Research At The National Archives And Beyond!

Join Joseph McGill for a discussion on site in a slave cabin at the Hopsewee Plantation in Georgetown County, South Carolina. Since May 2010, Joseph McGill has spent a night in over 50 extant slave dwellings in the states of Alabama, Connecticut, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia, all in an attempt to bring much needed attention to these often neglected structures.  Known as the Slave Dwelling Project, it has been successful in highlighting the stewards of properties that are doing all that is necessary to preserve, interpret, maintain and sustain these structures.  The project has also identified many structures that are in desperate need of restoration.  What started as a personal quest has now evolved into a not-for-profit organization.  The project’s popularity does not allow McGill to sleep in these places alone anymore.  On Thursday, May 29, 2014, McGill spent the night in a slave cabin at Hopsewee Plantation in Georget

Have you just received your results and have no idea how to analyze them? What do you know about Identical by Descent (IBD) and Identical by State( IBS)?  Have you lowered the threshold on your DNA matches and discovered that you match everyone?  Should you do this and is it a valid indicator for identifying matches?  Shannon Christmas will discuss how DNA analysis, when used in concert with traditional genealogical research methods, can help family historians overcome challenges unique to genealogy research.  He will also answer your burning questions concerning the various DNA test. Shannon Christmas is an experienced genealogist specializing in genetic, colonial American, and African-American genealogy in Virginia and the Carolinas. He serves as a 23andMe Ancestry Ambassador, administrator of The Captain Thomas Graves of Jamestown Autosomal DNA Project, co-administrator of The Hemings-Jefferson-Wayles-Eppes Autosomal DNA Project, and blogger of Through The Trees, “a didactic guide to new tools and techno

The Washingtons of Wessyngton Plantation: Stories of My Family’s Journey to Freedom with John F. Baker Jr. Genealogy expert John F. Baker Jr. was born in 1962, in Springfield, Tennessee and has lived his entire life just a few miles from Wessyngton Plantation, in a town populated by hundreds of descendants of its slaves. His book, The Washingtons of Wessyngton Plantation: Stories of My Family’s Journey to Freedom, was published by Atria, a division of Simon & Schuster.  When Baker was in the seventh grade, he discovered the story of his ancestors when he saw a photograph of four former slaves in his social studies textbook.  Months later he learned that they were his grandmother’s paternal grandparents, Emanuel and Henny Washington, who were once enslaved on Wessyngton Plantation.  The plantation was founded in 1796 by Joseph Washington, a distant cousin of President Washington.  He has interviewed dozens of individuals ranging from 80 to 107 years old to collect their oral histories.  He studied more th

Do you have South Carolina roots?  Are you aware of the history of the large slave owning community of the Old Edgefield District?  What resources are available to assist you with your research? Join the co-authors of Our Ancestors,Ours Stories, Harris Bailey, Jr., Bernice Bennett, Ellen Butler, Ethel Dailey and Vincent Sheppard for a discussion about the resources they used to find information on their ancestors. You will find in Our Ancestors, Our Stories an historical overview of life and events in South Carolina, and particularly Edgefield, and a compilation of four unique stories depicting the discovery of the African American experience.  www.thememorykeepers.net  

Fatal Invention: How Science, Politics, and Big Business Re-create Race in the Twenty-first Century Dorothy Roberts, an acclaimed scholar of race, gender and the law, joined the University of Pennsylvania as its 14th Penn Integrates Knowledge Professor with a joint appointment in the Department of Sociology and the Law School where she also holds the inaugural Raymond Pace and Sadie Tanner Mosell Alexander chair. Her pathbreaking work in law and public policy focuses on urgent contemporary issues in health, social justice, and bioethics, especially as they impact the lives of women, children and African-Americans. Her major books include Fatal Invention: How Science, Politics, and Big Business Re-create Race in the Twenty-first Century (New Press, 2011); Shattered Bonds: The Color of Child Welfare (Basic Books, 2002), and Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty (Pantheon, 1997). She is the author of more than 80 scholarly articles and book chapters, as well as a co-editor of si

The Slaves Have Names: Ancestors of my Home tells the stories of the people who were enslaved on the plantation where Cumbo-Floyd was raised in Central Virginia.  It’s the story of her journey to get to know these extraordinary people and to understand her debt to them as well as our nation’s continued struggles around race and the legacy of slavery. Andi Cumbo-Floyd is a writer, historian, and genealogist who focuses on the history and legacy of slavery in the United States.  She lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, where she and her husband run a small farm with goats, chickens, and big, fluffy dogs.     

