1st Edition of the Carnival of African-American Genealogy Posted!

The 1st edition of the Carnival of African-American Genealogy has been posted! You can read it here. The topic for the next edition will be on

" Grandma’s Hand: Grandmothers and Their Influence On The Family

Host: Sandra Taliaferro of I Never Knew My Father

Grandmothers are often the matriarchs of the family. In fact, truth be told, many of us were raised by our grandmother; if not, she was definitely a constant in our lives.

For the 2nd Edition of CoAAG: Grandma’s Hand, write a post about your memories of your grandmother and be sure to include a picture of Grandma if you have one!

Submissions deadline: 12 April 2010"

Enjoy!

Another New Genealogy Carnival!

Another genealogy carnival has been started, and this carnival is the Carnival of African-American Genealogy. The topic for the first edition will be on "Restore My Name - Slave Records and Genealogy Research," and you can read more about it here. Enjoy!

Summer Reading Challenge Book Review 4

I have finished reading another book, and like the previous three books I read, this book was also on my reading list for my fall history class. This time, I read Bleeding Kansas: Contested Liberty In The Civil War Era by Nicole Etcheson (Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas, 2004).

As you can tell from the book's title, this book is about Kansas' struggle to become a state before and during the American Civil War, and the civil war-like fighting that led to Kansas being called "Bleeding Kansas." The author argues that the fighting in Kansas was originally concerned with the rights of white people but that the fighting eventually resulted in concerns for the rights of African-Americans as well. She also argues that Kansas would led the way in the nation in granting rights to African-Americans during the Civil War. The author also ties in the fighting in Kansas with other events that occurred elsewhere in the United States during this time period.

Would I recommend this book? Yes, I would. The book was fairly easy to read, and I think the average person would be able to read and enjoy the book. Before I read this book, I only had a basic understanding of Bleeding Kansas from reading textbooks, but after reading this book, I have a better understanding of what occurred in Kansas in the mid-to-late-1850s. (I should note that although I will be working with the author in the fall, she did not ask me to read her book. I am reading this book ahead of time for my fall history class. I will be writing reviews of the other history books that I still have to read for the class.)

(As a side note, this post happens to be the 1,000th post since I started this blog!)

Summer Reading Challenge Book Review 3

I have finished my third book for this reading challenge! The book I read this time was Soul By Soul: Life Inside The Antebellum Slave Market by Walter Johnson (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1999). Like the two previous books I read and reviewed, this book was on the reading list for my fall history class.

As you can tell from the book's title, the book focuses on the slave market in the South between 1810 and 1865. Most of the focus is on the New Orleans slave market, but the author does focus on the internal slave trade between the Upper and Lower South. The author also focuses on the slave masters and slaves thoughts and experiences with the slave trade and slavery. Additionally, he also explores how slave traders were able to convert human beings into items, and the beliefs of those who bought the slaves.

Although I have read about slavery in the United States before, I did not have a complete comprehension of the evils of slavery. I knew slavery was evil, but I did not realize or comprehend how bad it was until I read this book. For me, this book brought the experience of slavery to life more than anything else I had read before, and I was able to picture what life was like to live in a society with slavery, either as a slave or someone who was free. This book brought an aspect of history to life that I had read before and thought I understood. If you want to learn more about slavery in the United States, I highly recommend that you read this book.

Here's An Interesting Article: Another Shipwreck Found ...

I just happened to notice this article on yahoo, and I thought I would share the link to the article. Apparently, a shipwreck of a slave ship has been found in the Caribbean. (This article caught my interest because one of my history classes deals with slavery and emancipation in Latin America.)

Military History Reading Challenge: Book Review 3

I have just finished reading my last book for the Military History reading challenge, and as a side note, I will be posting the list of the books I read with links to the reviews. The book I chose for my last choice was Avengers of the New World: The Story of the Haitian Revolution by Laurent Dubois (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2004).

Why did I choose this book? Well, this one of the books I am supposed to read for one of the two history classes I'm taking this semester. I could have chosen to read another book for this challenge, but since I enjoyed reading this book, I thought I would write a brief review about it. In addition, I do not believe many Americans know much about the Haitian Revolution, so I thought this would be excellent book for those who do not much about the revolution in Haiti. (Before I read this, book I hardly knew anything about the Haitian Revolution outside of the fact that the slaves in Haiti revolted against their masters around the same time as the French Revolution.)

Laurent Dubois' book gives background into what society on the French colony of Saint-Domingue (now Haiti) was like prior to the revolution, and he especially highlights the racial character of the society's hierarchy. In addition he explains that the white landowners' push for autonomy from France and denial of political rights to the free, colored landowners was the foundation for the Haitian Revolution. (The fight for legal rights created tensions between both sides.) In addition, the French Revolution's ideals would also began to feed into the problems in Saint-Domingue, but as the revolution in Haiti continued, it would also influence the path of the French Revolution.

In short, I thought it was an excellent book, and I liked how the author put the revolution in context with what was going on outside of Haiti at that time. Additionally, I felt the author's explanation of the social conditions in Haiti was excellent, and I felt that his description of Saint-Domingue's society gave me a better understanding of why events in Saint-Domingue and France occurred as they did. If a person wants to read about the Haitian Revolution, this is one book that should be read.

Here's Another Interesting Article ...

I just happened to notice this article today, and I thought I would post the link to it today. It has to deal with an issue in U. S. history, and you can read it here. Enjoy!

Genealogy and History Thoughts Column 15 - Dealing With the Ugly Side of History: Slavery in the United States

Earlier today, I posted a link to an article on one family's discovery of their involvement in the slave trade, and afterwards, Thomas asked me what my thoughts were about this article and its affects on genealogy research. To be honest, this is a difficult topic to write about, and I'm not sure I can write a post that does justice to this topic. I will try my best, though.

Do I believe a discovery like the one the family made above would deter or stop people from doing genealogy? Maybe. I think it depends upon whether or not the genealogists in question were prepared to expect to find ugly family secrets. Even though I have no clue how many people might be scared away from doing their genealogy, my guess is that the number would be fairly small. (Of course, I could always be wrong.)

To be honest, I think if I found a dark family secret, it would still come as a shock to me even though I know I might uncover something ugly in my family's past. I have not uncovered any slave-owning ancestors yet, but I am not going to be presumptuous and claim that I do not have any ancestors who were. I might still uncover an ancestor who was a slave-owner.

If I find a slave-owning ancestor, what will I do? To be honest, I do not know what I would do, and I guess I will not know unless I come upon this situation. But, I think the best solution would be to be honest about my family's past. It probably would be difficult to admit, but I do not believe hiding or white-washing my family's past would be a good decision. History is full of incidences where humans have behaved ugly or done horrible things to other humans, and it does not do anyone any good to try to hide the past.

An Article On A Family Secret ...

A couple of days ago, Thomas wrote about a documentary that he watched on one family's role in the slave trade. Well, I just happened to find a brief article on the family today from the History News Network. You can read the article here.