Luckie Joins The LowCountry Africana Team!:-)

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