of the Lansing Area African American Genealogy Society
LAAAGS conducted a Genealogy Workshop in October 2010 at the Capital Area Downtown Library.
The Workshop presentations were:
- Beginning Genealogy – Willye Bryan, LAAAGS
- Maps: Information and Secrets in Plain View – Prof. Morris
Thomas, Professor of Geography, Michigan State University
- Researching Vital Records: Birth, Marriage, Death - Mike Bryan, LAAAGS Member
- Lunch and Luncheon Speaker
Dr. Veta Tucker, Associate Professor, Department of English
Language and Literature, Grand Valley State University
- Research, Writing, and Publishing Family Histories in a Digital Environment
Dr. Clarence Hooker, Associate Professor, Writing, Rhetoric and American Culture, Michigan State
University
- Storage of Valuable Genealogy Pictures and Documents - Mike Bryan, LAAAGS Member
The Workshop was well attended and LAAAGS welcomed several new members who joined at the Workshop. Another Workshop is planned for October 2011. Details will be reported in the online Newsletter.
Early African American Families in Lansing
The Lansing Area African-American Genealogical Society is gathering information on early black families in Greater Lansing for a publication.
The printed work will include how African-Americans first came to this region and why. The descendants of several families have been contacted and included.
If members of your family settled in Lansing between 1847 and the 1940s, and you can document it, please contact the society at P.O. Box 22203, Lansing, MI 48909-2203 or www.laaags.org. Phone: 517-882-9468 or 517-882-1293.
Many early families settled in cities close to Lansing and not in the city proper. This is valuable information about the early black presence in this region. The compilation of information on early families will augment existing information about the city of Lansing as well as provide a resource for research.
If you have photographs, birth certificates, letters, military records, baptismal records or other such documentation, these data prove invaluable in finding out about your family.
If you are interested in learning about how to find information about your own family or in genealogy as a subject area, the society encourages you to visit. Meetings are held at 10:00 a.m. the second Saturday of each month at the Michigan Historical Library, 702 W. Kalamazoo Street.