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Janis Lovelace, Charlotte Bocage, Calvin Dark, Karina Robinson, and Ari Wilson

Numerous speakers will give presentations focusing on African American genealogy at the National Genealogical Society conference in Sacramento this May. There is a strong focus on the history of African Americans in California and the West. Janice Lovelace will talk about the long history of Black men and women in the American West and Southwest beginning in the 16th century; researching African American women; and African American cowboys. Charlotte Bocage discusses the records she used to trace the story of Pamela, an enslaved woman. Calvin Dark will take listeners through the complicated scheme a southern slave owner set up to circumvent southern anti-manumission laws and free his slaves upon his death. Karina Robinson will discuss some of the more than 360 African Americans who owned land in the first decade of California’s statehood; and Ari Wilkins will demonstrate how to find enslaved and formerly enslaved people in old newspapers.

Complete details on the African American conference track are at the NGS blog, which also links to the complete conference website.