African American Archives

RootsTech Connect 2021 Video Tour

Here's a 5-minute video tour of the RootsTech Connect 2021 Genealogy Convention. At the end of the convention hall tour is a 5-minute video explanation of Relatives at Rootstech, a new and improved feature that you can take advantage of from the comfort of your own home or office. There's also a free Surname Search tool if you haven't added yourself to the FamilySearch family tree (so they can't compute your Relatives at RootsTech). Be sure to visit www.rootstech.org, join Relatives at RootsTech, and see if we're related. I'm Alyson Tayler (maiden name) in the FamilySearch tree so that's how to search for me. And visit the Expo Hall vendors for free Conference swag and promotions. Some promotions and swag include: subscription discounts, free downloadable books, free downloadable genealogy magazines, resources from genealogy societies, and at the OnGenealogy booth I have a couple of free, fillable-pdf family tree art 8x10s you can download, fill out on y…

African American Genealogy Research

In honor of Black History Month and the contributions made by African Americans, here are curated files of African American Family History resources. These have been set up in digitally tabbed file folders--just select a tab and the file contents will be displayed. LeVar Burton (Geordi La Forge of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" and Kunta Kinte of the 1977 "Roots" miniseries) gave a powerful keynote address at last year's RootsTech. Maybe you had to be there or maybe you had to have lived in America in the 70s when almost every household, probably with an average of ten TV channels, tuned in to watch Roots. When parents were torn between "is this too graphic for the kids" and "is this too important to not let them see?" Burton summed it up perfectly when he said 'one family's story changed how America saw slavery' and that every story mattered. Black History Month celebrates all African Americans. From the first African American president to the most humble slave narrat…

Family History Month Day 17 – Visit AfriGeneas

On Day 17 of Family History Month 2017, visit AfriGeneas and see what they have to offer! AfriGeneas is a free website for anyone with African ancestry to help them find the resources they need for their family history research. Many of the collections are uploaded by volunteers and you'll need to register with AfriGeneas if you want to volunteer and upload files. AfriGeneas also has message boards/forums for exchanging information. Some collections you can explore at AfriGeneas include: African American Death Records - these are files uploaded by AfriGeneas volunteers and the volunteer's email is provided. African American Census Records African American Library Records-this includes general research guides and articles as well as records by state African American Marriage Records African American Photograph Collection-these are user submitted photos and are in alphabetical order African American Slave Data Collection-can be browsed by Surname