Every moment, a teaching moment, with Tony Burroughs

Why is it important for parents and grandparents to share their oral history?

Tony: 

Parents and grandparents sharing their history:

If stories of parents and grandparents are not told descendants will be left pondering the questions:

How did we get here? 

Where did our family come from?

What is our family about?

"The stories parents and grandparents have in their head are not on the internet, found in a library, or found in the courthouse. If they don't tell their stories, they take the stories with them to the grave to be buried forever. How many questions do you have for your great-great-grandparents that may never be answered? Telling their stories are important for family history and community history. Unfortunately, all too often we only have the letters, diaries, interviews and autobiographies of wealthy people who lived in the community. This leaves a very biased view of community history. And while things are constantly changing, it is important to know the past in order understand the present, and plan for the future."

What project that you were involved with in the community had the most impact on you, and why?

Tony: 

"I could name several community projects that had great impacts on me. Probably the first was being a 7th grade sit-in student to integrate Chicago Public Schools. My mom was an organizer and at a young age I learned the power of community organizing, civil disobedience, non-violent protest, sacrifice and the power of the people. I also learned about institutional racism and the power of the press. This early experience probably set the stage for me wanting to help other people."

"Another community project that had a great impact on me was becoming vice-president and then president of our local, Afro-American Genealogical and Historical Society of Chicago. I was able to use my organizing and management skills to grow the membership and finances of the organization and raise its public profile locally and nationally. In giving back to the genealogy community, it in turn opened new doors for me to the national stage of genealogy. That was not part of the plan."

What historical event in the life of an ancestor had the most impact on you, and how so?

Tony:

"Learning my paternal grandfather, Attorney Asa Morris Burroughs, became president of the Cook County Bar Association in 1928 is one of the historical events that had a great impact on me. I thought Granddad was an average lawyer. We lived in the same apartment building when I was growing up, and my father never mentioned any of Granddad's accomplishments. Once I learned he rose to the height of his profession it gave a huge since of pride in my family history. It taught me that even though you live with someone doesn't mean you know them. It also taught me that researching recent ancestors is just as important as researching ancestors many generations in the past. I continued to research Granddad and developed an even greater respect for him when I discovered he dropped out of law school and dropped out of high school. His father died when Granddad was ten years old, and when his mother became ill, Granddad dropped out of high school to take care of her. He landed a job as a messenger boy in a law office and worked his way up to being a lawyer. Those are big shoes to fill."

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From Robin Foster

I attribute much of my own success and love of oral history and research to the class I took years ago at Chicago State University where Tony was the instructor.  Because I applied the principles he taught with regards to conducting oral history interviews, I have recorded, extracted, preserved, and researched interviews of loved ones who now are long gone.  Those interviews still are guiding me to historical documentation.  In that day, I also interviewed my father-in-law. He gave me names of loved ones generations past.  I am the only person with that information, and I am still discovering people from that interview (Just last night, I found the marriage of Jacob McClure)  My daughter has the advantage of knowing her history on her maternal and paternal side.  Over the years, Tony has constantly encouraged African Americans to be hopeful about finding documentation and has mapped the process, and I am especially grateful for his revelations about us documenting marriages prior to 1865.  I am actually making those discoveries now.  So thank you, Tony!