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February highlighted Black History Month and Heart Health, so in the same vein, March is recognized as Women’s History Month. As family historians, as we dig through family photos, letters, and ephemera, I charge us to take time and become familiar with women who shaped the history of African Americans with their lives, writings, and work. Women like:

*Zora Neale Hurston - anthropologist and writer who participated in the Works Progress Administration’s (WPA) Federal Writers’ Project (FWP). [Our ancestors may be captured in her writings.]

*Daisy Bates – “Guardian Angel” of the “Little Rock Nine”, and president of the Arkansas Chapter of the NAACP. [Family members may have been listed in the member rosters of the Arkansas Chapter of the NAACP]

*Mary Ann Shadd Cary – American writer, anti-slavery activist, educator, lawyer, first African American women to edit and publish a newspaper in North America, and second African American women to earn a law degree, late in her life. She worked with Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton in the women’s suffrage movement. [Some of our relatives may have moved to Canada and attended the school she founded in Windsor, Ontario.]

* Ida B. Wells-Barnett – activist, educator, journalist, and co-owner of the
Memphis Free Speech newspaper. [Great-grandparents or grandparents may have been captured in the articles of the Memphis Free Speech.]

*Charlotte Forten Grimke’ – author, educator, poet, and one of few African American women to recount her experiences during the Civil War, “Life on the Sea Island”, published by the Atlantic Monthly.

(https/www.thoughtco.com/african-american-women-writers-3528288
“27 Black American Women Writers You Should Know”, by Robert Longley)

The women listed are just a few of those who may shed light on the hidden circumstances, communities, and time periods of many whom we are researching. I did not include time periods for these women. Take the journey and discover that and more about those highlighted.

April ushers in earlier sunrises and warmer weather, let us celebrate what this new month has to offer. As family historians, we dig through family photos, letters, and ephemera, so it makes sense for us to join in the celebration highlighting April as “Records and Information Management Month,” or as I call it “Genealogy Good Practices Month.” This recognition is designed to promote good record keeping and information management and to emphasize the importance of having categorized and ordered documents and files.

“Records and Information Management Month” is spring cleaning for all of the records that you keep. Our documents and records are important, even precious, to us. So, keeping them organized and in a safe place should always be high on our list of priorities, and this month is the perfect time to get started.

(Source: nationaldaycalendar.com)

Happy hunting,
Marie B. Scott

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0uf--urT0uE9YTr9DJOXxrlb86pEdLNlFa

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

If you have had problems in the past accessing Zoom, please send us an email (vpbfghs@gmail.com) by Thursday before the meeting. We will try to help troubleshoot with you.

Meeting dates                                                   Troubleshoot date
April 10th                                                           April 8th
May 8th                                                              May 6th
June 12th                                                   June10th

REMINDER - IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT YOU USE THE LINK AT THE TOP TO REGISTER FOR THE MEETING.

Online Helps

BFGHS on ABC 15 News!!!!!
https://www.abc15.com/news/national/tracing-family-tree-is-tough-for-many-african-americans-due-to-lack-of-information-countrys-history

NGS - National Genealogy Society
https://www.ngsgenealogy.org/free-resources/
https://ngsmonthly.ngsgenealogy.org/municipal-and-county-clerks-records-online/

Levar Burton & Alex Haley

https://www.commercialappeal.com/story/news/2021/01/02/levar-burton-ilyasa-shabazz-reflect-alex-haleys-legacy-blm-protests/3950678001/

I Remember Mama, But Not Her Maiden Name

https://www.gagensociety.org/events/i-remember-mama-but-not-her-maiden-name

Extraordinary Black Missourians - This is our President - Marie Scott, brother in-law

https://youtu.be/1J88bTPeMB0

DIY Family History Gifts
https://tinyurl.com/59yshj6a

Historic Preservation Story Maps
https://www.phoenix.gov/pdd/story-maps

African American Experience in Tempe
https://www.tempe.gov/home/showdocument?id=83033

Genealogy eBooks
https://tinyurl.com/5re8pts7

Genealogy Q&A
https://tinyurl.com/jaju3tj5

BFGHS and Amazon Smile:

Our organization can earn money on items we purchase from Amazon! Use the link below and search for our organization. It will show our location as New River. Each time you shop from Amazon, sign into the Amazon Smile and we earn a percentage back.

