MAAGI Begins!!

MAAGI Participants listening to speakers at opening session.

Participants from Virginia to California and from Minnesota to Mississippi, arrived yesterday in St. Louis to attend the Midwestern African American Genealogy Institute. This is the first year of this institute, and the energy was high yesterday as friends old and new gathered at the campus of Harris-Stowe State University for the opening session.

Some of the residents chose to stay in residence halls on the campus while others selected the Pear Tree in midtown St. Louis during the next three days. There are 4 tracks from which participants will be immersed in the next three days having an in-depth immersion into methods and strategies of African American genealogy and research.  Some are beginners and others are seasoned researchers hoping to refine their skills, learn some technological skills and others to explore options that me available as they contemplate becoming professional genealogists!

An attentive audience gave the speakers their attention.

 

Other participants at opening session.

 

 Speakers from around the country are part of the faculty at MAAGI.  Thomas Macentee from Chicago, is a well known blogger and genealogist. Other speakers are Lisa Lee of GotGenealogy, Dr. Shelley Murphy aka familytreegirl, Tim Pinnick, Nicka Sewell Smith formerly of Northern California and now Tennessee, Curt Witcher of the Allen County Library, and noted blog radio host,Bernice Alexander Bennett and Professor Dru - Drusilla Pair of the Find Your Folks blog.

 Bloggers Thomas Macentee and Drusilla Pair chatting before the opening session.

Many of the participants gathered to take group photos, and many took images of the individuals in their various tracks.

 Track  3 (Pres & Post Slavery Era Research)

After the opening session, many of the participants went to dinner and of course as the sessions begin on Tuesday morning, the work begins!