African American celebs looking for their Roots.

New technology, the digitization of statistics and the popularity of  genealogical programs on TV have stimulated many African Americans to seek out their roots. While it can be very difficult to trace family lineages through paper trails back to the mother land, DNA testing does enable the discovery of ethnic origins in Africa. Watch and see some of the interesting results.

If we look carefully we'll find that we all go back to one source.

Noted Negro Women : Their Triumphs and Activities (1893)

African American She-roes of the late 19th Century.
They face no easy task right after the Civil War when so many of
their people were destitute. The freedmen often had no homes, no education
and limited prospects. These women gave their all to advance the race

E-Book available online in several popular formats and full text.



Author: Majors, Monroe A. (Monroe Alphus), b. 1864; Vivian, C. T., former owner. GEU
Subject: African American women; African Americans
Publisher: Chicago : Donohue & Henneberry
Language: English
Digitizing sponsor: Emory University, Manuscript Archive and Rare Books Library
Book contributor: Emory University, Manuscript Archive and Rare Books Library
Collection: africanamericanliterature; emory; americana

Link
https://archive.org/details/27056814.4698.emory.edu

Centennial Encyclopaedia of the African Methodist Episcopal Church:

containing principally the biographies of the men and women, both ministers and laymen, whose labors during a hundred years, helped make the A.M.E. Church what it is : also short historical sketches ... and general information about African Methodism and the Christian church in general..

Author: Wright, Richard R. (Richard Robert), b. 1878; Hawkins, J. R. (John Russell), b. 1862

Subject: African Methodist Episcopal Church; African Methodist Episcopal Church

Publisher: Philadelphia : [s.n.]

Language: English

Call number: b2551292

Digitizing sponsor: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Book contributor: University Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Collection: docsouth; unclibraries; americana

Link

https://archive.org/details/centennialencycl00wrig

Women Of Distinction :

Remarkable In Works And Invincible In Character (1893)

Digitizing sponsor: LYRASIS members and Sloan Foundation
Book contributor: State Library of North Carolina, Government & Heritage Library
Collection: statelibrarynorthcarolina; americana

Author: Scruggs, L. A. (Lawson Andrew), 1857-1914

Subject: North Caroliniana; African American women; African Americans; Women

Publisher: Raleigh : L. A. Scruggs

Link
https://archive.org/details/womenofdistincti00scru

Two Colored women with the American Expeditionary Forces c(1920)

 The Authors:
Addie. Hunton , b. 1866  and Kathryn M. Johnson (Kathryn Magnolia) , b. 1878
Put together this wonderful book that documents the participation of African Americans in WWI.
It contains lots of photographs often including the names of the men, making this a good source for genealogists to dig around in.





Author: Hunton, Addie W., b. 1866; Johnson, Kathryn M. (Kathryn Magnolia), b. 1878
Subject: World War, 1914-1918 -- African Americans; World War, 1914-1918 -- War work Young Men's Christian associations; World War, 1914-1918
Publisher: Brooklyn, N. Y. : Brooklyn eagle press
Possible copyright status: NOT_IN_COPYRIGHT
Language: English
Call number: srlf_ucla:LAGE-1656845
Digitizing sponsor: MSN
Book contributor: University of California Libraries
Collection: cdl; americana

Link

https://archive.org/details/twocoloredwomenw00huntiala

Women of Achievement by Benjamin Brawley

   Written for the Fireside Schools, 

Under the Auspices of 

the Woman's American Baptist Home Mission Society

by Benjamin Brawley

   I.     Introduction The Negro Woman in American Life

 II.     Harriet Tubman

III.    Nora Gordon

IV.     Meta Warrick Fuller

  V.     Mary McLeod Bethune

 VI.     Mary Church Terrell

Author: Brawley, Benjamin Griffith, 1882-1939; Woman's American Baptist Home Mission Society

Subject: African Americans; Women; African American women
Publisher: [Chicago, Ill.] : Woman's American Baptist Home Mission Society
Possible copyright status: NOT_IN_COPYRIGHT
Language: English
Call number: ucb_banc:GLAD-185380101
Digitizing sponsor: MSN
Book contributor: University of California Libraries
Collection: cdl; americana

History of the American Negro and his institutions; (1917)

Author: Caldwell, Arthur Bunyan, 1873-
Volume: 1
Subject: African Americans
Publisher: Atlanta, Ga., A. B. Caldwell Publishing Co.
Possible copyright status: NOT_IN_COPYRIGHT
Language: English
Call number: b2755243
Digitizing sponsor: MSN
Book contributor: New York Public Library
Collection: newyorkpubliclibrary; americana
Notes: missing+pages+83%2F4%2C97%2F8+and+681%2F2

This book has an editable web page on Open Library.
Description
Vols. 2- have title: History of the American Negro. Vols. 1-2, Georgia ed.; v. 3, South Carolina ed.; v. 4, North Carolina ed.; v. 5, Virginia ed.; v. 6, Washington, D.C. ed.; v. 7 West Virginia ed



History of the American Negro and his institutions; (1917)
Links Volumes  1-7

• Volume 1 Georgia ed - https://archive.org/details/historyofamerica01cald


• Volume 2 Georgia ed - https://archive.org/details/historyofamerica02cald


• Volume 3  S. Carolina ed - https://archive.org/details/historyofamerica03cald


• Volume 4  N. Carolina ed - https://archive.org/details/historyofamerica04cald


• Volume 5 Virginia ed - https://archive.org/details/historyofamerica05cald


• Volume 6 Washington, D.C. ed - https://archive.org/details/historyofamerica06cald


• Volume 7 West Virginia ed - Not Available at this time

The New Afriquest Database

I haven't tryed this out yet, I'll revisit the subject when I do.

