View from the plane before taking off from Salt Lake City

Well, it’s great to be back home, as this time last week I was busy in Utah attending the 2016 Roots Tech conference! What an invigorating  experience! I was honored to give two different presentations, and also to just be in an exciting environment! In addition, Salt Lake City was beautiful nestled in that valley surrounded by amazing snowy mountains. The cold and high altitude did have an effect, but I took my time walking and managed to get around fairly well. I also saw some people that I met last year again like Peggy Clemens Lauritzen, and I got to meet some bloggers from social media, like Roger Moffat and others. And I met some amazing new friends as well, such as Scott Fisher from Extreme Genes Radio, and blogger Amy Johnson Crow. Plus I met a wonderful lady with whom I chatted a bit, who was there from South Texas! Ann Roberts, told me about an amazing project of which she is supportive, and I am happy to share here. She spoke to me about the Bedford Historic Slave Foundation.

Bedford Slave Foundation

This is a project that originated with the Lowry family out of Bedford, Virginia, and the goal is to preserve African American history, collect artifacts, and to tell the stories of the many families with histories tied to that area. One of the founders, David Lowry recently passed away, and Ann’s goal is to continue to support and follow Mr. Lowry’s vision and bring the museum to life. This is one of those projects that we all need to look at as a model to emulate. Their hope is to establish a viable museum in an old AME Church which is next to the county courthouse in Bedford.

I hope that they are not only successful in that goal, but that they will become a leader in  historic preservation in their part of Virginia, and a model to follow by countless communities throughout the country.
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African American Genealogy Conference in Greater Washington DC

I am busy preparing for next weekend’s Black History Month celebration in Laurel Maryland. This will be an all-day genealogy workshop. The event is hosted by the Family History Center of Washington DC, and the Maryland and Washington DC chapters of the Afro-American Historical & Genealogical Society, (AAHGS). Speakers include: Chiquita Sorrels, Aaron Dorsey, Robyn Smith, Shelley Murphy, Alice Harris, Francis David Jenkins, Jacqueline-Lewis and Angela Walton-Raji. I am quite excited and am more than honored to present the keynote address for this event.
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NEHGS & Fold 3 Offer Free Access During February

Two organizations are providing access to their sites this month. Fold3 has made the military service records for the US Colored Troops available for the month of February. And the New England Historic Genealogical Society has also made five databases available for the month of February, also. So take some time and visit these sites.

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Althea Hurst Scrapbook now Online

Althea Hurst Scrapbook

A wonderful online collection from Cincinnati Ohio library, was shared with me this week about a scrapbook reflecting the travels of four African American women in 1938, to Europe. The trip was taken by four women who traveled to Nazi Germany, France, England, Switzerland, and so many more places.

What makes this so amazing is that these were not single women deciding to travel, but married women, wish to see the world. Perhaps their choosing to travel during pre WWII times were a bit naive, but their naivete apparently protected them, as they returned safely and shared their experiences  with their students for many years.

The entire scrapbook now rests on the library site and will remain there permanently!

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Best wishes to friends in St. Louis who are hosting their own conference tomorrow. The St. Louis African American Historical and Genealogical society is hosting it’s 7th annual Genealogy Conference. They have great speakers on the program, including Melvin Collier, Thomas Macentee, Linda Bugg-Simms and others, so if you live in or near St. Louis, their conference is the place to be!

Well folks, it is time to wrap things up again for this week! Thank you all for taking your time to tune in, and to hear this week’s podcast! And please continue to do what you do–keep researching, keep documenting, and always keep sharing what you find!

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Welcome back to the African Roots Podcast, coming to you this week from beautiful Salt Lake City Utah! Remember you can always reach me HERE.

Well this week has been amazing and I am thrilled to be able to come to you from Salt Lake City, and it is underway! What an incredible week this has been! And Today I have two guests who are sharing their Roots Tech experience with you today! Dr. Shelley Murphy is here and Bernice Bennett is also here and they are going to share with you their thoughts about the Roots Tech experience so far.

In the meantime, I am sharing with you images taken so far this week and am so inspired by the energy and enthusiam of everyone I have met. This year I have met people from Australia, New Zeland, Germany, Kenya and multiple states! What an experience it has been!

In the meantime, enjoy these images and enjoy listening to Shelley and Bernice!

This is clearly the largest event in the world for genealogists to gather, and as the image reflected on the many screens for the opening session–more than 25,000 people were registered.

Sitting in the room among thousands was an incredible experience. Thankfully, we had great seats near the front, and directly in front of the main stage. The image below is a side view of the audience that also numbered in the thousands. Truly amazing to see so many and the energy generated by being around others with the same passion.

The day before things got underway, three of us were interviewed by Family Search, and we had a chance to tell part of our own personal research journey!

 

It has also been fun meeting new people. Bernice Bennett and I both had a chance to meet and chat with W. Scott Fisher of Extreme Genes Radio Show. If you are not familiar this is an amazing and professionally produced radio program, and you may want to tune in!

 

Running into friends old and new, and meeting people from everywhere, was truly wonderful. Johannes deJong of Family Search, Hollis Gentry and Shelley Murphy are engaged in an enriching conversation below.

Yesterday I presented a workshop on Native American Genealogy, and though I expected a good number to attend, the fact that the room was completely full with no seats left was quite a delightful surprise! Below is an image that I captured before I began my session.

So things are clearly underway, and I am ready for another exciting day here at Roots Tech 2016!

Thank you all for listening and I hope you enjoyed listening to my guests today! In the meantime, remember to keep researching, keep documenting, and keep sharing what you find!