Find Your Folks

My Colored Roots Blog

professordru@yahoo.com (Professor Dru) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 10:52:00 +0000

Today, I’d like to introduce you to the My Colored Roots blog by my blog reader, Darlene. I have noticed Darlene’s comments on my blog for a while and was fortunate to meet her at the International Black Genealogy Summit a few weeks ago. She also attended my “Power of Blogging” workshop at the conference.

I featured Darlene in my blog posting Unleashing Your Inner Afrocentric.

Congratulations to Darlene on entering the blog world and I wish you much success in your future blogging endeavors.

Life From the Roots Blog

professordru@yahoo.com (Professor Dru) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 11:12:00 +0000

Today, I would like to introduce you to the Life From The Roots blog by my online friend, Barbara Poole. Barbara has been a bit shy about introducing her blog, but it is an outstanding and attractive site. I especially like her posting entitled My Scrambled Eggs which talks about research of her SCHRAMBLING OR SCHREMBLING family.

Barbara and I have known each other online for about three years and we met face-to-face in 2007 when I attended a genealogy conference in her area. (For more on this meeting, read posting on The Excitement of Meeting Online Friends.

Congratulations to Barbara on the success of your blog and I look forward to reading more exciting postings.

Unleashing the Inner Afrocentric-Wearing African Attire

professordru@yahoo.com (Professor Dru) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:02:00 +0000

Many of the conference attendees of the International Black Genealogy Summit "unleashed their inner afrocentric" by dressing in various African styles during the conference activities. Darlene, one of my faithful blog readers, whom I met for the first time at this conference, wore this beautiful African styled ensemble with a bright yellow head wrap on Saturday.

Darlene is beautifully dressed in brown/tan/yellow earthtone colors with a dark brown short sleeve shirt and a earthtone colored wrap skirt. The bright yellow head wrap brings out the colors in her blouse and skirt.

Here is a back view of Darlene's head wrap. I sat about two rows behind her in the "Genealogy File and Time Management" workshop conducted by Shelley Murphy.

***************

"I like your head wrap,"

I said to Darlene after the workshop ended.

"I got the idea from your blog," she told me.

As a blogger, that made me feel good to know that my blog posting had positively influenced someone. I recognized the style of Darlene's head wrap from a video I had viewed on YouTube , however, I did not post that particular video on my blog. I did, however, post three videos on "How to Tie an African Head Wrap". It was these videos that gave Darlene the idea of wearing a head wrap and African attire to the conference.

"After reading your blog, I searched for more videos and found the TheTonyaTkoShow ," Darlene also told me.

She wore the head wrap style demonstrated by Tonya in the video below.

3 Ways to Unleash Your Inner Afrocentric: Parts2: Head Wrap

For other Afrocentric videos by TheTonyaTkoShow , visit the links below.

3 Ways to Unleash Your Inner Afrocentric: Part1. Dress

3 Ways to Unleash Your Inner Afrocentric: Part3. Ethnic Jewelry

Images From the International Black Genealogy Summit

professordru@yahoo.com (Professor Dru) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 03:27:00 +0000

Terry Ligon did a fantastic job putting together a video of images from the International Black Genealogy Summit.

It's a Small World!

professordru@yahoo.com (Professor Dru) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:01:00 +0000

On this past Sunday, I struck up a conversation with a woman inside the Hilton Hotel in Ft. Wayne before leaving for the airport. We had just attended the International Black Genealogy Summit and were all waiting for the shuttle when I discovered that she was from my father's hometown in Emporia, VA located in Greensville County. The lady lives in another state now. I don't remember how the conversation began--I think she may have asked where I was from and what places I research.

While we were on the shuttle, we talked more about the Emporia connection. During the conversation, I pulled out my cell phone and called a cousin (Carolyn) who is a lifelong resident of Emporia. My cousin asked me questions about the lady's family and I couldn't remember all of the details because I had put my notebook in my briefcase. So I handed the lady (Ethel) my cell phone. Cousin Carolyn and Ethel did not know each other, but both of them knew a lot of the same people from Emporia. Everyone on the shuttle had attended the conference and we all laughed as we listened to Ethel talking to my cousin Carolyn as if they had known each other for years.

