Looking Ahead: Goals for 2012

A new calendar year is always a time for anticipating a new year, with all of its promises. Although the calendar year begins in the coldest time of the year while nature is in taking her winter nap, it provides a wonderful time for planning and outlining goals for the new  year.  And this new year is no exception. Registration will begin shortly for the year's events and deadlines are quickly approaching for proposals to speak.

I do hope to expand some of the things I have begun and to I look with excitement for other avenues to explore. 

INSTITUTES & CONFERENCES: My goal here is to explore events old and new. I look eagerly towards the Samford University IGHR where I will have the honor of teaching two classes this year. I am also interested in attending the institute at Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh (GRIP).  Two of the "Big Three" genealogy conferences look promising this year, and I hope to attend them-- the National Genealogy Society conference in May and the Federation of Genealogical Societies Conference in August are on my list. 

WRITING & PUBLISHING: There are several projects that I have been working on over the past several years and I hope to see some of them emerge. Voices of Indian Territory, a yearly publication will continue, but under a revised name-- Freedmen Voices of Indian Territory.  

New Projects:

Arkansas Freedom Fighters--US Colored Troops of Arkansas.

A Guide to the AfriGeneas Online Community

Early Black Marriage Records of Arkansas

I am also working on two larger writing projects one with a publisher, and the other for a national publication.

RESEARCH:

Community Area Studies continue, including Pre-Civil War Research - Middle Tennessee & Virginia and investigating more deeply RG 105- From the Arkansas Field Offices

SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS: 

I am honored to give the keynote address in February at the St. Louis African American Genealogical Society annual conference, on February 18th at Harris Stowe Conference Center. In addition while there, I shall present also two workshops.  I am looking forward to the Samford IGHR were I will be teaching two classes as well. I have an all day presentation in Arkansas, and the fall will provide another opportunity to travel to Salt Lake City, at the International Black Genealogy Summit in October. 

GENEALOGY COMMUNITY SERVICE

My work with the AfriGeneas community continues, where I served on the board and serve as a moderator of the African-Native American Forum.  This year I will have the honor to serve as one of the directors of the Federation of Genealogical Societies. This will be a new experience for me, and look forward to learning as well as serving.

ONLINE PRESENCE:

-Weekly Podcast: I have been able to complete 143 consecutive weeks of podcasts for the African Roots Podcast. This year I hope to expand and to modify the structure with more guests on the show. 

-Webinars: I am in the processing of developing some new webinars for 2012. My first webinar Best Internet Sources for African American Genealogy took place in 2011 and I plan to develop two more for the coming year.

-Videos: I plan to complete the Freedmen Series that began on my Video channel in the fall of 2011. I will create one for Creek Freedmen, Seminole Freedmen, and Choctaw-Chickasaw Freedmen. In addition I am working on a video for AfriGeneas. In addition, a new series is being developed for community research.

-Websites & Blogs:

Managing two websites( The African-Native American Genealogy Website & Arkansas Freedmen) plus three blogs in addition to the podcast takes much time. The blogs change with each update or post, but I do hope to modify the structure and appearance of both websites to reflect new resources and research discoveries.

So as the new year begins, I hope to grow, and learn and to make a contribution. 

Most importantly I look forward to learning from the wonderful people whom I have met in the genealogy community.