Welcome back to the African Roots Podcast! You can always reach me at AfricanRootsPodcast@gmail.com
I hope you have all had a great week! My week has been full of new connections, new cousins, and so much more! I was excited to talk to a new cousin whom I found off Ancestry when I noticed that she put up a photo of a cousin Alphia Martin. It turns out that she is a great great grand-daughter of Cousin Alphia, and quite a delightful young woman to know. I reached out to her and she reached back. We connected by phone yesterday and it was a wonderful conversation! (Shout out to cousin Malika!)
So excited to connect with my “new” cousin Malika!
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Speaking of “new” findings and “new” connections–if you don’t follow Nicka Smith, (www.whoisnickasmith.com) you need to check out her latest blog posts. She has been following one of her ancestors, Ike Rogers well known US Deputy Marshall, Cherokee Freedman, Civil War soldier and so much more.
Recalling the Murder of Isaac Rogers
His history is amazing and so is her research. She has been finding new chapters in her history for the past two weeks, and all I can say is—go read her blog posts about Ike Rogers, follow her on Facebook, if you don’t already, and enjoy her journey as it continues to unravel.
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Speaking of Blogging—have you heard about the Blogging Bonanza? Blogging has not died and many genealogists are blogging away. Anita Henderson of Write Your Life, has organized the Blogging Bonanza for the month of May. Join several writers/bloggers/genealogists to hear how they get ideas and stories to tell. The presenters are Toni Carrier, Kristin Cleage, Carol Dunlop, Michael Henderson, Nicka Smith, and yours truly, Angela Walton-Raji. For more information visit the Genealogists Writing Room.
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And speaking of blogging, I am currently blogging 52 families in 52 weeks! This is on my African-NativeAmerican blog, and I am documenting 52 Freedmen (as in Oklahoma Tribal Freedmen) in 52 Weeks. (My latest post is HERE.)
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So are you watching Genealogy on TV? Well we are all watching the Genealogy “trifecta—-WDYTYA (Who Do You Think You Are and Long Lost Family,on TLC network, and over on BYU-TV there is Relative Race. We all recently watched the episode on WDYTYA with Smokey Robinson recently. Did you catch the document where the slave testified for the former slave holder? Did you catch the sentence that they chose not to read aloud? The sentence that they did not read aloud was where the formerly enslaved man pointed out that he was the former slave holder’s son. If you watch it again–freeze the frame and see if you see what at least, I thought I saw. The shows are all fascinating, and capturing our attention, and they are inspiring even more people to research their family histories.
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From the ONLINE World: Black Pro Gen, and Bernice Bennet’s Show aired this week. On Black ProGen we discussed resources for New York, and New Jersey. Great discussion about resources for those two states.
Last night, Bernice Bennett’s guest was Dr. Melissa Cooper, author of the work, “Making Gullah”. Was this authentic culture being represented accurately, or was some of the culture actually “invented”? The discussion was fascinating and the author addressed many issue pertaining to how Gullah people were presented from the 1920’s onward in the press. Tune in for Bernice’s show that you can catch as a podcast if you missed the live broadcast!
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Woman Who Word to Preserve Sotterly Slave Cabin Honored
Source of image HERE.
The Baynet.com
Well—the word of the day is Preservation! Today Dr. Agnes K. Callum was being honored in a special exhibit at Sotterly Plantation in Hollywood, Maryland. The exhibit was being named in her honor where she spent countless hours working to preserve the plantation and the slave cabin. She was an inspiration to so many of us whose ancestors lived in the cabins, in the quarters. Her research opened the doors for many of us. Because of her, I started doing what I do researching my own history in Arkansas and Oklahoma. She influenced how history in Southern Maryland is to be interpreted in the future. It is important that we insert our narrative in the places where our ancestors lived, and we thank Agnes Callum for her inspiration!
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Also in the spirit of Preservation–I am on my way to the Mississippi Delta in Lake Village Arkansas! I will be speaking at Lakeport Plantation and will be speaking about the history of people who came from that area, and especially the soldiers who came from that area. Quite a few US Colored Troops from that region and their history. This event is an act of preservation. I will spend some time at the estate it self, but I will meet some other preservations–Jerome Bias from Staggville Plantation will be there, Joe McGill from the Slave Dwelling project. The event is free, but space is limited. I look foward to going there and presenting research there! Lakeport is the only surviving antebellum plantation in SE Arkansas.
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In Atlanta check out the Auburn Avenue Library–some preservation workshops are going to be held throughout May and into June.
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Time to wind things down, and thank you so much for tuning in again this week. I love hearing from you and learning about those things that keep you busy, and attract your attention. In the meantime, thank you for your work, and remember to keep researching, keep documenting, and keep sharing what you find!
