African Roots Podcast Episode #205 March 8, 2013

This Week's Pod Cast

Hello and welcome back to the African Roots Podcast!
You can always reach me at AfricanRootsPodcast@gmail.com

I hope that everyone has recovered from the recent storm that has moved through, coming from the midwest and that moved to the northeast. I hope that you are all safe and warm. But spring is coming soon, and in three weeks spring will be here officially here. And a sign of the change in season, the days are getting longer and don’t forget to change you clocks this weekend.

Well, I had a lot of fun last night on the Bernice Bennett’s show and I was thrilled to be able to share some of my thoughts that have emanated from the many conversations that I have had with Bernice over the weeks, months, and years. I hope you get to tune in. We speak frequently and decided to take one of our conversations to the airwaves, so to speak. It was great to share things with her including the many items on my schedule for this coming year.

It is a good time to stop and reflect on how we share information, is how to share data and why. We collect lots of papers and documents, it is imperative that we do more than collect and share what we have. We can share the easy way by posting documents in various groups in Facebook, or Google+, or AfriGeneas—but remembering to generate some dialog about what you have. I also love blogging as a method of sharing–documents can be posted, discussed analyzed on blogs and this can catch the attention of others–sometimes strangers with whom we can have a good interaction.

This is a great time to find so much in so little time–but what do we do with it? I urge you all to blog—use Blogger, or Worpress or Typepad–which are free blogging platforms. And sharing data on Twitter and other sites is useful–but we don’t have a primer to follow. So we have lots to keep up with as well—but we need to join the community.

We are operating in a new environment online with no real rules out there, and we have to make sure that we are not distracted too much either by the many things that distract us online–and we have to stay focused as we share and read.

Some shout outs:
The African American Genealogy Group of Kentucky will have their regular 3rd Saturday meeting with a special guest discussing the migration of African Americans from Kentucky to Kansas.

The Delmarva Group of the Eastern Shore of MD representing Delaware, Maryland and Virginia–they are still organizing and working to become a community of genealogists.

A group of ladies who share a rich cultural history from Edgefield South Carolina. They are breaking new ground and sharing their data and having a wonderful journey as well.

This is a great time to be a genealogist because we are in a dynamic time and dynamic community of blogging, and new social interaction. This is time to think about preservation both the physical preservation of documents–but the need to share the stories that many family members need to know. We have to take our stories and put them out there—they don’t need to reside only in our heads. We have to put them in minds of others.

I am looking forward to events—The Genealogy Fair at the National Archives in Washington DC, MAAGI-the African American Genealogy Institute in St. Louis and the AAHGS conference and the Federation of Genealogical Societies and the California Genealogy Jamboree.

I hope to see you all out there this year, either in person, or online. In the meantime, thanks for following, and for sharing your notes and letters with me. And continue to keep researching, keep documenting and keep sharing what you find.

This Week's Pod Cast

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

Well can you believe it is March? I mean really! But I am not complaining, that means for me I can start to think about planning and planting flowers in my flower bed, and warmer days ahead! Can they get here soon enough?

Anyway—in the genealogy community lots of things going on!

I hope that many of you met some deadlines! Recently about a week ago the deadline passed for the AAHGS 2013 conference in October in Nashville TN. Also some other deadlines passed—the AfriGeneas Writing contest deadline passed! Now if you missed that one—fear not—-there will be 3 more writing opportunities coming from the AfriGeneas community this year. Keep your eyes open for many more exciting things to come forth! This promises to be a brand new year!! I will address that in a while!

