Welcome to the FHWGS Website!
OUR NEXT MEETING IS SATURDAY, APRIL 5, 2025
April 5, 2025 Meeting
Our program for the April meeting will be, “Organizing Plantation Records” presented by Ari Wilkins.
A graduate of Louisiana State University, Ms. Wilkins has been actively researching family history since 1998, specializing in African American research.
Ms. Wilkins speaks nationally and locally. She has had the honor to speak at the National Genealogical Society, Federation of Genealogical Societies, Texas State Genealogical Society, Ohio Genealogical Society, Institute of Genealogical and Historical Research, Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy, American Library Association, RootsTech, and a multitude of local societies.
Members will be sent instructions to join the virtual meeting
Our State Clubs met virtually on March 1, 2025
At our February 1, 2025, meeting we held a book discussion of Clay Cane’s book, The Grift.
Our January 4, 2025, meeting hilighted the Wallace Center for Arts and Reconciliation Reunion, October 2023 in Harpersville, Shelby County, Alabama. Many of the reunion’s participants shared their stories and reflections.
Our November 2, 2024 meeting was our Native American Heritage Month Program, “Discovering Your African American and Native American Ancestry”, Presented By: Omer Jean Winborn, Cheryl D. Garnett and Jacqui Hollier
Our October 5, 2024, program was, