SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The remnants of black families torn apart through civil unrest, slavery, and war in years past came together for the second year to learn how to search out their ancestors in conjunction with Black History Month, this time in the Church's Sacramento Family History Center.
"In 2006 we were very pleased at the turnout for our first annual African-American Family History Seminar, but we were overwhelmed this year as the conference nearly doubled in size," said S. Dennis Holland, Sacramento area public affairs director. "Also adding more interest this year was moving the seminar from a community center to our Sacramento Regional Family History Center."
The seminar was sponsored by the California Black Chamber of Commerce, Sacramento Black Chamber of Commerce, Sacramento City Councilwomen Lauren Hammond and Bonnie Pannell. The Church's Sacramento Family History Center was packed to capacity with participants eager to see all of the resources the Church has available.
Co-directors of the center, Ronald and Lynette McDowell, offered tours and instruction on how to use the center. Classes featured "Slave Owners and Records," "Planning a Research Trip," and "African History through DNA."
Of special interest this year was a video presentation titled "Trail of Tears," a documentary featuring significant aspects of African-American history. A presentation was made by Michael Harris, Loraine Brown and Jean Crim on "150 Years of Blacks in Sacramento." The presentation linked black history with Mormon history in the Sacramento valley.
Beginning, intermediate and advanced classes on African-American genealogy were presented by Linda Todd, Jackie Chauhan, Eric Thomas, Barbara Tyson, Annette Madden, Lisa Lee, Denise Griggs and Linda Bradley, most of whom are not members of the Church but who generously donated their time. Church member Ronald McClain, who helped launch the test case for Roots Simulcast 2005, traveled to Sacramento from Oakland to promote the seminar on a local morning talk show. A variety of local TV news stories and newspaper articles helped publicize the event which brought out a significant number of new participants.
