African Roots Podcast Episode#353 January 8, 2016

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

Well we are now a full week into the New Year, and a full week 2016 has already gone by. But this is now time to get back into our normal pattern and back to our many ongoing projects.

A special congratulations to the new board of the Afro-American Historical & Genealogical Society. The new officers have been announced.  The election was held in December and the new executive committee has been shared with the public. Congratulations to all, and best wishes for much success as they move forward and serve their term in office.

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Calls for Papers

Two calls for papers are currently underway. The AAHGS Call for papers is now out, and the deadline is January 24th to submit. They are looking for speakers for the upcoming conference in Atlanta in October 2016. Send proposals to CallForPapers@aahgs.org

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The International Black Genealogy Summit is also looking for speakers for the September 2016 conference to unfold in the greater Washington DC area. Events will be held at the Crystal Marriott Hotel in northern Virginia. Proposals should be submitted to: program@blackgenealogysummit.com. The deadline for submission is February 1, 2016.

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Last night’s episode of Bernice Bennett’s show featured Erwin Polk who spoke about his research and the efforts to find his ancestor who served as a Buffalo Soldier. The discussion provided an overview to the history of the regiments that became known as the Buffalo Soldiers, and it focused on those who served on the western frontier. The 24th and 25th Infantries and the 9th and 10th Cavalry units were the primary Buffalo Soldier regiments. The story of the Buffalo soldiers are not researched nearly enough, and hearing more about these men may have inspired others to see if they too have ancestors who served during those post Civil Wr years on the western frontier.  Ms. Bennet’s show Research at the National Archives and Beyond, airs every Thursday evening at 9pm EST on Blog Talk Radio.

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Source of Image

This week was the re-entry of the PBS program, Finding Your Roots. I am always glad to see that the various televised programs encourage others to engage in the process of documenting their own family history. Seeing the number of people who are new and who come into the genealogy community. Much discussion has arisen in social media about the program, and two themes seem to have arisen this week. 1)The Same-name-as-slaveholder search, and 2) Use of Slaves Schedules.

1. The issue of Same Surname as Slaveholder is an interesting one. I know that several  years ago, Dr. Agnes Callum conducted a small survey and noted that with the men of the 7th US Colored Infantry from the Civil War, most in fact did not take the slave holder’s surname when they enlisted. I later heard another presentation by another researcher that had noted the same thing. My own experiences from Indian Territory also reflect that many Indian tribal Freedmen also had surnames unique from their slave holders. But perhaps there needs to be a large scale review by scholars to study this phenomenon.
2. Responsible Use of Slave Schedules. This one issue is cut and dry. The slave schedules of 1850 and 1860 generally did not reflect the names of the enslaved population. There are some exceptions when an enumerator did not follow instructions, such as the 1850 slave schedule of Cass County Texas. However, 99% of these records do not bear the names of enslaved people. Therefore it is clear that to point to an entry on a document with no name, and then to tell a client or guest “that is your ancestor”, or that is “most likely” your ancestor, is not responsible.  We as researchers, teachers, and students of history, must present the story with accuracy, clarity and honesty. Many people watch what we do, what we present and what we declare. Generalizations can be expected on television, as it is meant to entertain. However, there is the clear concern as expressed in social media this week, that we must not express that which we cannot prove and we must not present data that is not evident.Our tasks as educators, teachers, lecturers and professionals, should reflect the standards that we embrace as sound. Hopefully the team of researchers and producers hired by PBS who check for “quality control”, will also keep that concept in mind as programs go through the final editing process, not just to keep erroneous statements from airing, but also to keep erroneous statements from being made to unknowing and trusting guests. In the meantime, genealogy, which is our passion still continues on television, and we watch in eager anticipation of future episodes, because this is our passion. We applaud the efforts to bring more into the community that we hold dear, and at the same time, we must continually embrace truth, and clarity in what we do.

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Well I am winding things down for this first week in January. Thank you all for listening, I realize the demands on your time, and without you I would have no podcast. In the meantime have a successful week as you return to your own projects, and remember to keep researching, keep documenting and to keep sharing what you find.