This lecture will discuss the wealth of information that can be found in two distinct African American sources - the slave narratives and the Freedmen's Bureau. The WPA Slave Narratives were collected by the Works Progress Administration between 1936-1938. This unique project interviewed the experiences of formerly enslaved people and includes over 2,600 interviews. The Freedmen’s Bureau was created by the federal government at the close of the Civil War to provide help to newly freed slaves and refugees. This lecture will provide an overview of the type of records found in this collection and how to navigate this source.
 

Ari Wilkins is a genealogist and library associate at Dallas Public Library. A frequent lecturer at national and regional genealogy conferences on numerous family history topics, she specializes in African American research. Her first lecture will demonstrate how to build a map in Google Maps using Sanborn Fire Insurance maps, census records, and city directories. On Thursday, she will discuss researching different types of newspapers, information that can be gleaned from advertisements, and how newspapers can lead to other sources. On Friday, she will address researching migrants from the Great Plains to California; the push/pull factors of migration; and the records used in tracing Dust Bowl ancestors.