February 26 -- After a successful beta period, Afriquest
(www.afriquest.com), the free online database for records of African and
African American genealogy and history, will officially launch on Saturday,
February 28.

The Afriquestdatabase will allow anyone to add records, including both text and images.

Furthermore, anyone will be able to access, print and use the records for
research purposes - absolutely free. The software is easy t0 use and has a powerful search engine to help readers quickly find what they are looking for.

Access to the entire content of the Afriquest database will always be free. That's what Afriquest is all about - keeping records of African
and African American genealogy and history free for anyone to access.
So every record shared on Afriquest will not only be preserved, it will be free to access now and for generations to come.
As the databasegrows, Afriquest will become a valuable resourcefor genealogists, historians and educators.

About the collaborators:

WeRelate is a free
public-service wiki for genealogy sponsored by the Foundation for On-Line Genealogy, Inc.
in partnership with the Allen County Public Library.

The USF Africana Heritage Project
is an all-volunteer research project sponsored by the
Africana Studies department at the University of South Florida.
Their research mission is to rediscover records that document
the names and lives of slaves, freedpersons and their descendants
and share those records on the free Internet site

www.africanaheritage.com.

Their searchable online database contains more than 4,000 primary historical documents of interest to anyone researching
African American genealogy, history and culture.
For more information, please visit the USF Africana HeritageProject press kit at
http://www.africanaheritage.com/Press_Kit.asp.

Center for African American Genealogical Research, Inc.

 The Center for African American Genealogical Research, Inc.

is an organization that came to my attention when I was researching The Little Ark Baptist Church. They had an article about the cemetery that's connected to the church. As I explored their web site I found some very interesting features.

 I have only relatively recently taken an interest in my family history, which lead me to discover one of the more important web sites called Ancestry.com. I found details of my family on both sides that neither myself nor some of the older members of my family knew. Thus far I have been able to trace my ancestors back to the late 1700s and I'm not completely stuck yet. I have even been able to find my great great grandfather's civil war record, as well as a record of his father's death. The thing about Ancestry.com is that there is a yearly subscription fee which while not extravagant can be a bit much if your budget is tight, as was the case for myself this year.

This is where the importance of my discovery of the CAAGRI comes in.
They offer a number of very important services as well as the opportunity to involve yourself in this very important research.


First a free membership in organization entitles you to use a database of census records to search for your African American ancestors. These are the similar to records I used to discover tons of information about my forefathers this resource is invaluable if you want to do any serious online research.

Next you have the opportunity to volunteer and aid others and as well as the general cause of this very important historical research.
Actually if it wasn't for a list I found that someone considerately posted online my search would have been more difficult.

I don't need to say much more on this subject a visit to their web site can tell you much more than I can.

Save the Cemetery!

I was googling a church that has a cemetery where quite a few of my forefathers lie in rest when I came upon a a web site that mentioned that the cemetery is in fact in some jeopardy.

The church in question is the Little Ark Baptist Church in Virginia.

Little Ark Baptist Church like many African American churches have roots that go back to the times of slavery. In 1876, 10 years after the signing of Emancipation Proclamation, the Antioch Baptist Church in King George, Virginia, under the Reverend John Fleming, granted permission to a small group of members to form a congregation at the northern end of the county. That small group formed the Little Ark Baptist Church on property purchased for $25.00 per acre.

During World War II, President Roosevelt condemned much of the Dahlgren community to make way for the Dahlgren Naval Surface Warfare Center. In addition to displacing generations of families of former slaves, he decided he needed to build a railroad to transport equipment and supplies to support his war effort. In 1942, the US Government, Department of the Navy TOOK this land with the cemetery already well established and put the railroad tracks right through it! The remains of members of the church and their families have been disinterred and re interred throughout the cemetery leaving no one family together in what is supposed to be the final resting place. All remains were removed --except one.

After the war was over, the rails were removed but the division in the cemetery has remained. Funerals services for families who had plots in the old cemetery could no longer be interred as the caskets were becoming increasingly too heavy to carry across the empty tracks.

Recently, the Little Ark Baptist Church has been engaged in a battle to save the cemetery from yet another attempt to further destroy the sanctity of this cemetery. David Brickley, a former state legislator from Woodbridge, plans to turn the easement into what he's calling "the Dahlgren Railroad Heritage Trail" so that nature lovers, hiker's and biker's can walk and run through this sacred burial ground and further trample on the one man who's remains have not be removed. Mr. Brickley acquired the rights to this easement via Quit Claim deed from a former King George County Commissioner: Joe Williams who also acquired it by Quit Claim Deed or so the story has be told. Funny thing about Quit Claim Deeds, you don't have to prove ownership.

If you haven't noticed, cemeteries where African Americans are buried are status quo targets for the sacrilegious. The King George County Board of Supervisors have the ability to put a permanent end to this "Trail to Hell" project. Whether you live there or not is irrelevant. The idea that somehow it is okay to disregard those buried in the cemetery who were born a slaves and fought in wars in defense of all of our freedoms is enough to get involved. Be the voices that can no longer be heard.

Please contact these Supervisors and encourage them to take this opportunity to protect the sanctity of this sacred burial ground by restoring it back to the original owner: the Little Ark Baptist Church.

Phone calls and faxes can be receive at:

(Phone) 540-775-9181

(Fax) 540-775-5248

Cedell Brooks, Jr. Shiloh District Supervisor	James B. Howard James Monroe Supervisor
Joseph W. Grzeika James Madison Supervisor	C. Stephen Wolfe II Supervisor, Dahlgren District
Dale W. Sisson, Jr. Supervisor, At-Large District	R. Bryan David County Administrator

News Articles Related to This Story:

The web site is The Center for African American Genealogical Research at
http://www.caagri.org/