Tag: ancestry
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May 2016
With three semesters of graduate school under my belt, I finished with a 4.0 GPA (look at God!). Honestly, this past school year was full of many challenges whether it was lack of motivation, regret, family, or extreme exhaustion. Nonetheless, I made it and I also passed my thesis proposal defense. I neglected this blog…
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Guess Who’s Back?
Watching the SuperBowl Game and cheering for the Panthers at the StreetBird (NYC) Still recovering from the loss. Last time I posted a blog was a little more than a month ago and how I miss having the time to do research. With work, school, conference prep, and a thesis proposal, I have had my…
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Winter 2015: A Gift to Remember
The latter portion of this year has been interesting and full of changes. My great-grandmother, the glue of my family, passed two days after Thanksgiving, it was difficult completely my final assignments for courses, and I was tired of life particularly work. As a Scrooge, I have an extreme dislike about Christmas. I do not…
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A Birth Certificate, A Research First in the Flowers Family History
I have researched the Flowers family for the past three years and never found a birth certificate for any member of this family. Was I surprised? It was not a required document to be recorded at a black child’s birth. For most African Americans born in the seventeenth, eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth century, birth…
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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 Leading Scholar on the Education of Black Children : An Intellectual Biography of Geraldine Wilson (Part I)
Geraldine Wilson in her college’s yearbook (Temple University), 1955 Geraldine Wilson (1931-1988) holds a special place in my heart. Her life reflected one of a phenomenal black woman who selflessly advocated for the rights of her people. Her resume and CV have spoken for themselves. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Gerry, as she was…
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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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A Revisit of Her Father’s Marriages: Harry Flowers and Lydia Bradley
As I narrow down my thesis research project, I am revisiting multiple aspects of the Flowers family’s life. I have an entire wall devoted to this research in my apartment. Call me a nerd, I will happily say that I am; however, I find it much easier to visualize this project and connect the last…
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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…
Diary of a Historian 