Roots Author Alex Haley discusses his great-great-great grandfather Chicken George, and his 12 year research for his family Roots with assembled Washington D. C. Cardozo high Schools students in the school auditorium
United Nations Ambassador and former Ga. Congressman Andrew Young, Roots author Alex Harley and George Harley pictured at the Black Caucus Dinner reception
Author Alex Haley is a speaker for the Frank N. Doubleday Lecture Series; the theme of the lecture series is education in the real world. Haley speaks of researching and writing about his genealogical roots for his book, Roots, using oral history and archival materials, including those at the National Archives. He talks about traveling to Gambia and learning about the history of Kinte clan from a griot, a West African historian who is a repository of oral history for a particular African clan. Haley also speaks of black heritage and African heritage; his life in the coast guard and as a freelance writer; and his family as he was growing up.
Lecture. Part of Broadcast Programs. Undated.
General:
Title created by ACMA based on transcription from physical asset and contents of recording.
Collection Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Some items are not accessible due to obsolete format and playback machinery restrictions. Please contact the archivist at acmarchives@si.edu.
Alex Haley talks about tracing his genealogical roots and documenting the oral history of a family for his upcoming book, and his research at the National Archives and Library of Congress. Haley also talks about traveling to Gambia and learning about the history of Kinte clan from a griot, a West African historian who is a repository of oral history for a particular African clan. He presents specific oral history stories and archival materials he discovered which document his ancestral history.
Presentation/lecture. Part of ACM Museum Events, PR, and Ceremonies Recordings. AV003265 and AV003068: some content overlaps. AV003068: lecture begins 001616 (prior to lecture consists of First Annual National Black History Museums Seminar: Business Meeting). AV003265: dated 19730603. AV003068: undated.
Local Numbers:
ACMA AV003068
General:
Title transcribed from physical asset.
Collection Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Some items are not accessible due to obsolete format and playback machinery restrictions. Please contact the archivist at acmarchives@si.edu.
Alex Haley's Presentation on Genealogical Trace at the National Archives, Record Group AV09-023, Anacostia Community Museum Archives, Smithsonian Institution.
Dr. Leonard Jeffries talks about developing an afro-centric perspective in museums; black studies levels of knowledge; socialization process, control, and struggle of the races; black identity; and African-Asiatic and Euro-American values and traditions. Jeffries details the black studies levels of knowledge: factual, conceptual, generalization, and theory, which should lead to action. He discusses how these levels of knowledge as well as action can be used in museum work. Jeffries also talks about black experience, and working with James H. Robinson and Alex Haley. Jeffries' lecture is followed by John Kinard's remarks regarding the next day's agenda. Kinard also provides introduction to the lecture and speaks of his relationship to Jeffries.
Lecture/Seminar. Part of Conference Recordings. Poor picture and sound quality. Some of the content is the same across assets AV003067, AV003204, and AV003049. AV003067: dated 19760529. AV003204 and AV003049: Undated.
Biographical / Historical:
The First Annual National Black History Museum Seminar was held at the Museum of Natural History, the Smithsonian Castle, and the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum in Washington, D.C. from May 29 - 30, 1976. The Anacostia Neighborhood Museum was the host of the seminar. The participants include staff from the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum in Washington, D.C., Museum of African American History in Boston, DuSable Museum of African American History in Chicago, African American Museum of Detroit, Society for the Preservation of Weeksville and Bedford-Stuyvesant History in Brooklyn, and African American Historical and Cultural Society in San Francisco. The goal for the seminar was to develop a national coalition of black museum professionals and further define the goals of the seminar for the future locations - Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Brooklyn, and San Francisco.
Local Numbers:
ACMA AV003204
ACMA AV003049
Other Archival Materials:
Related archival material - First Annual National Black History Museums Seminar: Introduction; The Question of Funding Sources and Management; Seeking, Receiving, and Spending: The Financing Game; First Annual National Black History Museums Seminar: Business Meeting; First Annual National Black History Museums Seminar: Participant Statements; First Annual National Black History Museums Seminar: Adolphus Ealey Lecture; First Annual National Black History Museum Seminar: Institution Statements.
Collection Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Some items are not accessible due to obsolete format and playback machinery restrictions. Please contact the archivist at acmarchives@si.edu.
Scholars, historians, and archivists speak about their experiences working in archives and with archival materials, specifically negro, black, and African American records. W. Augustus Low speaks about his experience working in archives and with archivists as well as his work with the Freedmen Bureau records, and researching Civil Rights and Anthony Johnson (Jamestown colonist); he also speaks about other scholars who used archives for their articles published in the Journal of Negro History, which Low is editor. Harold Pinkett presents his paper about how records useful for research enter the documentary preserve designated as archives; the formation of the National Archives; early development of archival standards; and scattered government records related to black experience. Mary Frances Berry speaks about her good and challenging experiences working with National Archives records for her research on black soldiers, and later law and policing as related to African Americans. Elaine M. Smith explains her research on Mary McLeod Bethune using the National Archives. Roland C. Connell describes his experience working for the National Archives, and later researching Andrew Jackson and the negro soldier; he also speaks about his experience working with the archives at Morgan State College. Barry A. Crouch speaks about researching the Texas Freedmen's Bureau, Reconstruction, crime, black prisoners, and black schools in the National Archives. Andrew Billingsley talks about conducting research on slavery and the Freedmen's Bureau at the National Archives and Howard University. Herbert G. Gutman speaks about his research and work about black families and freedmen. Alex Haley talks about his study of African American families and working with archival material. Other scholars and archival professionals speak about using oral histories, specifically oral tradition and eyewitness accounts, to research Afro-American experience; using presidential libraries as a source for research on Afro-Americans; and the work of the special advisory committee to the National Historical Publication Commission, a committee on the publication on the papers of blacks.
Conference. Part of Conference Recordings. AV003052: part 1, dated 19730603. AV003539: part 2, dated 19730603. AV000825: part 3, dated 19730603 and 19730604. AV000813: part 4, dated 19730605. AV003048: part 5, dated 19730605. AV003072: part 6, dated 19730605. Presentations often continue onto the following recording.
Local Numbers:
ACMA AV003539
ACMA AV000825
ACMA AV000813
ACMA AV003048
ACMA AV003072
General:
Title transcribed from physical asset.
Collection Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Some items are not accessible due to obsolete format and playback machinery restrictions. Please contact the archivist at acmarchives@si.edu.
Black genesis : African roots : a voyage from Juffure, the Gambia, through Mandingo country to the slave port of Dakar, Senegal / photography by Jurgen Vollmer ; text by John Devere ; design by Jurgen Vollmer and John Devere
