On the Eve of Roots Tech

Well it is amazing how a day can be truly full even before the conference begins. I arrived in Salt Lake City yesterday afternoon, and was settled in at the Radisson hotel with two genea-buddies, Shelley Murphy, and Bernice Bennett. And after a good night's rest we arose to the various tasks that awaited us.

After a wonderful breakfast at the Radisson, I then needed to officially register, to obtain my conference badge and plan the day. The conference guide is an attractive, and streamlined journal that meticulously outlined the workshops in both conferences, and included biographies and so much more. (For those that don't know, Roots Tech and FGS are taking place at the same time, in the same facility--the Salt Palace Convention Center.)

Front page of Conference Guide Book

There are over 130 pages in the book that has a slim and sleek appearance. The conference guide has a sleep and professional look to it, with a full description of events to unfold in the next three days. The size is perfect as it easily slips into a purse or folio.

The thin size still consisted of 130 pages of RootsTech/FGS events

I spent some time in the business center of the Radisson hotel, polishing my presentation for later in the week. With some free time on my hands, I was able to engage in my favorite exercise--research.
So, I went down to the Family History Center. While there, I was able to copy more than 70 documents and put them on my flash drive.

Family History Library, Salt Lake City

One thing about attending an event this large is that one must truly be prepared to walk, alot. The Salt Palace Convention Center is huge, and though the hotel is next to the facility, that does not reduce the walking. While going through two huge exhibit halls that were being set up for the next several days, then going down the long never-ending halls, does make one appreciate health. Add to that fact that the city is in the mountains, so that means slower walking for those not accustomed to thinner air. Thankfully the weather was beautiful walking outside was not too hard.

I took a break to have something for dinner, after which, I returned to the Family History center to continue my research. After another two hours went by quickly fatigue set in and I knew I need to come back to the hotel for rest. The opening session is tomorrow, and the day will unwind with lots of things to do, thousands of people to see and two entire exhibit halls to roam tomorrow.

And so it goes, on this eve of  Roots Tech, and all I can say is "bring it on"! 

One Newsaper, Two Homes

Copies of the BroadAx of Salt Lake City, and Chicago

Over a year ago, I was fascinated when doing some research to come across a digitized image of a Black newspaper called the Broad Ax.  This newspaper started out in Salt Lake City, and had an amazing history from an amazing editor.

Julius Taylor was a unique man with unique ideas that covered many aspects of politics. He traveled from Virginia, to the Midwest before settling in Salt Lake City Utah in 1895. A year later he launched the Broad Ax, from his base in Utah. This is amazing since at that time, there were so few people of color in the state of Utah. It is estimated that there were less than 1000 African Americans in the state at that time. It has been noted that in 1890, the population was less than 600. (1)

Taylor was often in conflict with people of varying opinions politically and religiously, but stated in his newspaper that people of varying opinions could respond to his thoughts "so long as their language was proper, and responsibility is fixed." [2]

Taylor could be described as a man of interesting politics in many ways. At a time when most Black Americans were politically leaning to the policies of the Republican party in the late 1800s, he was one who encouraged Black readers to consider more the politics of the Democratic party. Interestingly, that shift would occur decades later in the 1960s after the Voting Rights Act. Black registered as Democrats and those with more conservative and sometimes "anti-black" sentiments began to shift in larger numbers to the Republican party. Taylor often lectured how the preferred party of the time had abandoned the Lincoln values and had shifted away in a different direction. He particularly deplored the actions of the Republican Party convention of 1896 nominated persons of all religious and ethnic backgrounds except African Americans.

Julius Taylor did become a strong voice against the lynchings throughout the nation of black people and often was a spokesperson against lynching in The Broad Ax. He also worked tirelessly to encourage the placement of Blacks in Salt Lake City city council, where he met much opposition from a strongly conservative population.

Taylor did not have strong religious feelings and often spoke against issues and conservative policies of the Mormon church and other faiths as well.

His strongest interests were continually equality for all people and the sentiment was found often in his editorials.

Three  years after publication, Taylor left Salt Lake City, and after efforts to have involvement of people of color  and relocated the offices of The Broad Ax to Chicago, where he worked within a city that had a more sizable black population. (2)

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1.  Utah Digital Newspapers, Creating Citizen Historians [Link to quotation]

2, A detailed article about Julius Taylor and The Broad Ax can be found in a digitized copy of the Utah Historical Quarterly, Volume 77, No. 3, Summer 2009 p. 204.