|
|
| |
| Sat, Sep. 6, 2008 |  |
 |
|
||
| |
New effort to preserve black history records Friday, Jun 24, 2005 By Kate Barrett Stephens Washington Bureau WASHINGTON-- When Elijah Cummings went searching for information about his great-grandfather, a former slave, records were hard to come by. Cummings said his forefather's tombstone, inscribed with the dates of his life, was one of the few written clues he found. "We've tried on many occasions to get records of our ancestors and I've got to tell you, it is not an easy task," said Cummings, who is a Maryland Democratic congressman with the power to do something about the problem. Cummings this week announced a bill that would help other families like his own uncover their pasts. The bill authorizes $5 million to create a national database where blacks could research their family histories. It also allocates $5 million for state, university and local efforts to help preserve materials like birth certificates, death records, land registries and voter lists. Although states individually collect records for preservation, the bill would link their efforts. Linda McDowell, genealogy coordinator at the Central Arkansas Library's Butler Center in Little Rock, said extra funding would help the library buy and collect materials. She also explained why slavery has made genealogy searches so difficult. "Once you get back to 1870, you hit a brick wall," McDowell said. U.S. Census data did not list blacks by both first and last name before that year. Even after slavery ended, segregation and discrimination meant black Americans' records remained separate and disorganized, said Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., the bill's sponsor in the Senate. Landrieu said she thinks the bill will receive support coming on the heels of Juneteenth, a celebration marking June 19, 1865, the day that slaves in Texas learned they had been freed. Landrieu said she suspects lots of records remain in old Southern courthouses and hopes they are gathered soon, before they are lost or destroyed. Cummings and Landrieu introduced the same bill last session in Congress. Though approved in the Senate, it did not pass the House. At the Arkansas History Commission, archival manager Russell Baker said he is encouraged by efforts to raise awareness for preservation. He said state archives are "kind of doing their own thing right now" and are not yet connected. Baker said the Arkansas state legislature seems increasingly interested in providing grant money for black family history research. The History Commission plans to hire a new employee in a few months specifically to collect black Americans' records. "It's very difficult to appreciate where you are when you don't know how you got here," Cummings said. -- 30 -- |
