Hello, and welcome back to the African Roots Podcast! You can always reach me at AfricanRootsPodcast@gmail.com
I hope that you have all had a good week and that the weekend promises to be a good one for you also. I know that family reunions are going on all over the country and if you are having one, that you make wonderful memories and have a joyous time with family and loved ones. And as summer is beginning to wind down and school will be starting soon I hope you get those many things done that preparation for a new academic year brings.
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Noted Researcher Presents Two Part Genealogy Event in Alexandria Virginia
This Saturday and next, a two part series on using vital records will be presented by noted genealogist Char McCargo Bah, at the Alexandria Virginia Black History Museum. The event is open to the public and will unfold at 11 am, till 1pm. As you may know, Char Bah has done extensive work on northern Virginia history and Alexandria and its rich history.
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Last night’s episode of Bernice Bennett’s show with Linda Nance of the Annie Malone Historical Society. Annie Malone was a pioneer in the African American hair care industry. But her legacy extends beyond that. Much fascinating history of this amazing lady was shared with listeners. It was as uplifting as Annie Malone herself was. Ms. Bennett’s show airs every Thursday evening at 9pm eastern time, on Blog Talk Radio.
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If you missed the Family Tree Webinar last week with Melvin Collier, I hope that you will have a chance to go and catch it. This was the third in a four-part series on the webinar channel called The Freedom Series. This was an outstanding presentation that was made. His focus illustrated how he was able to put together data that re-united descendants of one slave whose family was separated by slavery. It was outstanding.
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(sample labor contract from the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands)
What are “Black” Records? A Discussion
Lots of energy unfolding this weeek in social media. Good questions, good dialogue and great interaction among researchers has been unfolding. Well this week on Facebook, a good discussion occurred this week. One member asked about records for African American genealogy and wanted to ask about why there were not more “black” records. Her concern that records were being “withheld” by sites such as Ancestry. It was pointed out that there are no records that can be called “black records”. It was an interesting discussion. I began to think after reading the thread I began to ask what kinds of records are out there that are uniquely African ancestored records, or records that were generated mostly by people of color. Of course vital records reflect people of all backgrounds. But there are some unique records that describe mostly African ancestored people. For example the Freedmen’s Bureau records were generated by people of color. But on those records are people of other background as well. Employers, bureau agency staff also have their names reflected as well.
But then, what are those unique records? Among some of the African-ancestored created records created by formerly enslaved people, one will find, 1) Labor contracts, 2) Co-habitation records 3) marriage records 4) Contraband camp rosters 5) Freedmen Hospital records, 6) Transportation records 7) Child recovery records, and so much more, 8) Slave bills of sale, 9) Freedmen’s Bank Records and also there are 10) embedded records which are large records of Black people embedded in other groups. US Colored Troops can be considered black people-generated records, also Oklahoma Freedmen records can also be considered a large record set, reflecting 14,000 records of once enslaved Oklahomans and their children.
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Well time to wind down, thank you for taking time from your schedule to tune in and listen this week. I have a writing project in which I am immersed. I am impressed with the large number of people who have committed to on-going writing projects that they have started since this summer’s MAAGI. Thank you so much for being here, and of course without you, there would be no podcast. Remember to join the indexing project. Again, thank you for tuning in once again. In the meantime, have a great week of research, and remember to keep researching, keep documenting, and keep sharing what you find.
