Event Education-Breaking the Brick Wall: Tracing an African American Family from Freedom to Slavery

Breaking the Brick Wall: Tracing an African American Family from Freedom to Slavery by Deborah Abbott

The most difficult part of genealogical research for African Americans is finding and identifying slave ancestors and their owners. Using a case study, learn the importance of basic tools of family history research. This lecture will focus on the clues and resources needed to recreate an African American family's journey from freedom back to slavery. Learn the importance of analyzing information and realizing how important collateral/cluster line research is in helping to move you toward success in the genealogical process. Starting with oral history and the 1950 U.S. Federal Census, we will follow an African American Kentucky family from freedom to slavery.

Dr. Deborah A. Abbott, PhD, is a professional genealogist, specializing in African American research, manuscript collections and genealogy methodology.  She is an associate with the Kentucky-Tennessee Associates based in Springfield, TN; past president of the African American Genealogical Society, Cleveland, OH; and a retired professor of Counseling from Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland. She holds both the BS and M.Ed. degrees from Tuskegee University in Alabama and the PhD degree from Kent State University in Ohio.  

Access will be through GoToWebinar.  Instructions and Connectivity Link will be forwarded via email to all registrants upon registration, six days prior and again 1 hour prior to the event.  Making the connection is quick and easy only requiring a computer and Internet connectivity from wherever you chose to watch the event. Your questions help drive the meetings, and we will be there to help each other.