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…
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Family History Month Day 30 – Use DPLA for Genealogy

On Day 30 of Family History Month, use the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) for genealogy searches. It's free, regardless of where you live, and has more than 45 million items coming from over 2,000 institutions. DPLA doesn't host the original collections but it helps you find collections and then points you to the hosting institution.    SEARCHING AT DPLA At DPLA, you type a query in the "Search the Library" window, then look through the results page and select which item you wish to view and you'll be taken to the hosting institution. It's an easy way to search multiple institutions at once and have the best chance of returning a "hit." You can filter your searches in many ways. Here I searched for "City Directories" and I'll have the option to refine my search. DPLA found more than 120,000 City Directories (a pretty broad search) and on the left column some ways to refine this search include: Subject Location (City Directories from New York for example…
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Free Genealogy Stuff for the week of July 24th!

  Follow the OnGenealogy blog this summer for free genealogy deals. Some free genealogy stuff this week includes:     Sweepstakes: 23andMe DNA Sweepstakes, you don't have to purchase to enter (scroll to the bottom of the page and read the fine print). Sweepstakes ends at 11:59 pm PT on 8/3/17                     Blogs: 25 of the most important Milestone Words in German Genealogy by SK Translations                           Free Genealogy Webinars: Georgia Genealogical Society Webinar "The National Map Corps and Cemeteries" by Erin Koriss, Wednesday, July 26th, pre-register                  Legacy Family Tree Webinars "Analyzing Documents Sparks Ideas fo…
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