Many of my Twitter and Facebooks friends are tweeting and posting about the next episode of WDYTYA.  The first show of the new season kicks off with Vanessa Williams when will make great discovery on NBC’s “Who Do You Think You Are,” which premiered February 4th at 8pm/7 C.  Watch her discover the record and photo of an ancestor who served in the Union Army during the Civil War.  He was never a slave.

This is quite exciting for those of us working to document and tell the stories of ancestors from this time period.  

This is an awesome resource for SC Civil Rights history shared on Twitter today by @Knowitall, South Carolina Educational Television's educational web portal, a collection of interactive K-12 websites for students, teachers, and parents.

Some of my extended family had family who actually signed the signed the Briggs v. Elliot petition!

Road Trip!

"Road Trip! Through South Carolina Civil Rights History is an interactive Web site designed to help teachers and students learn about the people, events and importance of the civil rights movement in South Carolina from the 1940s to the early 1970s." About Road Trip! Through SC Civil Rights History

My favorite part of the site are the interviews with people who participated in the Civil Rights movement.  This interactive website is a definite 10!

I just came across the announcement that according to the Association for the Study of African American Life and History who founded Black History Month, the theme for 2011 is "African Americans and the Civil War."  I am so pleased that the ASALH, will also focus on educating everyone about the contributions African Americans made as soldiers in the Civil War.

Association for the Study of African American Life

It is equally wonderful to see they are already counting down to Black History Month on Facebook and Twitter! I have connected in both places so that I will be able to keep up with the great information and resources they share during February.







Hopefully we will make great strides toward correcting all the misconceptions out there such as:

• African Americans did not participate to a great extent in the war that won their freedom Wrong!
• A significant number African Americans willfully fought on the side of the Confederacy Wrong!
• African Americans were not able to understand the concept or principles of freedom. Wrong!
•  President Lincoln entered the war for the purpose of ending slavery. Wrong!
• African Americans were not involved in fighting for liberty before the Civil War.Wrong!

These are all fallacies.  We will work to correct them and the other untruths which are prevalent today.  We must work to restore our own stories so the correct version of history is told.