The wish of AfriGeneas Staff and Volunteers for All
Happy New Year
and
Happy Ancestor Searching, Finding and Documenting
on this first day of 2011 and for all the days to come.
We exist to support your plans and expectations.
Newly Digitized Records Preserve the Names of More Than 30,000 Slaves
SALT LAKE CITY – July 19, 2010 – Today Footnote.com (www.footnote.com) and Lowcountry Africana (www.lowcountryafricana.net) announced the launch of a new free collection of historical records from the South Carolina Department of Archives and History containing estate inventories and bills of sale for Colonial and Charleston South Carolina from 1732 to 1872. FamilySearch International donated the copies of the microfilm of the original historical documents.
Charleston’s role as a port of entry during the Atlantic Slave Trade means many thousands of African Americans may have ancestors who came from, or through, South Carolina. This new collection on Footnote.com will assist African American genealogy research by forming, in many cases, a seamless paper trail from Emancipation to the 1700s.
“Research about African American history and genealogy has often been especially difficult because of limited access to primary source material,” says Henry Louis Gates Jr., Director of the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research.
“Footnote.com is spearheading a revolution in access to the black past by digitizing major portions of the black archive, and making these records available on the Internet. The publication of these records from South Carolina in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries is the latest example of their bold commitment to resurrecting the African American past.”
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 1: BLACK HISTORY MONTH
Audio: Black History Month
Profile America for the first day of Black History Month. February is a time to recall and honor the many positive contributions to our nation made by the people of African descent. Started as a special week 84 years ago by historian Carter G. Woodson, the observance is now a full month of activities across the country. There are just over 41 million African-Americans in the U.S., 13½ percent of the total population. They are the largest minority group in 24 states. New York has the largest number of blacks at 3.5 million, and 17 other states are home to al least 1 million. The state with the highest percentage of African-Americans among its population is Mississippi at 38 percent. This special edition of Profile America is a public service of the U.S. Census Bureau, conducting the 2010 Census beginning April 1st.
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, Facts for Features, CB10-FF.01
Profile America is produced by the Public Information Office of the U.S. Census Bureau. These daily features are available as produced segments, ready to air, on a monthly CD or on the Internet at http://www.census.gov (look under the “Newsroom” button).
Eunice W. Johnson gave Ebony magazine its name and for almost 50 years produced an influential traveling fashion show that brought haute couture to African-Americans while raising millions of dollars for charity.
The widow of Johnson Publishing Co. founder John H. Johnson, Mrs. Johnson, 93, died of renal failure Sunday, Jan. 3, in her Chicago home, according to a company spokeswoman.
A close business partner of her husband’s since the beginning of Johnson Publishing in 1942, Mrs. Johnson remained the company’s secretary-treasurer at the time of her death and for years wrote a monthly fashion feature for Ebony magazine.
Johnson Publishing’s flagship, conceived as an African-American version of Life magazine and published since 1945, was named by Mrs. Johnson to reflect the mystique of fine black ebony wood, said Wendy Parks of Johnson Publishing.
But Mrs. Johnson’s greatest legacy may be her role as producer and director of the Ebony Fashion Fair, an influential event that for decades has been a showcase for the world’s top designers.
CANTON, Ohio – Bill Powell, the first African American to build, own and operate a golf course, died Thursday. He was 93.
The PGA of America said Powell died at Aultman Hospital in Canton following complications from a stroke.
“Bill Powell will forever be one of golf’s most unforgettable American heroes,” PGA of America president Jim Remy said. “Bill made us appreciate the game and each other that much more by his gentle, yet firm example.
“He was born with a fire within his heart to build on his dream. In the process, he made golf a beacon for people of all color. The PGA of America is better today because of individuals like Bill Powell. We will miss him dearly. We extend our thoughts and prayers to his family as we remember a wonderful man.”
In August, Powell received the PGA Distinguished Service Award, the association’s highest annual honor. In November, he was inducted into the Northern Ohio PGA Hall of Fame and honored as the Person of the Year by the Ohio Golf Course Owners Association.
The Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce also recently presented the Powell family with its Community Salute Award.
“My father made a mark,” said daughter Renee Powell, the second black player to compete on the LPGA Tour. “And, I believe that God wanted people to know the mark that he made on this nation.”
The grandson of Alabama slaves, Powell created Clearview Golf Club after returning home following World War II. While serving in Europe, he earned the rank of Technical Sergeant in the U.S. Eighth Air Force Truck Battalion.
Read the rest of this entry »
Race against time
Preservationists want to document plantation slave cemeteries before history is lost
By Prentiss Findlay
Eugene Frazier and Thomas Johnson surveyed a forest of graves at a hidden cemetery on James Island where they said more than 200 people are laid to rest. Most of the deceased are in unmarked graves. Many of them were Africans brought here as slaves, they said.
Frazier and Johnson have known about the graveyard for years. They told stories of how the property has changed hands over time. They talked about how they want to clean, document and preserve the final resting place of ancestors brought here in chains.
“This is not just unique to James Island. It is throughout the state really that you have this problem with burial sites,” Johnson said.
Johnson, founder of the Committee to Preserve African-American Cemeteries on James Island, said plantation slave cemeteries are as important as a history lesson. “I want my folks’ story to be told,” he said.
AfriGeneasTM reached 1500 fans on Facebook today. We picked up 500 fans in two months, 300 of those in the month of December alone! Anna Guy Burroughs of Willingboro, NJ was the 1500th fan. Our thanks Anna and all the other wonderful genealogists and family historians who make AfriGeneas possible! What a great way to start the new year!
The AfriGeneas Staff wishes you all a joyful, peaceful and prosperous New Year!
BY CHIKA S. ODUAH
NOV 11, 2009
Kimberly Warren was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2005. In March, she began to search her family history to find where the gene might have come from.
“It’s something in my body,” said Warren, who is 37. “I want to know who in my family it was that gave it to me.”
She joined the African-American Genealogical and Historical Society of Chicago this year to learn how to begin tracing her family roots.
As the society’s youngest member, Jones is part of a growing community of African -American genealogists in Chicago.
Formed in 1979, the African -American Genealogical Historical Society of Chicago is one of the largest of its kind in the nation. Some of its more than 200 members have published books, appeared in documentaries and lectured at national conferences.
“We’re here to dispel the mystery of our history,” said Roberta Mack, a society member. Mack has traced her family roots back to the 1860s. She said Alex Haley’s “Roots,” a historical novel published in 1976, made it okay for blacks to research their family.
“There are so many unknowns,” she said, “and we have to search for the answers and for the truth.”
It’s almost 2:00 in the morning and just arrived home after driving straight through from Ft. Wayne. Going to get a few zzzzzzs before I have to get up to go to work but wanted to post these photos for your enjoyment:
There’s more. Will add them over the next few days.
