Tag: history
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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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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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Thesis Woes
(A rare glimpse of me on the blog) As I entered my (second) first semester of graduate school, my goal was to meet with my adviser as soon as possible. I firmly believe that we are an academic “match made in heaven”. We discussed my background, interests, and most importantly my thesis. Since my senior…
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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 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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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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#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…
Diary of a Historian 