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Heather R Jacobs · October 2, 2020

The Bridge Here is a recording of the online meeting we had on October 1st, 2020 and a few highlights:

Thank you to Walter Jenny and Kathy Shearer from the Historical Society of Washington County, Virginia for letting us have an hour with them to learn of their project and work together to find resources.
Attendance was from Virginia, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Missouri, New Hampshire, & Texas who were particularly interested in this project.
Ancestry Trees are being created, and histories collected of enslaved people who lived in this area of Virginia. The society is trying to reach out to the descendants and gather them on Juneteenth 2021 to connect the people to their ancestors through the ancestry trees, biographies, stories, land where they lived, records gathered, etc.
They are working hard to add names into the Ancestry trees, and hints/leaves are happily coming quickly, but which makes the work take a little longer.
If you are interested in helping them gather names in the trees, please email the society at washcovahistory@gmail.com

Other comments on ways to connect with the community to gather and share the story of their ancestors:

Contacting descendants adds richness in stories. The stories don't belong to us, but to descendants. Contacting people through the trees only works so much, other ways work well such as:
- Walking door to door in the community. People love to tell stories and want to share
- Attend their churches regularly and get to know them
Stories are valuable and help the younger generation
Have workshops through churches because it is a safe place
Use university history major students. Taps into them as a resource.

@African American Genealogy Research

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