African Roots Podcast #87 December 3, 2010

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

Most major events have ended for the year, although there is an interesting event in Atlanta this weekend. The Georgia Genealogical Society presents Big Things Come in Small Packages… an all day genealogy event at the National Archives branch in Morrow, Georgia. This workshop will cover the Digital Library of Georgia, Sanborn Insurance Maps, Gordon County obituaries, African American funeral programs, and much more. The cost is $30 for Georgia Genealogical Society members and $40 for non-members. Lunch will be provided. When: Registration, 9:30 a.m.- 10 a.m.; Program, 10 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Contact: To register visit the GGS’s webpage. For more information call Ronda Sanders at 770-531-9277 (evenings).

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Thinking about 2011? Here are some of the events to look forward to:
January 14-14 Salt Lake Genealogy Institute

February 10-12
RootsTech Conference
Held at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake this promises to be an event for genealogists with technological interests.

March 31 – April 2, Ohio Genealogical Society, Annual Conference 3 excellent speakers: Tim Pinnick, Shamele Jordan, Dr. Deborah Abbot

April 6-10 New England Regional Conference, Springfield Massachusetts
Not as diverse a roster of speakers, but excellent topics

May 11-14 NGS Conference, Charleston SC

September 7-10 FGS Conference, Springfield ILL

Jun 10-12, California Genealogical Jamboree, Burbank Calif.

June 12-17 Samford Genealogy Institute

Projects for next year.
This is also time to think about upcoming projects that you are working on , and what kind of contributions that you can make to the genealogy community. If you are already teaching genealogy classes, or mentoring beginners, or writing a genealogy column, newsletter, journal, you are giving something to the community. Are you a blogger—you are giving something to the community. Have you considered participating in an indexing project?

There are opportunities to do so from various genealogical societies, but I want to take a second to talk about one highlighting communities from South Carolina. This is the project known as Restore the Ancestors.

Under the direction of Toni Carrier, of LowCountry Africana, volunteers have signed up to index a minimum of 10 pages that are resting on Footnote. The records are estate records from South Carolina and they cover several decades from the late 1700s to the mid 1800s. These are records about persons enslaved and recently even a discovery of free persons of color. The records need to be indexed and volunteers from the genealogical community have responded to the request to assist with this much needed project. Well, I recently learned about several ladies who have gone above and beyond the call of duty. The request to the public has been made by director Toni Carrier, to index 10 pages, and to get as many volunteers to assist with this effort. Several have done more than their 10 pages and some have managed to index more than 100 pages, 500 pages and beyond! It has come to my attention that several ladies have stepped up to the plate.

One of my AfriGeneas buddies Vicki Daviss Mitchell has done over 100 pages and is still going. Felicia Mathis who has the blog Echoes of my Nola Past saw a need, jumped in here and taken on a leadership role she has indexed more than 100 pages and she makes it a point to personally thank every volunteer who earns their Ancestors badge. Thank you Felicia!

Khalisa Jacobs volunteered the day the announcement was made and she has stayed ever since. She has indexed more than 600 pages. Penny Worley volunteered on day 1 as well, she has indexed more than 500 pages herself. Both deserve to take a bow.  Sheri Fenley deserves to also take a bow. She owns the blog, The Educated Genealogist and has also crossed the 500 page mark. She wrote a beautiful post about the Restore the Ancestors project.

All of this work has been done by you, listerners who have become volunteers, in this massive project! Under Toni Carrier’s direction, the effort continues. Also note—she has a co-director who has broken the glass ceiling and who has indexed over 2000 pages!! That’s TWO THOUSAND PAGES!!! Alana Thevenet, is her name, and she has taken the project into the stratosphere with her work!!!

The project continues, and you the volunteers are making it happen! Thank you for your dedication, your time, and your loving spirit. You inspire us and you have paid it forward!

Well,thanks for listening. Please continue the work that you do. Keep researching, keep sharing, and like those indexing volunteers, please keep sharing what you find!

Posted by Angela Y. Walton-Raji

Author, lecturer and researcher. Author, "Black Indian Genealogy Research, An Expanded Edition". Editor, Voices of Indian Territory. Member AAHGS -Afro-American Historical & Genealogical Society. PAAC-Preservation of African American Cemeteries. Founding Member of AfriGeneas. Faculty member for Samford IGHR, MAAGI-Midwest African American Genealogy Institute.

6 thoughts on “African Roots Podcast #87 December 3, 2010

  1. I am so honored that you mentioned my transcription work in your podcast. It has been a pure delight to work with the LowCountry Africana team on this project. Besides the fact that everyone is genuinely nice (and I mean this)! They are also fantastic genealogists.

    I am so thankful for the help that I’ve received over the years from others that I am happy to participate in this project. I encourage everyone to transcribe at least once. It helps you truly have an appreciation for all the information that is now available with a click of a mouse.

    Thank you Angela for taking the time to spread the word about our great community of genealogists and for all your hard work.

  2. Wow. Just wow. Thank you Angela for the mention. You are one of the biggest names in the world of Geneabloggers and it means alot to have you recognize me. As I have stated before, this is a most important project for both the African-American researcher and the descendants of the plantation owners. These records are so very detailed and are rich in history.

  3. Thank you so very much, Angela, for mentioning our life-changing work with Footnote. I cannot tell you how surprised I was to see my name mentioned. I was absolutely astounded. I consider the “work” I am doing with these records as “giving back” for all the blessings I have received throughout my life. I know where my family came from. I can trace their ancestry. So many descendants of enslaved people cannot. And I am honored and humbled to be able to help that happen. So, I keep pressing on. I don’t count the pages I’ve done. I just do them hoping that one pereson, just one person, will be able to discover their heritage. When that happens, then I will rejoice and I will be overwhelmed. I am so grateful to be a part of this life-changing project. May God richly bless you and your work and all who read this.

  4. THank you so much for the mention Angela. I really appreciate it.

    I love indexing. I don’t see myself doing anything else right now. (not even my own Research)

    I welcome those earning their badges, because the more pages indexed, the easier it will be for a Descendant to connect with an Ancestor and it is improtant for me to let them know how useful their 10 pages are.

    This project is going to make an excellent Resource for African Americans once it is complete and I am so proud to be apart of it.

    I am in it to the end!!!!

  5. Thank you my friend for mentioning my name but more than that reminding those who have not joined in the SC indexing Project to do so. It has been very rewarding, so again I thank you!!

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