Discover Your Roots

The next Discover Your Roots seminar is scheduled for Saturday, March 12, 2022!

A Free Family History Research Seminar

This is where I'm going to be on March 12th, 2022! Want to know why?

Do I need to remind you what happened in January 2021, or for that matter, what didn't happen in February, nor March 2021?  

Due to whatever, we didn't have The Discover Your Roots Free Family History Research Seminar for 2021!

I attended my first Discover Your Roots Free Family History Research Seminar in February 2020.

Although, February is a time for all Americans to celebrate the achievements of African Americans, March will serve as a good follow-up for discoveries made in February.  For many of my family members, it is a time to reflect on our personal roles in history as well.  

So, COVID, the politics, and everything else that occurred this year, created a 'void' for me, as a result of not having a 2021 Discover Your Roots Free Family History Research Seminar!

I am so excited to announce that our friends at Discover Your Roots (https://discoveryourrootsga.org/) are scheduled for the twelfth day in March 2022!  You’ll be able to share some of those incredible tips and ideas you learned at the seminar with your family and friends!  And, did I say it was free? 

Yeah, free!

Come join us!   

https://www.facebook.com/DiscoverYourRootsGA

Introducing: Stories from the Journeys

Thanks to support from Jean B. Randall, Inc., we are proud to present Stories from the Journeys, a collection of media developed from 'heritage' photographs and video featuring loved ones contributed by friends and family members.  We hope to entertain, educate and inspire you with these offerings and give you ideas on how you might tell your favorite personal history story.

We launch this debut with My Maternal and Paternal Grandparents, a short video submitted to PBS during their National Storytelling Project in February 2021:

 

Know Your (Personal) History

We (Janice and me) finished the month of  February with an incredible and enlightening day on Saturday, February 29th at the 2020 Discover Your Roots (Georgia) genealogy seminar held in Sharpsburg, Georgia.

https://www.facebook.com/DiscoverYourRootsGA/

The conference provided us the opportunity to learn from experienced genealogists, and teachers specializing in African American genealogy and historical research, with one-on-one assistance available in many instances.

One of the attendees, observing my name tag queried:  “Do you know the source of your name?”  Her inquiry sparked a conversation which reminded me of one of the many reasons why I became interested in knowing my family history.  This amazing interaction occurred within the first ten minutes we had arrived!  Needless, to say, we had an awesome day, discovering resources for searching, recording and presenting our stories to others.

We are looking forward to the 2021 Discover Your Roots (Georgia) genealogy seminar and hope to have you attend as well!

Knowing...

This profound quote, stemming from a philosophy, yielding a best-selling book, sparked a movement for people of all ethnic backgrounds to consider where they originate.  The story earned the writer a special Pulitzer Prize in 1977.  Today, the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages is a billion-dollar industry, providing information-sharing platforms unavailable until the end of he twentieth century. 

February is African American History Month!

And just that quick, we were distracted!

Someone famous, perhaps important, met their demise a few days earlier, we're reeling, sorrowful, maybe devastated, for certain, 'vulnerable' so, now it's February...

A faint voice in the room blurts: “Squirrel!”

The current leader(s) of this great nation, has (have) had many of our country's citizens hearing 'Squirrel' for a better portion of 1,111 days now (as of February 5th, 2020) and there appears to be no sign of change in the near future!

So on this day I am in an English classroom full high school seniors and I hoping to have a meaningful discussion—perhaps something by Chinua Achebe—"Things Fall Apart” maybe?

Before I could say Jackie Robinson—“Squirrel”!

The ‘noise’ from the video assignment was hurting my brain!  “Toby, get the jug!” (You guessed right, Toby, the servant is a Black man!  The pain is excruciating)   Then the man died!  Right there at the dinner table, Emily lost her mind! 

Next class, things didn’t get much better with ramblings of ‘small animal torture legal protocol,’ iguana shoes and the like, then…yep, you know!

…So, tonight, I’m takin’ my wife to see ‘Harriett!’

A Case fort the Support of Ancestry Study

"Those who have no record of what their forebears have accomplished lose the inspiration which comes from the teaching of biography and history."

Carter G. Woodson

A few weeks ago, a dear friend  said some disparaging words while voicing his opinion about genealogical DNA tests, in what seemed to me to be a kind of voicing of frustration aimed at 'The Establishment'.  "That Ancestry" shit is a hoax!  How can they claim that DNA testing can determine where you come from?  The cradle of civilization is in Africa!"

Well, in defense of my friend's ranting, well documented theories of migrations of humans from Africa has been recorded dating back as far as 300,000 years ago.  But in defense of the same support for the theory, the migration of modern humans out of Africa is based on mitochondrial DNA.  The acceptance of the technology of genealogical DNA is his rationale for his protests toward his 'conspiracy theory adversaries' (The Establishment).

I liken these types of discussions to the ancestor who used a rock to 'pound' a wooden stake in the ground meets the inventor  of a mallet trying to convince him of the benefits the future of hammer and nail technology.

Additionally, it is Mesopotamia that is deemed the cradle of civilization.  The area between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers (in modern day Iraq), is often referred to as the cradle of civilization because it is the first place where complex urban centers grew.  The origin of humans and the place where humans became civilized are not quite the same.

More importantly, the desire to know where a individual person originated is very personal.  The quest to find out where you come from, often satisfies the nature of those individuals who wish to journey into the past for whatever reason.  One person's glee derived from studying a grandparent's portrait or photograph should not be minimized by another,  nor should the amazement of discovering a census record placing a now-deceased loved one in a surprisingly positive home at a pivotal point in time, explaining the the trail to the present for an entire family.

I have been a supporter of Ancestry.com products since 1997, beginning with that year's version of Family Tree Maker, released by Brøderbund Software and have subscribed to the company's online services for several years.  I highly recommend AncestryDNA test kits, for which I have gifted to many of my friends and family.  Both my wife and I have completed the AncestryDNA testing and find its results and continual updates invaluable to our personal journey into our family history.

I highly recommend to anyone requiring information related to the advantages of embracing the technological advancements made in researching one's family history to check out Juliana Szcs' article  When Your Family History Meets Technology at:  https://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2019/02/25/when-your-family-history-meets-technology/

Cornerstone is Now Available in eBook on Kindle!

The Kindle version of never Remove the Cornerstone made its debut on June 1st 2019.  Go to:
https://www.amazon.com/Never-Remove-Cornerstone-commemorating-establishment-ebook/dp/B07R95DHS4/ to get your copy today!    

Enjoy the Journey!