What is Juneteenth?

Juneteeth (June 19th) is a celebration of the day that Texas slaves were informed that they were free from slavery. On June 19, 1865, General Order No. 3, which informed the slaves of their freedom, was read at the Ashton Villa in Galveston, TX by Union Army General Gordon Granger. To commemorate this day, former slaves in Texas began having celebrations the following year. Since then, African-Americans in Texas and numerous states around the United States annually celebrate “Juneteenth” with picnics, parades, programs, and other community event.

TIPHC - Juneteenth - Part 1


TIPHC - Juneteenth - Part 2


TIPHC - Juneteenth - Part 3

What is Juneteenth?

Learn about Juneteenth, the African-American holiday which celebrates freedom from slavery.


 

Library Thing - Online Book Catalog and Social Media Website

I was a virtual attendee of Roots Tech this year and learned so much from the presentations which were live streamed.  From the presentation by Laura Prescott, entitled “GenealogyResearch Online:  Sites and StrategiesThat May Surprise You,” I learned about the online book cataloging and social media site, Library Thing, www.librarything.com.”  I never knew that such a site existed.

My Book Collection History

I have been a book worm all of my life and my family and school mates can attest to this fact.  My book collection includes textbooks from courses I've taken and taught, and books on the topics of genealogy, history, computers, Microsoft Office software packages, writing, crafts, Bible/spiritual, inspirational, nonfiction, novels, and God knows what else. 

I got my undergraduate degree in 1985 and a master’s in 1990, and yes, I still have a few of my textbooks in which I have used as references throughout the years.  A few of the textbooks purchased during my undergraduate college years (1981-1985) even still have the price tag on them.  LOL.  I know that the concepts from these books can now be easily found on the Internet, but I’m not yet ready to get rid of these personal heirlooms. SMH.

I took a Marketing course during the Spring semester of 1983 at Virginia Union University, Richmond, VA.  I can't seem to let go of this textbook which still has the price tag for $20.95 on it. 

My book collection is in various formats:  paper, cassette tape, CD, e-books, and digital.  Occasionally, I do a purge in which I usually donate books to my local libraries, and now it’s time for another major purge.

My First Day of Using Library Thing

So yesterday morning, I began adding a few of my books to the Library Thing online catalog.  I love the fact that you do not have to create a new login, but can use either your Facebook or Twitter account logins.

Books can be added by typing in the title, author’s name, ISBN, etc.  Tags can be added to help organize each book.  The default collection folder is named “Your Library,” but other collection names can be added by the user such as the one that I named “Library Check-Out.”  Book data can be searched from 700 available catalogs such as the “Library of Congress” or “Amazon.com.”  If a book in your collection does not have an ISBN or can’t be found in any of the online catalogs, you can manually type in the information.

Adding Books Options in Library Thing

Once each book is added, you  could see how many other Library Thing users have the same book.  I connected my account to Twitter and Facebook and could see which of my friends on these sites used Library Thing.  Another major selling point for me about Library Thing is that you can import a book list or export it to various formats such as .CSV which can be opened in Microsoft Excel.  Click here, to view current entries in my Library Thing book catalog. 

Library Trip

With the Library Thing site, you can access your book catalog from anywhere you have Internet access.  Yesterday afternoon, I went to the public library to research books related to African Americans During the Civil War.  Earlier, I had set up a “Library Check-Out” collection folder in my Library Thing account.  Using my Kindle Fire HD, it was so easy to type in the ISBNs in the Library Thing catalog of the books I browsed at the library and the ones I checked out.  Now, as I continue my research, I have a record of books on this research topic.

Taking It One Step at a Time

Since purchasing a NOOK e-reader last May, I have begun purchasing digital books.  In November of last year, I purchased a Kindle Fire HD.  My current format preference for most book topics is digital, but for computer software books, I still prefer the hard copy. I anticipate that my book purge will be a long journey, but using a site like Library Thing will be a tremendous help for me in taking the first step in this journey, which is to determine what I have in my book collection. 

Thanks for this invaluable tip in your presentation, Laura Prescott. And thanks to the Roots Tech organizers for making some of the presentations available to the virtual audience.

Excerpts from Flight to Freedom Program

Ajena Rogers, a descendant of James A. Fields and I will be presenting “Flight to Freedom” for the College of William and Mary's Lemon Project on Friday, March 15, 2013 at 6:00 PM. The event will be held at the Bruton Heights School in Williamsburg, VA. Here are some clips from the performance we did at Fort Monroe last August. We have another performance coming up in May at Fort Monroe and one at the Hanover County, VA Tavern. We are extremely excited particularly about the tavern engagement because her ancestor Martha Fields worked there as a Cook when she was enslaved by the Winston family.