Ethel's ancestors and my ancestors attended the same churches (Shiloh Baptist and Antioch Baptist.) One of her family members was also the community barber.

I'm looking forward to discovering more about the relationship between these two families.

Thank God for cell phone technology. Instead of waiting until I got home to call my cousin, I was able to use this technology to call her while Ethel was on the shuttle with me. Nothing replaces seeing her smiling face and hearing her excited voice as she talked to my cousin like they had know each other for years.

Power of Blogging Presentation

professordru@yahoo.com (Professor Dru) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:22:00 +0000

THE POWER OF BLOGGING PRESENTATION

International Black Genealogy Summit

Friday, October 30, 2009

Allen County Public Library Room

Fort Wayne, Indiana

PRESENTATION SUMMARY: Workshop will demonstrate the basics of blogging, ranging from the technical aspects of blog creation, publishing and upkeep, to ways to steer traffic to a blog.

Here, I showed my blog awards section of the Find Your Folks blog.

Here, I demonstrated adding a photo to a blog entry.

They all seemed attentive and interested. I was pleased with the turnout for this workshop. Only two attendees had blogs; the rest were interested in learning what blogging was all about.

One Last Morsel of Research

professordru@yahoo.com (Professor Dru) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 10:12:00 +0000

I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to take one more look before leaving town.

Conference attendees of the International Black Genealogy Summit took advantage of the extended Sunday hours (8 a.m - 5 p.m.) of the Allen County Public Library Genealogy Room. I squeezed in a few moments to gather one last morsel of research at the library prior to leaving for the airport. My research focus was on Allen Pair (abt. 1843-aft. 1915), who was a slave in Greensville County, Virginia. By 1880, he moved to Leavenworth, Kansas. (I will discuss my research findings later).

I was not alone in taking advantage of the Sunday hours of the library before leaving the city of Fort Wayne. The ladies in these photos (Cristal, Janis, and Angela) also took advantage of the extended hours and we had lots of fun taking photos with our cell phone cameras and exchanging genealogy busines cards. As you can see from the piles of books on the table and cart, there were quite a few resources at the Allen County Public Library Genealogy Room.

Thanks to the staff of the Allen County Public Library Genealogy Room for all of your hospitality and assistance.

Looking Good! Profiling Our Banquet Outfits

professordru@yahoo.com (Professor Dru) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 03:27:00 +0000

Everyone attending the banquet of the International Black Genealogy Summit looked so beautiful, whether sporting African attire or other beautifully styled outfits. Here, these three ladies and I pose to profile our gorgeous banquet outfits.

Angela in African Attire

professordru@yahoo.com (Professor Dru) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 03:00:00 +0000

Angela Walton-Raji of African Roots Podcast sported her African attire at the banquet of the International Black Genealogy Summit. Isn't she lovely!

African Queen

professordru@yahoo.com (Professor Dru) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 11:20:00 +0000

After weeks of planning my African attire to wear to the banquet of the International Black Genealogy Summit, the day finally arrived for me to wear the outfit and all of the accessories I choose.

“I want to look like royalty,” I told family and friends.

I ordered the caftan from Dupsies, an African attire vendor I discovered through YouTube. The outfit was ordered on a Wednesday and arrived two days later. The outfit came with a matching head wrap, but after my niece hooked me up with a gorgeous hairdo, I decided not to wrap my head. Read more about my hairdo.

Posing to show off my jewelry.

Posing with online friends, Sharon and Jennifer

The smile says it all!

Modeling my outfit at work with matching head wrap.

Happy, Am I

professordru@yahoo.com (Professor Dru) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:55:00 +0000

I woke up this morning, my body aching with the stress of this week’s work (job, getting packed and travelling, and with the today’s “Power of Blogging” workshop at the International Black Genealogy Summit. “Happy, Am I,” I thought as I lay in bed procrastinating about rising up to tackle the morning’s numerous tasks.