Join participants of the professiolnal genealogy class of the Midwest African American Institute for  an engaging and informative discussion on " Why Genealogy" with Matilda and her children. "The Genealogy as a Profession class at MAAGI 2014 created WHY GENEALOGY? centered around a slave named Matilda asking her descendants why they were or were not trying to find their family. Sarah Cato is the producer and host. Cast members: Konnetta Alexander is the slave named Matilda from the Graham Slave Records. Myra DeShields-Moulton tells about her research findings and the family books she’s written. Camile Camille Genealogy Sista Johnson representing the X-generation’s interest or lack of interest. Flavia Frierson asks why should she research that old stuff. Roland Miller shares the migration path of ex-slaves. Audrie McRay tells why she researches her family and makes family scrapbooks.

Are you planning a family reunion and have no idea where to start?  Are you integrating family history and genealogy in your family reunion activities? Callian Jenkins is a Senior Technical Project Manager at ICF International. In 2011, she planned and managed a large family reunion in Silver Spring, MD. Currently, with her family, she's in the process of writing a Family Reunion Planning Guide to help her other family members plan family reunions

Join author, Daniel J. Sharfstein for a discussion of his book and research - The Invisible Line - Three American Families and the Secret Journey from Black to White. Defining their identities first as people of color and later as whites, these families provide a lens for understanding how people thought about and experienced race and how these ideas and experiences evolved—how the very meaning of black and white changed—over time. Cutting through centuries of myth, amnesia, and poisonous racial politics, The Invisible Line will change the way we talk about race, racism, and civil rights. Daniel J. Sharfstein is a professor of law at Vanderbilt University.  A graduate of Harvard College and Yale Law School, he has been awarded fellowships for his research on the legal history of race in the United States from Harvard, New York University, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.  His book is available in paperback as The Invisible Line: A Secret History of Race in America, and it has won three prizes:

Join author Craig Steven Wilder for a discussion of his recent book - Ebony&Ivy: Race, Slavery, and the Troubled History of America's University. Craig Steven Wilder is a professor of American history at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and has taught at Wiliams College and Dartmouth College. Many of America's revered colleges and universities - from Harvard, Yale, and Princeton to Rutgers, Williams College, and UNC - were soaked in the sweat and the tears, and sometimes the blood of people of color. The earliest academies proclaimed their mission to Christianize the savages of North America, and played a key role in white conquest. Later, the slave economy and higher education grew up together, each nurturing the other. Slavery funded colleges, built campuses, and paid the wages of professors. Enslaved Americans waited on faculty and students; academic leaders aggressively courted the support of slave owners and slave traders. Significantly, as Wilder shows, our leading universities, dependent

Have you searched for records and finally found that special person you have been looking for?  So what?  What does the record tell you?  Is this all that you need? Join Dr. Shelley Murphy, aka "familytreegirl" for a discussion on the "SO WHAT" concept?  "So What" is a concept used in the Midwestern African American Genealogy Institute to help analyze genealogical records and resources. The goal is to question the value of the evidence and plan the path to new leads and discoveries.  Shelley Murphy, aka "familytreegirl" is a native of Michigan. Shelley has been an avid genealogist for over 25 years researching the Davis, Marsh, Goens/Goins/Goings, Roper, Boyer, Worden, Cureton, & Murphy, etc. family lines. She attends and presents at local and national conferences and currently works for a nonprofit and serves as adjunct faculty at Averett University. In addition, Shelley is a founding member and current President of the Afro-American Historical Genealogical Society Chapter of Central Virginia. 

  What role did the Irish play in the Transatlantic slave trade? Were the Irish ever enslaved or slave owners? Join my special guest, Dr. Maurice Gleeson for a compelling overview of Ireland and the Slave Trade. Dr. Maurice Gleeson is a psychiatrist from Dublin who works in London as a pharmaceutical physician. He is an avid genealogist and has traced his Irish family tree back to about 1800 on half of his ancestral lines. Using DNA, he was able to get back into the 1600's on one line, and this inspired his interest in Ireland's involvement with the Transatlantic Slave Trade.

Join Director, Charles Brown, Jr. and the Coordinators of the second Midwest African American Genealogical Institute of St. Louis, hosted by the historic Harris-Stowe State University for an exciting discussion of the courses offered over a three day period.  The faculty consists of individuals wth genealogy expertise with special emphasis on African American research strategies. The Institute will offer courses for the beginner, intermediate and advanced researchers to enhance their genealogy skills.

Join Director, Charles Brown, Jr. and the Coordinators of the second Midwest African American Genealogical Institute of St. Louis, hosted by the historic Harris-Stowe State University for an exciting discussion of the courses offered over a three day period.  The faculty consists of individuals wth genealogy expertise with special emphasis on African American research strategies. The Institute will offer courses for the beginner, intermediate and advanced researchers to enhance their genealogy skills.

