Welcome back to the African Roots Podcast! You can reach me at AfricanRootsPodcast@gmail.com.
Well it’s finally here–welcome to African American History Month, 2015. This is doubly important, for this is a milestone year. Let us keep in mind that it has been 150, since Freedom came to millions of people, and only 50 years since so many people gained other privileges of citizenship. So many things to commemorate and so many things to do. This also begins a marathon of speaking engagements that I have coming up.
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Tomorrow at the African American Genealogy Conference will take place at the Family History Center in Laurel MD on Contee Road. The event will focus on Slavery Era, Cluter Genealogy Slave Index, Finding Maiden Names, Civil War Widows Pension and so much more.
Roots Tech is next week,and they are joining forces with the Federation of Genealogical Societies in Salt Lake City. More than 15000 people will be in attendance. This is quite exciting and I look forward to meeting people, and learning from them. Don’t forget the chance to catch some of the live video streams that you will be able to watch.
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If you missed last night’s show produced by Bernice Bennett. Her guest Carol Hector-Harris has researched her history to a free person of color. She also took a DNA test and had a chance to learn that one of her lines came from the Ga-Adangbe people. She traveled to Ghana and had a chance meeting with someone who was Ga-Adangbe and she had an amazing experience. In addition, her ancestor from Africa was also a Revolutionary War patriot. She was so enthusiastic, and her explanation was almost an emotional one. It might inspire many others to look into their own history. There were also quite a few callers on the show, who wanted to share their interest and applaud her success. Ms. Bennett’s show airs every Thursday evening on Blog Talk Radio. You can listen to the archived broadcast if you missed it.
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The Call for Papers for the 36th Annual AAHGS Conference is now out! This a great chance to make a contribution to the genealogy community by presenting your work at this event. The dates are October 15th – 17th in Richmond Virginia. The theme is “Virginia, Where African American Roots Run Deep.” The deadline is due on March 15th.
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Fold 3 is making the entire African American Collection for free during African-American History month. Take a look–data from all over the country, and you will be astounded at the vastness of this collection. Records that pertain to the slave ship Amistad, are in the collection. There are other records to explore–Civil War service records of the USColored Troops. Anti-Slavery records, emancipation records and so many more. So take a look at this collection.
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New Film reflects the saga of Cherokee Freedmen
Last weekend, those in the San Diego area got a chance to the the new documentary, “By Blood” that depicts the story of the Cherokee Freedmen. The film was released at the Southern California Black Films Festival. This story reflects the vary complicated saga of the descendants of those once enslaved in the Cherokee Nation. Hopefully this film will be distributed widely.
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Well, time to wind things down for this week. I am excited about upcoming events and hope to see some of you tomorrow, and some of you in Salt Lake City! Thank you for listening. In the meantime, remember to keep researching, keep documenting and keep sharing what you find.