African Roots Podcast Episode #194 December 21, 2012

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

Well, Merry Christmas to each of you, and may the Spirit of the season be with you and your family! We are also at the eve of the Sesquicentennial Commemoration of the Emancipation Proclamation. This is the time to commemorate that as well.

Let us also pause and remember those families that were touched by the terrible tragedy in Sandy Hook Connecticut and pray that with time they will be comforted and their pain eased. Keep them in your thoughts, minds and hearts.

On the genealogy scene–a new series of books from Closson Books was shared by Facebook Friends this week:

The series is called Early African American Deaths from the Pittsburgh Courier. They were all compiled by Marleen Garrett Bransom and there are 8 volumes in the set!

You should not think that because you are not from Pittsburgh that you do not have an interest in the publication. Over the years, the death notices began to reflect the communities from which individuals came who located to the area. And in some cases, there might be a unique death listing that could open some doors for you.

8 volumes—that is an awesome task! The books contain 150 to 240 pages and they represent listings of deaths and obituaries from multiple states. Take a look and see if you or your society might want to purchase these books. This is a model to follow for persons who are out there looking for a meaningful project to undertake! This is again a model—there are many cities that have produced historic newspapers—and if you are looking for a project—a compilation of records such as this that spans the years would be a wonderful undertaking. This is not a quick and dirty kind of project—it is a labor of love that can take you on a fascinating journey and this becomes one of those tools that could be used by so many researchers for generations!

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Do you like a mystery?
Well a fellow blogger has a research challenge and put it on his blog. The blog is called Genealogics.
He is researching his wife’s family Mamie Rice—and would love some assistance from other genealogists to get more information about her.

Mamie Roce was born in South Carolina in the 1870s, and died in Arkansas, in Conway County, in 1947.

Genealogics is an excellent blog by Matthew and I urge you to take a look at it.

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I mentioned the Emancipation Proclamation–the document will go on display for 36 hours on New Year’s Day. We should consider honoring our own enslaved ancestors whose lives and status changed on January 1, 1963. Also remember that Watch Night began for many of our Christian ancestors on the very first Watch Night–the eve of January 1, 1863.

Several of us in the genealogy community are going to launch our own Watch Night Services on New Years Eve–we shall write something honoring our own ancestors and how Freedom would come to the family. Bloggers, social media enthusiasts are all invited to join some of us in documenting this incredible time in our history by telling some aspect of our family’s transition from enslavement to Freedom.

We will be having our own Watch Night Celebration! Join us and tell your ancestral story!

By the way, as we speak about Freedom or Emancipation and even enslavement, an excellent discussion took place last night on Bernice Bennett’s Show when Judy Russell, The Legal Genealogist was her guest. She talked about the years after the Civil War, and the impact on Black families. She also spoke in depth about those years before Emancipation, and how the records reflect what happened to so many families on many levels. What was significant is that so many name-rich documents exist from the courthouse to the National Archives, and how there are so many unexplored avenues to tell this story. The show airs every Thursday evening at 9 pm Eastern time on Blog Talk Radio.

Well thanks for listening everyone. Take some time out and have a truly memorable Christmas Holiday. And remember to keep researching, keep documenting and keep sharing what you find!

Have a Merry Christmas, everyone!

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.

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