February 15, 2009
TRACING OUR
ROOTS
FOOTNOTE CELEBRATES BLACK AMERICAN HISTORY MONTH
Brenda Kellow
More than one million photos and documents not available
anywhere else on the Web are now on http://go/.fFootnote.com/blackhistory/?xid-391.
Individual stories telling how the government dealt with slavery, military men,
reconstruction, the civil war, and the civil rights movement
are just a few of the items on that site.
Several
interesting links are most interesting and probably necessary for continued
research of individuals whose background includes slavery.
Low country
Africana, http://lowcountryafricana.net/ spotlights the family and cultural
heritage of blacks in the historic rice-growing states of South Carolina,
Georgia and the northeastern area of Florida—a locality long identified as a
rich cultural area and home to the rich Gullah/Geechee way of life.
The findings of
historian Dr. Gwendolyn Midlo Hall of New Orleans uncovered the background of
100,000 slaves in the courthouse of Pointe Coupee Parish Louisiana as recently
as 1984. Owners brought these people to Louisiana in the 1700s and 1800s. To
find out more, go to the Afro-Louisiana History and Genealogy site at
http://www.ibiblio.org/lasave/.
A third site,
currently in Beta testing, is earmarked to be the central Internet database for
African and African American genealogy and history. This free site,
http://www.afriquest.com, is called AfriQuest.
Those
researching African American genealogy in the Americas will want to bookmark
Afrigeneas, http://afrigeneas.com. This site features a mail list, message
boards and daily and weekly genealogy chats.
Locally, the
University of North Texas provides a digital publishing program providing
Internet access to texts, images, and audio files on southern history,
literature and culture.
The University of North Carolina Library at Chapel Hill has holdings documenting
the American South. Their site explains the long-term commitment to the
availability of these holdings as well as the online records. A strong editorial
board oversees the American South collection of
books, diaries,
posters, artifacts, letters, oral history interviews, and songs on their site at
http://docsouth.unc.edu.
There are no records documenting all the slaves in America, but the above sites
dedicated to African American genealogy provide hope to connect your own
history, stories, photos, and documents. Footnote.com uploads many treasures
every day. Footnote.com is farsighted in featuring thematic collections such as
this one on African American genealogy and history not found anywhere else on
the Internet.
BEGINNING GENEALOGY: Tracy Luscombe, genealogy librarian, will speak on
beginning genealogy on April 25 at the McKinney Library in McKinney, 10:15 a.m.
until 11:45. There is no preregistration, fee, or donation requested or
required.
Brenda Kellow has a bachelor's degree in history,
teaches, and lectures on genealogy. Before retiring to publish her family’s
histories in 2007, Brenda held certification as a Certified Genealogist and as a
Certified Genealogical Instructor. Send reunions announcements, books to review,
and genealogy queries to: TraceRts@verizon.net.