Join Joseph McGill for a discussion on site in a slave cabin at the Hopsewee Plantation in Georgetown County, South Carolina. Since May 2010, Joseph McGill has spent a night in over 50 extant slave dwellings in the states of Alabama, Connecticut, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia, all in an attempt to bring much needed attention to these often neglected structures.  Known as the Slave Dwelling Project, it has been successful in highlighting the stewards of properties that are doing all that is necessary to preserve, interpret, maintain and sustain these structures.  The project has also identified many structures that are in desperate need of restoration.  What started as a personal quest has now evolved into a not-for-profit organization.  The project’s popularity does not allow McGill to sleep in these places alone anymore.  On Thursday, May 29, 2014, McGill will spend the night in a slave cabin at Hopsewee Plantation in Ge

Do you know about the African American 371st Infantry of World War I that fought in France?  Did you know that Sonya R. Hodges has dedicated her life to research and honor the men who fought in World War I to honor the memory of these dedicated soldiers? Please join Sonya R. Hodges- Grantham and Douglas Culbreth for a discussion of the role played by the African American 371st Infantry Regiment in World War I to honor the memory of these dedicated soldiers. The 371st Infantry Regiment, an African American unit of mostly South Carolinians came from small towns like Sandy Springs, Anderson, Edgefield, Ninety-six and Laurens. The 371st was permitted to fight, after disembarking from their troop ship at a tiny French village in April of 1918 after learning that they had been transferred to the French army.  The 371st was given French equipment, and had to turn in their prized Springfield rifles for French rifles. The unit was reorganized to fit the French army structure and spent the spring of 1918 training in

Part 2 David Wellington will share his twenty-eight years of research of discovering  his roots from slavery to freedom and how this discovery has brought about a Sense of Healing, Love of Family, Education, Liberation, and Unity. David Wellington is working with the Prince George's Afro-American Historical and Genealogy Society to celebrate the emancipation of Maryland slaves scheduled for November 1, 2014. He has been a docent for the Mary Surratt House Museum for a year. He also spoke at the first celebration of the African American Civil War Museum in Washington, DC in 1998 and lectures about his USCT Civil War Great Grandfather Pvt. Frank Worthington. Frank Worthington was born a slave in 1842 on a plantation in Pitt County, North Carolina.  He was owned by Isaac Worthington.  Frank escaped from slavery and on December 13, 1864, he joined the United States Colored Troops of the Union Army in New Bern, North Carolina.  Private Worthington served honorably through the remainder of the War in Companies B

Part I David Wellington will share his twenty-eight years of research of discovering  his roots from slavery to freedom and how this discovery has brought about a Sense of Healing, Love of Family, Education, Liberation, and Unity. David Wellington is working with the Prince George's Afro-American Historical and Genealogy Society to celebrate the emancipation of Maryland slaves scheduled for November 1, 2014. He has been a docent for the Mary Surratt House Museum for a year. He also spoke at the first celebration of the African American Civil War Museum in Washington, DC in 1998 and lectures about his USCT Civil War Great Grandfather Pvt. Frank Worthington. Frank Worthington was born a slave in 1842 on a plantation in Pitt County, North Carolina.  He was owned by Isaac Worthington.  Frank escaped from slavery and on December 13, 1864, he joined the United States Colored Troops of the Union Army in New Bern, North Carolina.  Private Worthington served honorably through the remainder of the War in Companies B

  Fathers of Conscience Mixed-Race Inheritance in the Antebellum South   Join Author Bernie D. Jones for an engaging discussion about her book - Fathers of Conscience - Mixed-Race Inheritance in the Antebellum South.    Fathers of Conscience examines high-court decisions in the antebellum South that involved wills in which white male planters bequeathed property, freedom, or both to women of color and their mixed-race children. These men, whose wills were contested by their white relatives, had used trusts and estates law to give their slave partners and children official recognition and thus circumvent the law of slavery. The will contests that followed determined whether that elevated status would be approved or denied by courts of law. Jones is Associate Professor, Suffolk University Law School.  She is a graduate of the New York University Law School and the University of Virginia Department of History.   

Join Sarah Abel for a discussion of her research in genetics and identity. EUROTAST is a Marie Curie Initial Training Network (ITN), supporting a new generation of science and humanities researchers to uncover and interpret new evidence on the history and contemporary legacies of the transatlantic slave trade. The network will be running for four years from 2012 to 2016, and will enable 13 PhD researchers in history, archaeology, social anthropology and population genetics to work collaboratively across disciplines to provide new perspectives on this history. The research will focus on three themes: Origins, Life Cycles, and Legacies, which they hope will not only lead them to further detail the slave trading system, but also help demonstrate how slavery fundamentally shaped the cultural and biological experiences of people of African descent around the world. Sarah Abel is a British PhD researcher, based at the International Centre for Research on Slaveries (Centre international de recherches sur les escla