“Happy, Am I” was a song made famous by the Elder Lightfoot Solomon Michaux (1884-1968) beginning in the 1920s. He is remembered by my maternal grandmother and others as the “Happy, Am I,” preacher. This peppy, hand- clapping and feet-tapping, theme song opened up his radio broadcast and television show and was especially inspirational to listeners during The Great Depression in the late 1920s and early 1930s.

Read more about how I discovered Elder Michaux

After getting out of bed, I watched the video below and clapped and moved to the beat in order to wake up my tired body.

All morning, I have meditated on the “Happy, Am I” and the memory of Elder Michaux. I also began making a list of some things that I am Happy about today.

“Happy, Am I”

For overcoming obstacles that occurred earlier in the week which threatened to prevent my attendance at this conference and conducting the Blogging workshop.

For the opportunity to share my knowledge of blogging with attendees of the conference.

For being in the company, for a few days, of enthusiastic and “OVERLY HAPPY” genealogists.

And most of all, that by 2:00 p.m. today, I can exhale when my presentation is over and enjoy the remainder of the conference.

Good Food, Good Fellowship

professordru@yahoo.com (Professor Dru) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:55:00 +0000

Conference attendees of the International Black Genealogy Summit enjoyed an evening reception with good food and lots of fellowship. It was quite exciting for me to meet several Afrigeneaschatters, whom I’ve gotten too know online for about two years. Chatter and chewing filled the reception room last night and a GOOD TIME WAS HAD BY ALL!

A Special “Do” for a Special Occasion

professordru@yahoo.com (Professor Dru) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 09:55:00 +0000

Every once in a while I get a special hairdo for a special occasion. It might be a permed style, texturized, a fashionable wig, or braid style. It was a last minute decision, but I decided on a braided hairdo and asked my oldest niece to do it before I left for the International Black Genealogy Summit on Thursday morning.

I'm all smiles as I sported my new hairdo at work on Wednesday and my makeup which was done by a coworker.

She does not work as a hair stylist/braider by profession, but definitely has the natural gift to do such a job. She has never even attended school or training to do hair, but does it for our female family members and some of her close friends.

After a little over two hours under her creative fingers, my niece transformed my hair into this beautiful style which I love and for which I have received numerous complements since this Wednesday.

Actor and Comedian Chris Rock has already revealed many black hair secrets in his recent film, Bad Hair. However, I won’t reveal the details of how my niece transformed my hair. Neither will I post a “Before” picture which will both scare you and amuse you. (Ha, Ha).

*****

“My niece braided my hair,” I told a friend during a phone conversation on Wednesday night. I had not yet revealed to her the details about the hair style.

“Is it your natural hair?” my friend asked. We have known each other about ten years so she knows my hair history.

“It’s on my head,” I told her, “and I’ll leave it at that.”

We both chuckled and then I described the details of the hair style.

Here I am on Thursday morning at the Atlanta airport seriously tuning up my presentation.

Burning the Midnight Oil

professordru@yahoo.com (Professor Dru) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:42:00 +0000

Conference attendees of the International Black Genealogy Summit are taking advantage of the extended hours (until midnight) of the Allen County Public Library Genealogy Room. Although I would love to do the same, my evening will be better spent getting ready for my presentation that I will conduct tomorrow on “The Power of Blogging.” I did visit the library this evening to check out the room where I will be presenting. While there, I took several photos as seen below.

The Day Has Finally Arrived!

professordru@yahoo.com (Professor Dru) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 21:25:00 +0000

The big day has finally arrived and the International Black Genealogy Summit has begun. I arrived to town about 1:30 p.m. Many preconference activities began earlier today including an Author's book signing which was held in the Allen County Public Library Genealogy Room as seen below.

Genealogist and Author, Tony Burroughs

420 Expected for International Black Genealogy Summit

professordru@yahoo.com (Professor Dru) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 22:29:00 +0000

This is a newspaper article written by Nick West of The News-Sentinel, a Fort Wayne, Indiana newspaper. What a great way to inform Fort Wayne residents about the upcoming conference.

