It has truly been a SUPER-busy but blessed week for me! Seems like my formal name change on Tuesday switched on a light & I’ve been in motion ever since — putting my promises of progress/change in 2010 to action.
At the top of my list – honoring my commitment to the LowCountry Africana team to provide coordination support for the collection of Georgia [Low-Country] records.
Well I’m happy to report, early this morning in the wee-hours, the LowCountry Africana – Georgia Records Collection went live! Yep, that’s right — we’re gearing up to kick some Georgia genealogy *brick wall* booty!:-)
In the upcoming months I’ll take on several genealogy projects that will have a deep impact and benefit to the African-American researcher tracing slave ancestry in Georgia — trust me. And as part of my genealogy commitment for 2010, I’ll continue to assist descendants of slave holding families with sharing their Ancestors slave data.
This work is essential to connecting our collective “genea-dots” and bringing historical peace to our Ancestors.
For my Friends and Family who have supported me here at Our Georgia Roots for almost 2 yrs now (wow – that long?!) – THANK YOU. One day you will know, in full transparency, just how much I depended on this community to pull me through one of the toughest periods of my life.
But let me also challenge you to keep up the work of supporting genealogy blogs as a whole, and Slave/African-American Ancestry-based dialogues specifically.
As a community, we have a lot of “catch-up” work to do and a very unique task that differs from the average researcher — that of researching the slave AND the respective slave holder.
We must TALK, we must SHARE, we must CONNECT and while I love OGR @ Twitter, it is your support on the blog(s) that has posterity. Tweets are what they are meant to be — brief, fleeting connection points.
Support of a blog and/or community, not only encourages the author, it binds him/her to the community and many times is instrumental in beating down a long-standing brick wall.
So please, if you are not blogging – head to Blogger.com now, you’ll be live in MINUTES. If you are not sharing — jump in to the conversation now. If you are not documenting — pick up the pen, paper or mouse now and get busy!
Our Ancestors have waited long enough to have their memories revived and stories shared. Don’t allow you, the chosen Griot of your family to be the barrier in their way.
Now, enough lectures — go read LCA Georgia Collections Launches! Time To Work! cause we’re gonna shake the tree at the root Baby and gather a bounty of Genea-fruit!:-)
Luckie.
@LCAfricanaGA
Happy July 4th Family!
I am thrilled to announce that I will be joining LowCountry Africana as the Coordinator for Georgia Records! Woo-hoo!
Funded by The Magnolia Plantation Foundation of Magnolia Plantation and Gardens in Charleston, South Carolina, LowCountry Africana is a PHENOMENAL initiative dedicated to the preservation and cataloging of records that document the family and cultural heritage of African Americans in the historic rice-growing areas of South Carolina, Georgia and extreme northeastern Florida, an area that scholars and preservationists have identified as a distinct culture area, home to the rich Gullah/Geechee culture.
Simply stated, my role for LCA will be to coordinate the collection of Georgia records as it grows in leaps and bounds, while also sharing genealogical information and resources with researchers.
Additionally, it’s my personal mission to “encourage” as many ethnic researchers as possible to bring their efforts FULLY online!:-)
I wholeheartedly believe that in order for us to make true genealogical “traction” we MUST utilize the benefits that modern day technology affords. This includes participating in online genealogical communities, joining historical organizations, attending genealogy events, posting detailed family information to the very popular [and SUPER effective] message boards and using tools like Twitter to stay up-to-date on genealogy news and tools that make the research far less painful than it use to be.
I’ll say it because I can… black folks {yes, I said black folks} traditionally have been taught by Grandma to keep our business private!:-)
Added to that, most researchers are not “techies” and researching slave ancestry stings – BAD! All of these factors can often dissuade us from interacting with groups that we will ultimately need to move our research ahead – face it, our efforts can only reach as far as 1865.
But here’s the upside… there are principles {for the most part} in the genealogical community that “trump” the ugliness of what we’re researching, which for me, has also been very healing. I have been the constant beneficiary of community support and random-acts-of-kindness throughout my 12 years of researching.
The camaraderie I share with fellow genealogists, across color lines, is one of the biggest benefits to the work!
I have always been open in saying that without the support and information received from the WINGFIELD Family Society in my early years, my Georgia research would have gone nowhere fast! Wilsie Carr Wingfield, the Great Granddaughter of Archibald Wingfield {owner to many of my Wingfield ancestors}, was the person who introduced me to my 4th Grandfather, James Wingfield!
So let us either begin and/or continue on this journey together! I can feel it, our Ancestors have more to their respective stories they want [us] to share!:-)
Luckie.
Got Georgia records? Contact – Luckie@LowCountryAfricana.com
Our Alabama Roots ~ Barwick & Related