Genealogy Storytelling

Your Online Source For Telling Your Family Stories

40 Acres and a Mule

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The story behind 40 acres and a mule. 

On a rainy night in early 1865, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton arrived in Savannah, Ga. which the Union had captured weeks earlier with a question: What should become of newly free black people? It was a question that many in power had been asking for some time. What was different this time was to whom the question was posed: the newly free black people themselves.

It was a visit born of a massacre about a month before, and it launched a debate that continues to this day.

The issue of where these people should go had dogged Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman, too, as he marched through Georgia in the fall of 1864. Sherman had expected to pick up able-bodied black men to assist his troops (but not to join them; Sherman would not allow that). An unintended consequence of his scorched-earth policy was that all manner of freed slaves including women, children and the elderly abandoned the plantations and fell in behind him.

Click here to the Washington Post for the full article

 

The Roosevelts Family Tree

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image courtesy of pbs.org

My favorite documentary filmmaker Ken Burns with another hit! Check it out on PBS The Roosevelts: An Intimate History.

Eleanor and Franklin were cousins, but how closely related were they, and how were they related to President Theodore Roosevelt? Check out this family tree to find out.

The prominence of the Roosevelt family in American history is legendary. The family’s legacy claims two of America’s best-loved presidents as well as one of the most influential first ladies. From the first 17th-century merchants who established their family’s fortune to Eleanor Roosevelt’s vehement activity in public affairs in the 1960s, the family’s influence on American politics, society, and culture spans the centuries. The web of characters in this fascinating American family is revealed here.

See full story on pbs.org

LS3 Studios at the Genealogy Roadshow

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Want To Get Someone Talking?

Get them talking about their family’s history – because everybody has a story that they are usually willing to share – if only in segments. That segment is most often the perfect story for multimedia storytelling.

I want to thank my two sisters, Terry Smith and Leslie Smith Everage, for their continued support of LS3 Studios. Their presence at the Genealogy Roadshow Saturday and Sunday was invaluable. Our showing was a great success! We premiered our new membership site LS3 Learning Academy. Click here to signup.

Recording Your Family is So Important

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Recording your family is so important. I lost (Hurricane Katrina) valuable recordings of my daughter saying her prayers at age three. She gave thanks to everyone in the family by name. What I wouldn’t give to be able to hear those recordings again. Our memories are our most valuable assets!

Check out this video of Muhammad Ali daughters sharing their story about their dad.

Genealogy Roadshow

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Visit our booth at the GENEALOGY ROADSHOW in New Orleans! We are revealing a new membership site!

PBS and WYES-TV are bringing the series GENEALOGY ROADSHOW to New Orleans!

The public is invited to attend this FREE event and watch as preselected local residents have family mysteries revealed on camera with featured genealogists Kenyatta D. Berry, Joshua Taylor and Mary Tedesco.

WHEN: Saturday, September 6 – Sunday, September 7  from 9:00am – 6:00pm (Lines form at 8:00am)

WHERE: Saturday, September 6 – New Orleans Board of Trade – 316 Magazine St. New Orleans, La 70130
Sunday, September 7 – The Cabildo – 701 Chartres St. New Orleans, La 70130

 

 

Genealogy Roadshow