Newsletter
December brought a very interesting and informative program to LAAAGS. Ms. Veta Tucker, professor, Grand Valley State University, did a presentation on the Underground Railroad (UR). Ms Tucker’s talk centered on the development of the UR starting with the participation of the Quaker community moving from the South to the North and bringing emancipated Africans with them. Her talk gave background on Ramptown an all Black community in Cass County, MI, that no longer exists. This was a wonderful presentation and should be widely shared with everyone interested in genealogy and American history.
Major projects for LAAAGS in 2010 will be collaborating with the Capital Area Downtown Library to present an African American History Month in February 2010. LAAAGS will also conduct a daylong seminar on Researching African American History in October 2010. Details for these events will be on the group's website: www.laaags.org and in the newsletter as the programs are finalized.
Anyone interested in membership in LAAAGS may join the Society by printing out the membership application (page 7) and returning it to the address listed. Persons interested could also attend any meeting on the second Saturday of every month at 10:00 a.m. at the Michigan Library and Historical Center, Lansing, Michigan.
The June meeting was a joint trip to Cass County, Michigan with the Fred Hart Williams Genealogy Society (FHWGS) from Detroit, Michigan. The combined groups traveled to Cass County and visited routes along the Underground Railroad that was prominent in that area of Michigan where escaping enslaved Africans made their way to freedom. The trip was well attended and very well planned by Maurice Sanders, member and Leslie Williams, president of FHWGS. The groups met in Battle Creek, MI, and traveled through several communities, including Schoolcraft, Vandalia, and Cassopolis. Some of the highlights of the trip were definitely the visits to local cemeteries. The group did tours of three African American cemeteries that have been maintained since the early 1800’s. Please see pictures on the pictures page in this newsletter.
The LAAAGS monthly meetings were spiced up in 2009 with several exciting speakers with awesome subject matter for the group.
In October the program was presented by Mr. Morris Thomas, geography professor, MSU. The presentation was on Idlewild, MI. Mr. Thomas is a native of the region so the group was treated to a lot of inside interpretation of the history and the decline of the region. This area was once a summertime beach paradise for many wealthy African Americans who were not welcomed onto popular beach resorts in most parts of America during the 1920’s through the 1960’s.