Best wishes to our friend and colleague Bernice Bennett as she works her way through Louisiana this week on a research trip. She is on her way to St. Helena Parish Louisiana today to dig up some records, and it should be lots of fun to hear about her results! Yesterday she was in Baton Rouge and found a bit of data and she is still at it today! By the way, follow her on Facebook to keep up with her. And if you don’t know who she is—she is host of the Blog Talk Radio program, Research at the National Archives & Beyond which airs on Thursday evenings at 9pm eastern time. This week because of her trip, she interviewed Pat Sluby on an earlier broadcast, that occurred on Monday. Pat Sluby is a genealogist of more than 20 decades, who has written a fascinating book on Black inventors. www.blogtalkradio.com/bernicebennett

Congratulations to researcher and blog talk radio host Antoinette Harrell who was recently honored at the National African American History Month luncheon which is hosted by ASALH. Many of you recognize her name as one of the blog radio program hosts as well as her videos and efforts to bring little known history to the forefront.

Ok—a quick plug for MAAGI. the Midwestern African American Genealogy Institute! It will take place in July 2013 in St. Louis Missouri.

WHY GO TO MAAGI?

Are you a librarian or archivist wanting to learn more about African American genealogy?

Have you considered taking your skills to a new level and becoming a professional genealogist, but are not sure exactly what to do?

Have you reached a point in your research where you are stuck at the slavery era and are not sure where to find more data?

Have you looked at a research facility like Allen County Library, but are overwhelmed and not sure where to go?

Are you a basic beginner and would love to have a thorough overview into African American genealogy?

Then if you answered yes to one of those questions—-you may want to look at what is happening in St. Louis Missouri in July! There will be an opportunity to explore the methods and mysteries of the African American genealogica journey. 12 full classes will be offered in several tracks and speakers from east coast, to the Midwest, to the west coast will be there for a 3 day immersion experience. This will be a project oriented exercise where at the end of the 3 days, participants will emerge with something new—-a book outline, a research strategy, a brand new blog, or a business plan to initiate their own business or so much more. Take a look at MAAGI and see what there is to unfold. Expand your genealogy skills, and your methods of sharing what you do! It is time to step out your comfort zone! So let’s meet in St. Louis!

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Well it is March and this year—that means it is almost time for ROOTS TECH! I hope that many of your are beginning to give thought to expanding how you find information, how you store information and how you share it. If you are doing things the same way that you did them for the past 10 years—then its time to step out of your technical zone and learn something new. If there are live video streams, then take advantage of them!

In case you haven’t noticed-there are new ways not just to store information, but also how to find information and perhaps time to revisit those old sites and look at them with new eyes—have you looked at FamilySearch lately? Have you seen not only the new records, but the dozens upon dozens of resources for African American genealogy—including videos, articles and so much more? And how do you capture new data when you see it? Well hopefully some of the streaming videos from RootsTech will also open your eyes.

Do you have a favorite blog or blogger? Well I have to give a shout out today to a blogger from Atlanta Georgia! Well one of my favorites is Melvin Collier—he is well known as a genealogist, a writer, and archivist and more. Well his blog “Roots Revealed” is one of those that I consider mandatory reading for beginners. Well, take a look at his last 2 posts on his Roots Revealed blog. “When the Ancestors Just Leap off the Page!” Two great reads!!

I mention Melvin because he takes the readers on a genealogical journey and his conclusions are based on logic, sound analysis and evidence! He does what we are supposed to do—conduct an exhaustive search and analyze what has been found! He does this and he shows the reader how he did it! My question—have any of you embarked upon a journey in your own family history research? Have you ever let a mystery just take you into unchartered territory? Have you read and article about an historical figure and then taken some time to find the people that the author mentioned, in the census records just to see what could be found? There is so much that can be done and if you are one who loves the journey itself—this might be a way to find your own niche as you are stretching your genealogical wings and to grow in a new direction.

Also perhaps it is time to revisit an old friend AfriGeneas.com Not sure if you have taken a look at late–but there is a lot there, more than 20 message boards, databases and just so much more! If you visit AfriGeneas for the chat, then spend some time on a message board that you were not aware of. If you visit one particular forum, then try a new one! There is so much out there and sometimes those familiar sites are holding new resources and connections to new people that we never knew were there!

Well, time has passed quickly, and thank you for taking time from your schedule to tune in. Please in the meantime, keep doing what you do, keep researching, keep documenting and always keep sharing what you find!