Youth Genealogy & Historical Research

Young Preservationists in Arkansas

2012-07-05T10:22:00.000-07:00

Angela Walton-Raji of African Roots TV interviews a group of junior preservationists she met in Arkansas. Under the right guidance young people can some amazing things.

Innovative Youth Genealogy Program in Baltimore

2012-04-10T10:00:00.001-07:00

Angela Walton-Raji of African Roots TV interviews genealogist Regina Spencer of Maryland and children who participated in a genealogy class she conducted at her church.

The Back in the Day Youth

2011-07-24T11:36:00.000-07:00

The Back in the Day program was developed to teach young people how to conduct historical research of their faith-based institutions through historical documents, artifacts, and by conducting oral history interviews.

During one of the lessons, I decided to have the young people sing an old style gospel song. In my lecture, I talked to them about the time period in the history of African American churches when there was no instrumental music, but only hand clapping, foot tapping, and singing. After the lesson and singing demo, one of the young men broke out into another song in this style. Since that day, the hand clapping/foot tapping style song, "I Don't Know What You've Come to Do" has become a signature song for the Back in the Day church history research program.

Two churches participated in this program and last month, the youth presented their church history research to their family and friends in a special program where they also sang old and new school gospel songs. Last Sunday and today, each group presented their research to their respective churches. The youth sang in both of these programs.

"I Don't Know What You Come to Do . . . I've Come to Praise the Lord"

Just Do Something!

2011-07-15T22:00:00.000-07:00

Just Do Something! That’s my message in this inaugural posting for the Youth Genealogy and Historical Research blog. Just do something to get youth involved in genealogy and historical research.

Your involvement might be on a one-on-one basis like Elyse Doerflinger of Elyse’s Genealogy Blog who teaches her young cousin through fun-filled activities how to do genealogy or like Antoinette Harrell of Nurturing Our Roots who teaches her young granddaughter about her ancestry.

Getting Youth Involved in Genealogy

My Granddaughter Learning her Family History

Your involvement might be on a larger scale with an extensive program like the eight week program I just completed in teaching youth in my community how to research the histories of their church. Or it could be like the Ancestral Project taught by Nicka Smith of The Atlas Family Blog, whose program focused on teaching youth how to do family research. (See Programs section of this blog for articles about these two programs.)

Whatever the degree of your involvement, just do something. I invite Genealogists and Family Historians to share their ideas on this blog. Please feel free to contribute information by either posting a comment or sending me a message through the Contact Form on this site.

Happy Hunting and Don’t Forget the Youth!

Drusilla Pair aka “Professor Dru"