Tag: American history
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Look Out to Look In: The Search for a Living Descendant
Henry Sams (1915-1975) b. Jacksonville, Florida d. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Half-brother of the Flowers children Born to Henry Sams and Nancy Sawyer Sams, Henry Sams Jr. spent his childhood in Jacksonville, Florida before his family’s migration to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Throughout his lifetime, he excelled in sports since his time at Overbrook High School. He also participated in pre-Olympic meets…
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Meet Elder Lillie Bell McLean, My Great-Grandmother
As 2015 draws to an end, we journey into a new year we leave many memories, both disappointments and accomplishments, behind. About two weeks before Thanksgiving, I received the news that my great-grandmother had fallen ill. If you are a follower of my blog, you know my dream was to spend the summer writing my family’s history…
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A Letter To Her Friend: Dear Johnnie
When I find a note one of the members of this family wrote, I always crack a smile. I smile because these letters reveal more than any census record, birth certificate, or newspaper article could ever show–their personality, their humor, and their love and at times hate for people. In this featured letter, Geraldine Wilson…
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A Revisit of Her Father’s Marriages: Harry Flowers and Nancy Sawyer
To read about Harry’s first marriage, click here. Nancy Sawyer (b. 1873) Harry Flowers (b. 1845-6) Children–Chauncey Sawyer Flowers (b.1895), John Flowers (b.1898), Fred Flowers (b.1899), Rachel Helen Flowers (b. 1900), Theodore Flowers (b. 1903), Vincent Flowers (b. 1906), Gladyce (b. 1908), and Hilda Clifford Flowers (b. 1910) In the 1887 U.S. City Directory for…
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#NeverForget: Four Little Girls and Two Little Boys
On September 15, 1963, Addie Mae Collins, Carol Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, and Cynthia Wesley were murdered in the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. Countless others were injured in the bombing of this church which has been a cornerstone in the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham. Yesterday, as many posted images…
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Part II: Interview Between Harry Belafonte and Geraldine Wilson
Part One can be found here. Harry Belafonte, Source Geraldine Wilson GW: Tell me about you and books as when you were a child, and you were reading. We have lots of teachers and our focus has been on books for children. One of the most important children’s book author is Shirley Graham’s brother, Lawrence Graham.…
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‘Day-O’: An Interview Between Harry Belafonte and Geraldine Wilson (Part 1)
Geraldine Wilson, date unknown When I first arrived at the Schomburg Center in 2013, I was full of many emotions. I was happy to research the Flowers family in such a prestigious archive, yet I was unsure of how to search through eighteen boxes of information in three days. Hours deep in Box 2 and 3…
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Pennsylvania Death Certificates and the Florida Death Index, 1877-1977
Death certificate of Harry Florence Flowers (1845-1928) Pennsylvania Death Certificates, 1906-1963 Last April, the state of Pennsylvania made death certificates between 1906 to 1963 available on Ancestry.com. Again, if you do not have a membership with Ancestry, I will encourage you to do the two week free trial. Choose a period of time where you…
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Newspapers, Obituaries, and African American Genealogy
By the 20th century, the black press was a cornerstone in the black community giving voice to essentially Black America. It was the “Black Twitter” of the past. In the late 19th and throughout the 20th century, this was the source of black news in America, it was what the black community turned to for…
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Want to Start Researching Your Own Family’s History? Here are Some Tips
A Piece of the Flowers’ Family Tree I get this question a lot, so hopefully I can help someone out. Before I share some tips, let me give you a bit of my genealogical research background. I have my B.A. in history and graduated last May. I have under my belt a semester of graduate…
Diary of a Historian 