https://smile.amazon.com/ref=smi_se_dshb_bk_smi

ETHICAL DILEMMAS

Marie B. Scott

If you are reading this, you have probably been involved in documenting your family history or have helped others document their family histories. Your involvement in capturing the history of ancestors may mirror that of many family historians. You have been, or are, consumed with collecting data and making sure that it is recorded on paper or electronically. As you go about the work of collecting information and recording it on pedigree charts and family group sheets, have you ever considered your ethical obligations to the information you are handling? Or the people that information represents? I consider myself the “gatekeeper” of my maternal and paternal family trees. A position that I have never taken lightly nor handled recklessly. The pious view I had of my genealogical process was blown to smithereens, however, once I read Ethical Dilemmas in Genealogy, by Penny Walters. A university educator with a Ph.D., Walter’s doctoral work focused on the “Ethical Dilemmas in Health Promotion.” As an adoptee, Walters has researched her family history, using the tool of DNA.

Ethical Dilemmas in Genealogy challenges the reader to look at the everyday things that are done when documenting the lives of ancestors. Walters wants us to determine whether those practices are being implemented from an ethical perspective. Practices such as, are you adding people to a tree, from suggested matches, without verifying the information? Your unverified information may then be picked up and added to the trees of others. Remember, if the information is not referenced it should be checked. Walters encourages researchers to be mindful of why: some individuals choose to make a tree private (Chapter Two “Ethical Dilemmas in Genealogy”); possible secrets that may be uncovered regarding parents (Chapter Three “DNA Testing”); names and surnames that are offensive due to connections to occurrences in history (Chapter Five, “Ethnicity and Identity”).

As researchers, we should carry around tools in our toolbox that will help us carefully and systematically uncover details of those who walked before of us. Ethical Dilemmas in Genealogy is a publication that I will use to remind me of my obligation to accurately communicate, and protect, the legacy of the individuals whom I research.

BFGHS Fundraiser

Purchase them from our website. Make wonderful gifts for friends and family.
The USB is a 16GB!!!! Lots of storage space for documents & pictures.

Upcoming April 2021 Events

April 1, 2021 - Social Media/Website Committee Meeting - 7pm
April 6, 2021 - Exec. Brd & Brd Meeting - 7pm
April 8, 2021 - Efficient Genealogy Research - Course 1/wk4 - 7pm - R. Matthews
April 10, 2021 - General Meeting - "AA church & Cemetery Records" - N. Orton - 10am
April 14, 2021 - Membership Committee Meeting - 7pm
April 21, 2021 - Family History Research "WW1, Death Certificate of men who actually served" - A. Everett - 7pm
April 22, 2021 - "African American Lineage" - R.Matthews - 7pm

Upcoming May 2021 Events

May 8, 2021 - General Meeting - "Rebuilding Your 1890 Census" - S. Murphy - 10 am
May 13, 2021 -"Efficient Gen. Research" Course 2/ Wk 1 - R. Matthews - 7pm
May 18, 2021 - Finance Committee Meeting - 7pm
May 19, 2021 - "Combined Military Service Records" - R. Matthews - 7pm
May 27, 2021 - "African American Lineage" - R. Matthews - 7pm

Upcoming June 2021 Events

June 10, 2021 - "Efficient Gen. Research - Course 2/ Wk 2 - R. Matthews - 7pm
June 12, 2021 - General Meeting - "Researching Using Railroad Records" - K. Harrison - 10am
June 15, 2021 - Program Committee Meeting- 7pm
June 16, 2021 - "Scanning & Oral Histories" - ASU - 7pm
June 24, 2021 - "African American Lineage" - R. Matthews - 7pm

Past Meetings - January, February & March

Our January meeting (top left) we learned about Native American genealogy. We learned about the passing of our good friend, DNA expert and extremely helpful genealogist Vicki Daviss-Mitchell.

During our February meeting we watched a short memorial video and said final goodbyes to Vicki Daviss-Mitchell. There was also a presention from the ASU crew.

March brought us a presentation on Arch Diocese records of NOLA (New Orleans Lousiana)

Happy Birthday to our Q2 members!

Paulette	Howard	1-Apr
Rosalie	Turner-Mullins	10-Apr
Doris	Robinson	20-Apr
Larry	Lee	9-May
Dominic	Scott	27-May
Linda	Parham	6-Jun
Steven	Bowden	8-Jun
Thomas	Campanella	13-Jun
Damita	Moore	17-Jun

BFGHS Newsletter

Our newsletter will arrive quarterly (January, April, July and October) to paid members. Please add vpbfghs@gmail.com to your contact list to help ensure its arrival in your inbox. You may submit stories, research information, genealogy hacks, etc., along with a graphic and any web link(s) one month prior to newsletter deadline to vpbfghs@gmail.com. See chart below

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