Gullah Roots

Charleston, SC

Roots and Branches: An African American Genealogy Project

 

                    Roots and Branches At

South Carolina Genealogical Society

37th Annual Summer Workshop

 

Roots and Branches participants and team leaders attended the South Carolina Genealogical Society's annual summer workshop in Columbia July 11 and 12.

They participated in two sessions on researching African American family histories.

Participants also heard talks by Shirley Gage Hodges, Genealogical Speakers Guild president, including one on how to mine census schedules and uncover details that are often overlooked.

Those attending the annual event took advantage of the event's location, the South Carolina Department of Archives and History. Between sessions, they analyzed ancestors' death certificates for facts and clues. 

Roots and Branches is planning a cemetery visit and picnic in August to build on that archival research.

 

 

Roots and Branches 2008 Workshops

“Roots and Branches: An African American Genealogy Workshop Series” is a year of guided research to develop and sharpen analytical skills essential to researching African American ancestors.

Participants in the free bi-monthly workshops are tracing one ancestral line throughout 2008 and following individual research plans between sessions. The next workshops are set for Sept. 13 and Nov. 8. 

  "Roots and Branches” is a multi-year project founded and directed by Wevonneda Minis, Post and Courier genealogy columnist. It is developing a network of family historians in Berkeley, Charleston and Dorchester Counties, S.C. who have expertise in researching African American ancestors that they can share within their communities.

Minis and fellow genealogists Elwood Stith and Giselle White-Perry lead the workshops, a combination of lecture, problem solving and goal setting. 

Anyone researching African American ancestors or working with an African American family historian attending the workshops should attend. Those who work in repositories used by genealogists also are encouraged to attend.

Funding for the workshops is provided by the Humanities Council of SC and the Carolina Lowcountry and Atlantic World Program of the College of Charleston. The sessions are hosted by the Family History Center of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and take place from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., 1519 Sam Rittenberg Blvd., Charleston.

The series is in observance of the bicentennial of the U.S. ban on international slave trading.

 

 

Roots and Branches:

The Beginning 

Leading African American genealogists visited Charleston to launch a project destined to inspire African Americans in South Carolina's Lowcountry to fill in the branches of their family trees.

Tony Burroughs and Dorothy Spruill Redford each delivered keynote addresses at “Roots and Branches: An African American Genealogy Conference” in Charleston on Oct. 27.

Panels of experts in African American genealogy and records also presented informing local blacks and those who support them know that they could and should set about documenting their family histories.

“Roots and Branches” is a community-based project building a network of genealogists to guide Charleston, Berkeley and Dorchester county residents researching African American ancestors. The next phase of the project is a 2008 workshop series that will focus on skills development.

The project’s founder and director is Wevonneda Minis, who writes “Kinship,” the Post and Courier’s genealogy column. It takes place within the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor designated by the federal government.

“This area is rich in underused records documenting enslaved and free blacks,” says Minis. “Several initiatives to make such records more accessible are underway. Roots and Branches will help black genealogists and those who support them to understand and use the records.”

The Carolina Lowcountry and Atlantic World Program of the College of Charleston. CLAW's director Simon Lewis is coordinating local activities to observe the 200th anniversary of the U.S. ban on international slave trading, hosted the conference.

Additional funding and support is provided by the Humanities Council of South Carolina, Post and Courier Foundation and Family History Center of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, workshop host.

 

 

Georgetta Rivers, family historian, at South Carolina Genealogical Society Workshop in Columbia.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Charleston, SC