1st Carnival of African American Genealogy

The 1st CARNIVAL of AFRICAN AMERICAN GENEALOGY is announced!

Beginning today 19 February 2010, Restore My Name – Slave Records and Genealogy Research, will kick-off this African-American themed online genealogy "carnival" intended to be a gathering place for the community to share and learn about African-American genealogy.

This is an event for those who own genealogy blogs. (And if you don't have a blog---just read the entries and you might be inspired to start your own blog.)

What is a carnival of genealogy? ----It is an online event on which you post articles on your blog centered around one particular theme. Various bloggers write about this topic on their personal blog, and the carnival coordinator will compile the information and make a general report to the online community about the articles and bloggers who participated.

What is the value of a carnival of genealogy?
--This is wonderful way to learn about others who are online and busy pursuing their own genealogy, and what they have to share.

What is a value of an Afr. American carnival of genealogy?
--As you know many of us are always interested in finding new sources of data particularly when researching our ancestors who were slaves. Much of our research into the era of slavery depends upon finding documents in public and private resources about our ancestor's lives while they were still enslaved. AND---many of us know that many records of slaves still lie in the hands of private families. Many of those families are researching and conducting their own genealogy research, and some of them have blogs. This provides an opportunity for them to have a place and an occasion to share their family documents that mention slaves. During a 2 week period, as participants in "the carnival"----bloggers will write an article centered around a certain theme, and post them as they usually do on their own blog. The coordinator will visit the blogs, and collect the articles and then post links to the particular carnival articles on the Carnival of Genealogy website.

This new venture into African American genealogy resulted from a bold and poignant "Open Letter" submitted to the Genealogy Community, written by Georgia researcher Luckie Davis--an insightful Afr. American genealogist who hosts the wonderful blog OurGeorgiaRoots.com. (Her Open Letter can be found at: http://ourgeorgiaroots.com/?p=1483 )

The response from around the country has been fantastic, and bloggers of all backgrounds have responded generously to this effort. Her gesture and her working with Thomas MacEntee, the Carnival of Genealogy founder, has broken new ground, and this promises to provide more information for African American researchers.

Hopefully this effort will bring about two additional results-----1) African Americans now have a new avenue to pursue to find their ancestors from slavery era documents. 2) More genealogists, especially those who have been conducting genealogy for several years---will now consider creating their own blogs. By visiting blogs and reading these blog entries, readers will consider taking their own research into an new arena and will expand their own boundaries as well.

Congratulations and special thanks to Luckie Davis from OurGeorgiaRoots, and to Thomas MacEntee for this collaboration that promises to open new doors for African American genealogists.

Join the blogging community and let's get started!

For information on the Carnival of African American Genealogy please visit:

www.geneabloggers.com/carnival-africanamerican-genealogy