Welcome back to the African Roots Podcast! you can always reach me HERE.

It is good to be back in Maryland, after having spent some time in Central Virginia! I had a great time in Charlottesville where I had the chance to visit the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center and give a presentation there on the wonderful Freedmen’s Bureau records.

I also had the chance to give a presentation about the site Mapping the Freedmen’s Bureau, that I co-created with friend and colleague Toni Carrier of Low Country Africana. A special thank you to Dr. Shelley Murphy for the wonderful hospitality shown to me last week down in Fluvanna County, Virginia. The places that I visited are still on my mind from the old Freedmen’s Bureau site in Gordonsville, Virginia, to Monticello.

Civil War Museum, Gordonsville, Virginia
Photo courtesy of Shelley Murphy

 

Wow what an experience is was! The history of that area is more than amazing! For me it was the first time I was in that part of Virginia and I saw the amazing impact of  Thomas Jefferson and that region while there. It was an eye-opening experience.

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Did you catch the BlackProGen Google Hangout? We had an amazing conversation about the resources for researchers from Mississippi, and Louisiana. Both states have different histories unique and yet similar. Louisiana offers a plethora of records of people enslaved, people who were free people of color, and records from the Amistad. We discussed the works of Dr. Gwendolyn Midlo Hall. The state of Mississippi offers unique records including the Educable children’s census. The language used on those records are surprising to some, and sadly some of the same sentiments prevail to this day towards children. If you missed the hangout–check out the videos on YouTube, and the schedule is on the website of Nicka Smith.

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A shout out to the folks in California, who are having a big weekend. Two genealogical conferences focusing on African American genealogy are occurring this weekend in Los Angeles. CAAGS and the Los Angeles Genesis group sponsored by the LDS Church, and Thom Reed, from the Discover Freedmen project and Paula Williams Madison who was a keynote speaker at Root Tech, is speaking there, also. Apparently that is the place to be this weekend. Hopefully in the future both groups may wish to work together and try some collaboration for one large conference.

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Did you catch Bernice Bennett’s show last night? Her guest was James Morgan III, who engaged in a conversation with her about fraternal organizations such as the Prince Hall Masons, the Benevolent Societies such as the Mosaic Templars, Eastern Star and others. Some have histories that go back to the 1700s. All have rich histories. They formed a major part of the social fabric of the African American communities. Some of the groups had human rights as a focus, and others provided opportunities for financial savings, providing structures within the communities. The discussion was a very good one, and I urge you to follow James Morgan III, follow him on Facebook, and if you have a chance to hear him speak, grab the opportunity to do so. These groups and their history will assist family historians to formulate the family story much better. Bernice’s show airs every Thursday evening at 9pm on Blog Talk Radio.

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  Genealogy on television is still going strong. Have you caught the two new shows? There is Relative Race and the latest one is Long Lost Family, a program for adoptees to find their birth families. A variation of this show aired before and it is back again, and is proving to be interesting. So catch both programs if you can.

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Courtesy of Shelley Murphy

 

Before signing off, I will simply share that I am still wrapping my head around the many sites that I visited last week. Monticello is amazing and of course is supported by the Foundation. I was impressed that the lives of enslaved people are now being mentioned, and their stories are being told. There was acknowledgment of the story of Sally Hemmings and also the DNA tests. But beyond that–there was a true recognition that the stories of the enslaved do matter and that they are part of the place and therefore, they are being told. The lesson for us, is to incorporate our history into the local landscape where we live and where our ancestors lived. And tell the whole story. While visiting the home of Thomas Jefferson, one can appreciate his brilliance, and his madness. He could write words of such power and beauty as he spoke of freedom, yet he enslave others, including young children forced to make nails day after day. There is so much more to the story.

Viewing exhibit in Visitor’s Center At Monticello
(Photo, courtesy of Shelley Murphy)

 

The complexity of the human spirit was so evident. Such a brilliant man, living in splendor. Yet he was a man who saw nothing wrong with human bondage. The cemetery is amazing and the slave cemetery is so humble. The silence in that burial ground is truly amazing!

Well, thank you for listening to my ramblings and my reaction to so much of what I saw last week. I appreciate you for being there as well, and know you are appreciated. In the meantime, please continue to do what you do….keep researching, keep documenting, keep sharing what you find!

 

Welcome back to the African Roots Podcast! You can reach me HERE.

I am coming to you this week from beautiful Central Virginia, in Fluvanna County. I am here for a special event at the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center tomorrow in Charlottesville. I am completely amazed at the rich history of Virginia and even while traveling here yesterday, passing through historic sites and how amazing! I have been taking note of the sites that I can only call hallowed ground. Looking out over the fields I could almost see the labor of the slaves in those fields, and when I would see the plantation sites, I strained to see the slave cabins. Every one of those sites one knows was supported by slave labor. As a researcher it is now impossible to drive through the country and not see.

However, my experience reflected the need for  us to find the sites where events that altered the lives of many occurred. Not only battlefields or places where important papers were signed, but the places where African American lives were dramatically altered.

My day consisted of truly an amazing adventure—I began with a visit to the shrine for St. Katherine Drexel, in Columbia Virginia. From there we drove through amazing country of old plantations, incredible vegetation, and even critical landmarks.

Amazing Twin Oak Trees

I visited a Freedmen’s Bureau site today, and it dawned on me that this was the first time that I had visited a place where a Field Office of the Bureau was located. The site was the old Gordonsville Virginia Freedmen’s Bureau office.

While touring the site I learned more of the building’s  history, including the fact that the building was at one time a Civil War hospital, and after the war, it was also the site of a Freedmen school.

 
Within a few years the building became a hotel, and it was the site in front of the hotel that another change was made. It was a site where African American women became financially solvent, where they added to their family income as cooks.

Photo: City of Gordonsville
Accessed from This Site

Their fried chicken was well known, and the “chicken ladies” resulted in giving Gordonsville the Friend Chicken capital of the country.

The critical part of the day however, the experience that I had with Dr. Shelley Murphy visiting the Civil War Museum in Gordonsville Virginia. But? not only for the amazing history, but for the fact that we need to not only study the history of these sites, but also to work to preserve them. Many are working hard to index Freedmen’s Bureau records, but how many of us have visited these sites or even know where they were located? We need to find out not only what cities the field offices were, but to learn where the Union Army occupied the area, which will point to the exact location of the Bureau. A task that we should consider undertaking, is to mark the site and work with the state or regional historical society to have the landmark officially designated. These sites are our hallowed ground, and it is our task to identify them, and if they still stand, then work to preserve them. What a mighty charge we have.

Old Freedmen’s Bureau Field Office, Hospital, and Freedmen School, of Gordonsville, Virginia

 

Thank you all for tuning in this week and remember to keep researching, keep documenting and to keep sharing what you find.