Genealogy gathering; 420 expected for conference, library's largest yet

Five Mo’ Days and Counting!

professordru@yahoo.com (Professor Dru) — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 03:23:00 +0000

In five mo’ days, the International Black Genealogy Summit will begin and I’M SO EXITED THAT I JUST CAN’T HIDE IT! I have been planning to attend this conference since late 2008 and now it will occur in just a few days. I’ve been doing the countdown for a few days and either calling friends or saying to coworkers, ___ mo’ days. Most of them say “_____ more days?”

“No,” I correct them. “I said ___ mo’ days.”

These conversations always end in laughter.

I am looking forward to so many things at this conference such as:

Presenting a workshop on “The Power of Blogging.”
Meeting many genealogists from around the world.
Meeting online genealogist face-to-face.
Browsing the vendor tables and discovering new genealogy books and other wares.
Attending numerous workshops and learning new techniques to further my research.
Breaking bread with other genealogists at the Luncheon and Banquet. Conversations over food is always a good thing!
Researching at the Allen County Public Library Genealogy Room.

Research Plans
At the Allen County Public Library, I plan to research (1) Goodwyn Hunt and (2) Allen Pair, both who lived in Greensville County, VA. I do not know if I am kin to either of these men, however, I discovered both of them through research of my Greensville county family and I have found their lives and migrations interesting. I discovered the places where they migrated through either a census book index (Goodwyn Hunt) or online census index search (Allen Pair)

Goodwyn Hunt
Goodwyn Hunt was a free person of color born about 1797 in Virginia. He and several other Greensville County free persons of color, migrated to the Carthage area of Rush County, Indiana during the 1830s.

Allen Pair
Allen Pair was born around 1843. He was listed on the slave inventory in the estate of Howell Pair of Greenville County, VA In 1864. Allen Pair married Rebecca Jones on November 24, 1866 in Greensville County, VA. By 1880, he had moved to Leavenworth, Kansas.

Tweaking Presentation and Planning Wardrobe
I have spent the last few weeks tweaking my presentation and planning my conference wardrobe.

Earlier this month I did a dry run of the presentation for my local genealogy society. I’m glad that I did this because it helped me to see areas for improvement in the presentation.

African attire is encouraged to wear to the banquet and I have gone all out for this one. About a week ago, I ordered an African outfit online and it arrived in the mail two days later. Since its arrival, I have spent a lot of time buying accessories. I’ve consulted with my coworkers and some close friends on selecting just the right accessories and they are just as excited as me. I’m excited about my African Attire debut at the banquet next Friday night. I’ll share photos with my blog audience on next Saturday.

Five mo’ day and counting!

40 Best Genealogy Blogs

professordru@yahoo.com (Professor Dru) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 18:03:00 +0000

I am honored to be nominated for the 40 Best Genealogy Blogs sponsored by the Family Tree Magazine. A list of the winners will appear in the May 2010 issue of the magazine.

Please cast your vote for my blog (Find Your Folks listed in Category #10 PERSONAL/FAMILY) as well as other wonderful genealogy blogs from the 10 categories. In each category, choose the number of blogs specified in the question (you'll get an error if you choose too many).

Thanks for your Vote!

Bus Excursion - Annual Baptismal Services

professordru@yahoo.com (Professor Dru) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 10:17:00 +0000

Poster advertising bus trip of annual baptismal service of the Gospel Spreading Church. This church organization was founded by Elder Lightfoot Solomon Michaux in 1919. This poster was part of artifacts commemorating the 90th anniversary of The Gospel Spreading Church.

Photo taken by Professor Dru, September 13, 2009
Gospel Spreading Church, Newport News, VA

See photo and read about Baptisms by Elder Michaux in Potomoc River.

How to Tie An African Head Wrap

professordru@yahoo.com (Professor Dru) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 00:08:00 +0000

I am busy preparing to attend the International Black Genealogy Summit later this month where I will be presenting a workshop entitled “The Power of Blogging.” Besides fine tuning my presentation, I am working on plans for the trip such as choosing the workshops I want to attend and my wardrobe for the conference. I noticed on the program that wearing African attire is recommended for two events (a banquet and a luncheon). It will be fun to participate in the wearing of ethnic garb so I have been researching the Internet to get ideas for possible African outfits which might either be a caftan, skirt set, or pants set along with an African scarf or head wrap.

