Genealogy – African Roots Podcast

In this episode I am here with my good friend and colleague Shelley Murphy and we recently attended an event at Poplar Forest, the “other” home of Thomas Jefferson. We were there for African American Family History Day!

On Saturday September 22, we both presented there, and we talked about numerous issues at Poplar forest including looking at documents and we discussed methods of analyzing documents to tell the family story. Shelley was able to get the class to move beyond simply having a document, but to analyzing it and asking her favorite question—“So What?”

And I enjoyed the opportunity to get to share the story of how I was able to extract a story from a Civil War record, by telling the story that I found from one of my favorite ancestors—Uncle Sephus Bass! There was much interest in not only the story of Uncle Sephus and the 4 ancestors who were captured and who later escaped from Nathan B. Forrest but also of the US Colored Troops. Truly that was a wonderful day with much discussion about our job to find the story from the records.

The following day, Shelley and I sat down to reflect and our conversation evolved into one of our responsibility as family historians—which these days is enhanced so much more by DNA and its impact on genealogy

As we spoke, we asked questions— What do we do with sensitive information? What is our responsibility? Especially this arises when it comes to DNA. What do we do when find out that family members are not closely related to us? What is our role? Do we share it–and how do we handle it?

Listen to this lively discussion between Shelley and myself about our responsibility as researchers. I hope you enjoy our dialogue. Thanks for listening and remember to keep researching, keep documenting and always keep sharing what you find.

Welcome back to this week’s episode of the African Roots Podcast. You can always reach me HERE.

Well–summer is settling in and today I embrace summer and its beauty and warmth, but am a bit reflective today. We have things to celebrate, for we are at the end of a full year’s campaign to get the records of the Freedmen’s Bureau indexed completely. This began last year with the kick-off that started in California a year ago, and we are now near the end with 98 % of the records now indexed. Hopefully within the next several days we will get the word that records will be fully searchable and ready for genealogists to fully examine. This is truly something to celebrate. The spirit of Freedom is something that everyone in the human family can appreciate, and we are grateful to our ancestors for what they did and how they were resilient against incredible odds.

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I am busy preparing for tomorrow, for I shall be attending a Juneteenth event in Upper Marlboro Maryland as well. The Prince George’s County AAHGS is collaborating with the Historical Society of the county to host the Juneteenth celebration at the Watkins Nature Center.

The event is free and a wonderful family-friendly event, so bring the children and come and celebrate. There will be genealogy presentations from 10:30 till 4 pm, and I look forward to being one of the presenters.

Juneteenth celebrations are unfolding from coast to coast and from Texas to the Canadian border, so I hope that you will be have a chance to participate in the events in your own local community. Freedom belongs to everyone and let us embrace it.

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As joyous as the season of freedom is, today is also a sad day. What a difference a year makes, or better said, what a difference it does not make. This time last year, we mourned the death of 9 people in Charleston who were murdered in their church as they attended a bible study class. Today–a year after Charleston, we now add a new city to our list–Orlando. We mourn with that city as 49 innocent lives were taken by another “crazed” gunman. We thought we learned and grew from Charleston, but then again—we now face another season of tears. There are no words to express the sorrow and pain, and only time will truly heal the immediate pain felt by the families and friends.

There are no words, only prayers that can be offered, and perhaps our only response is to remember and to write about our own response to these trying times. In addition to last year in Charleston, and this year in Orlando, we continue life against a backdrop of hatred and vitriol on the political landscape, and head towards a campaign season that promises to be anger filled and bitter.

There are lessons from Charleston, and Orlando, but in the days that immediately follow they cannot be found. The pain and shock are too close to us.

So some of us can turn to the lessons of the ancestors, who 150 years ago found joy with freedom, but who faced incredible resistance during the years that followed. Their newfound freedom was ignored by many, and by many who had the power to still continue to oppress them. Indeed, they were bittersweet times, and today these are bittersweet times.

We must talk about them, write about them and leave lessons for those who follow us. Get the thoughts on paper and in those journals and diaries for those who follow. The strength that we show will be needed in the future.

Today is yes, a pensive day for me, and a reflective time. I embrace the spirit of freedom, but still feel for Orlando and still feel for Charleston, against a hostile political climate.

Let’s tell the story of these times, as well, as we move to a better future. Let’s remember in the meantime to keep researching, keep documenting, and keep sharing what you find.

Tag: Genealogy

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