Family History Workshop

My Introduction to E-reader/Tablet Technology

Increasing the Font Size on my NOOK reader is one of my favorite features.

I am new to e-reader/tablet technology and have been a bit slow in embracing this technology.  In late May of this year, I purchased a NOOK Simple Touch e-reader, because I had seen it repeatedly on the textbook website of a school where I’m taking classes.  Prior to the summer term, the textbook list for the course I was enrolled in said that there was no textbook for my course.  A few days prior to the start of the course, I was informed by the instructor that there would be a required textbook.  Since I was scheduled to go out of town for a conference within a few days of learning about the textbook, my dilemma was how to get the textbook quickly so that I would not fall behind in my class readings.  After a little Internet research about e-books and e-readers, I skeptically decided to purchase a NOOK during my out-of-town trip, and purchased the NOOK Simple Touch. 

Later that afternoon, I purchased and downloaded my textbook to the NOOK reader, and sat in my hotel room and began reading and playing with the features of this new technology.  “This is great,” I said to myself, “to be able to download my textbook and not have to wait on it to arrive in the mail.”

To my surprise, the text on NOOK reader was easy to read and hold.  The size of such a small device was one of the reasons I was reluctant to embrace the e-reader.  When I discovered that the font size of the e-reader could be increased, I knew money spent on this new technology was a great investment.  Since purchasing my NOOK, I have not only enjoyed using it for textbooks, but also for pleasure reading, as well as saving documents in .pdf format and loading them to read on my NOOK.

This morning as part of my Black Friday Shopping, I purchased the new Kindle Fire HD in which I will report on later.

The 2012 Atlanta History Expo Begins

2012 Atlanta Family History Expo Conference Participants Visiting Exhibit Tables

The 2012 Atlanta Family History Expo began this afternoon at the Gwinnett Center in Duluth, GA with registration at 1:00 PM and the opening keynote session at 2:00 PM by renowned author and speaker Robert S. Davis, M.Ed, MA. Early conference participants began the Expo by visiting the various exhibit tables in which they could talk to exhibitors, see genealogical product demonstrations, learn about useful services to aid them in their genealogy and family history quest, and thumb through books and other literature before making decisions on which one(s) to purchase.

Hanging Out at the Bloggers Table

2010 Atlanta Family History Expo Bloggers of Honor Table

I am looking forward to attending the Atlanta Family History Expo next month. My first expo attendance was in 2010 also in Atlanta. One of my favorite parts of the expo was hanging out at the Blogger table. In fact, I enjoyed it so much that I skipped a few sessions just so I could remain at the table and enjoy the presence of my fellow bloggers and the numerous visitors to our table.

I had met most of the bloggers online prior to the conference, but it was even more exciting to meet them face-to-face. The Official Bloggers (also known as Bloggers of Honor) of the Family History Expo receive full registration benefits and have the following responsibilities:

• Pre-Conference: announce and promote the expo, sponsors, exhibitors, and activities, as well as share press releases.
• During Conference: share daily happenings at expo, share blogging tips with attendees, and highlight websites, tools, and discoveries made.
• After Conference: Summarize overall conference experience.

So as I prepare for the conference, I am also preparing for the blogging tasks by looking at new social media tools and new features in Twitter and Blogger. One of the new tools I’m looking at is called Storify which I found on the blog of fellow Blogger of Honor, Linda McCauley of Documenting the Details. Storify is a website that creates and preserves stories or timelines using social media, photos and videos and I like the way that Linda has used it to document the story of other genealogy conferences. Click here for a sample of how Linda used Storify at the 2012 Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) Conference.

To others who have served as official bloggers at any genealogy conference, what other tools or tips do you have to share with the  2012 Atlanta Family History Expo Bloggers of Honor?

2012 Atlanta Family History Expo Blogger of Honor

I am pleased that announce that I will be a Blogger of Honor at the 2012 Atlanta Family History Expos. I attended the 2010 conference and had a FANTASTIC time where I met numerous bloggers and genealogists whom I had gotten to know online prior to 2010.

I will also be conducting a workshop at this conference entitled “Thinking Out of the Box - Creating Things with Genealogy.”

(All Levels) Is genealogy only about who begat whom or would you consider thinking out of the box by creating a new way of researching and sharing your genealogical stories? In this workshop, participants will learn ways to be creative in sharing their genealogy research.

Congratulations to the other Bloggers of Honor.