Part of my Internet research included searching for videos which demonstrated ways to tie an African head wrap or gele. This video is sponsored by Dupsies, a vendor of African styled clothing, jewelry, and other products.

Below are three videos demonstrating three different ways to tie an African head wrap. My preference is style #2, but I’ll try all three to determine which one looks best on me.

How to tie your African Head Wrap, Part 1

How to Tie an African Head Wrap, Part 2

How to Tie an African Head Wrap, Part 3

Michelle Obama's Maternal Slavery Roots

professordru@yahoo.com (Professor Dru) — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 19:01:00 +0000

The New York Times traced first lady Michelle Obama's five generation path from slavery to the White House. Harry Smith of CBS interviewed Megan Smoleyak, the genealogist who researched Mrs. Obama’s maternal ancestry.

Kudos to Megan Smoleyak for her patience and diligence in uncovering this invaluable information.

Power of Blogging Workshop

professordru@yahoo.com (Professor Dru) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 09:07:00 +0000

I will be presenting a workshop entitled "The Power of Blogging" at the meeting of the Hampton Roads Afro American and Historical Genealogy Society.

DATE: Thursday, October 8, 2009

TIME: 7:00 P.M.

PLACE: Hampton, VA Public Library, 4207 Victoria Blvd., Hampton, VA 23669, (757) 727-1154

WORKSHOP SUMMARY: Workshop will demonstrate the basics of blogging, ranging from the technical aspects of blog creation, publishing and upkeep, to ways to steer traffic to a blog.

I'm a YouTuber Now!

professordru@yahoo.com (Professor Dru) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 05:32:00 +0000

I am pleased to announce the creation of the Professor Dru YouTube Channel. I am a YouTube fan and use it on a daily basis to watch videos for education and entertainment. It is a thrill for me to be able to embed the code of my own video into a blog.

I look forward to utilizing this technology site as a forum to showcase my video creations.

Memory Monday: Queens For A Day

professordru@yahoo.com (Professor Dru) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 09:37:00 +0000

My high school friend Bryn and I are "Queens for a Day" as we celebrated our 42nd birthdays in 2005 with a tea party at her house with a few other high school friends. We are both September 1963 babies.

We spent the afternoon sipping hot tea and ice tea, eating fruits, veggies, mini quiche, pigs in the blanket weiners, and various cookies and desserts.

What a spread we had at our Big Girl Tea Party. Everything was delicious and a good time was had by ALL.

Happy 46th Birthday to Me!

professordru@yahoo.com (Professor Dru) — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 18:03:00 +0000

It seems like just yesterday that I celebrated my 40th birthday. But that was six years ago in 2003 and I gave myself a 40th birthday party. My how, time flies (smile). So, today I turned 46. Wow!

I have not done anything yet to celebrate. Much of my day on Saturday was spent at a festival where I also did a presentation. This morning, I attended a work related ceremony. The rest of this birthday will probably be spent resting and the celebrations will come later. One upcoming celebration will be with my high school friend Bryn, who will celebrate her birthday on September 30th. We have been celebrating our birthdays together since we turned 40.

This morning, when I got up, I said "Happy Birthday" to myself. Then I began thinking about my favorite version of the "Happy Birthday Song," which is the one by Stevie Wonder. His version of "Happy Birthday to You," was written during the 1980s in dedication to the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Since that time, Stevie Wonder's hand-clapping, foot-tapping version of the song has been sang at countless African-American birthday celebrations. And so to the rhythm of Stevie Wonder's song, today I sing "Happy Birthday to Me."

You can hear the song in the video below which contains a few personal photos as well as photos of various cakes, balloons, and birthday party items. Although I probably won't do much to celebrate today, I have purchased cake and ice cream to eat with dinner.

I also wish other September 27th birthday babies a Happy Day--my cousin Janet and friend Angelique, and the many others born on this date.