackProGen LIVE, then you may want to tune in by clicking this link to find out what we discussed. Our episode of AskMariah was loads of fun, and I think we may have found a solution to the query. Hopefully we were able to provide some answers for the person posing the question. HERE is a link.

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Bernice Bennett’s show will air tomorrow at 3 pm EST. This month is Women’s History Month, and Bernice will feature three women who have done a lot to preserve their history.
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Well, tune in tonight’s #GenChat on Twitter. That is an hour long on-going conversation with genealogists from around the world. There is one tonight at 10pm EST. It is lots of fun. Tonight’s topic is mtDNA. I have met some amazing people through #Genchat.  (Shout out to @GenealogyJen, @CarolinaGirl and others.)

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Community history—I mentioned earlier. I urge people to undertake such projects. The stories that we seek are not of individuals who lived in a bubble. Our ancestors had neighbors, employers, each other, and there are methods of capturing the town’s story. If there are stories of freedom or resistance and resilience. We find out who those people were when we study the directories, the groups, the institutions  that still exist today. We have great opportunities to take on a community group project. Examples of projects: US Colored Troops buried in the same town; business owners, pastors, educators. I hope that you will think about studying directories, digitized issues of “The Green Book“ and studying them.

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Wow—thank you all for tuning in this week! I love hearing from you, and enjoy your emails, and thank you so much!  Have a great week, remember to keep researching, keep documenting and keep sharing what you find!

Welcome back to the African Roots Podcast!
You can always reach me at AfricanRootsPodcast@Gmail.com.

(I know—I saw 407th–its really the 408th episode! LOL!)

Well here we are in March, waiting for spring and we are now waiting for a snowstorm here in the Northeast! Crazy weather—spring like weather in February and now we are waiting for snow. Well we are overdue, so after that we can move into spring later this month.

Source of Image: Charleston City Paper

News from South Carolina! The International African American Museum has been given approval from the BAR, the Board of Architectual Review has given the green light for this event! It is believed that 100,000 Africans were brought into South Carolina and it will be at Gadsen’s Wharf. This is exciting because the talk of the Museum, now makes this a reality. Happy to share this with you, and a link to the story!

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James T. Rapier, Attorney, Statesman, Leader

James T. Rapier Papers to be Digitized

A new collection will be digitized—those of James T. Rapier, who made his presence known in Alabama, during the post Civil War  years. This man born a slave, later freed in the 1850s and who became a lawyer, lived in Florence Alabama, and became a land owner, then in Nashville Tennessee, as well. In addition, he also influenced happenings in Buxton Ontario as well. The exciting news is that his papers will be digitized. Here is a link to the story about the Rapier digitized papers.

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Descendant of Supreme Court Judge Apologizes to Dred Scott Family Descendant

This story comes out of Maryland where I live, and I missed it earlier this week, but it deserves mention. A descendant of  Roger Taney, the judge who made the decision apologized to a descendant of Dred Scott for the decision made at that time. He apologized for the words that were written by Roger Brook Taney. He wrote that African Americans should not have rights of their own and that they were inferior to white people. She is the great great granddaughter of Dred Scott.  She accepted the apology for behalf of all African Americans.  I appreciate that a decision of the man who handed down that awful decision, realized that it was an awful decision. The gesture of apology was made in front of a statue of the man who handed down the decision.

This week marked the 160th anniversary of the Dred Scott decision.

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Don’t forget #GenChat on Twitter tonight!! Watch a group of genealogists talk from all over the world. I met someone from #genchat is tonight!

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Black Pro Gen LIVE met this past week, and if you missed it, tune in and hear the discussion. We also had our Ask Mariah segment and were able to share our thoughts and ideas and pass on tips to the inquiring person with the brick wall challenges. We are back on our Tuesday night schedule again! We talk about the news, and how it affects all of us in the genealogy community. We shared our reactions and concerns.

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Bernice Bennett had Dr. Orville Burton on her show “Research at the National Archives & Beyond. He talked a lot about historial policies, of 19th century south. We all learned so much from him. You can always catch her shows on Thursday evenings live at 9pm EST on Blog Talk Radio.

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Listen to Podcast HERE.

I am excited to have been a guest on Lisa Louise Cook’s Genealogy Gems Podcast, and you can tune in to hear that episode. My segment begins at 23:10. We discussed the recent webinar that I gave for Family Tree University.

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Bernice Bennett to Discuss DNA in Charlottesville VA

Bernice Bennet will present on March 14th and she will discuss DNA and how it can enhance your genealogy research, at 7 pm at the Jefferson School in Charlottesville.

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Find My Past to Release Catholic Sacramental Records

Great news for people with Catholic history in the family—sacramental records are now on Find My Past. The Catholic Heritage Archives. Three archdiocese will be shared—New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. There are many African American Catholic communities. I know that besides Maryland, that friends in Louisiana will be excited when their records are made available.

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Well, time to wind things down for the week. If you are in the path of the ongoing snowstorm, stay safe and dry. In the meantime keep researching, keep documenting, and keep sharing what you find.

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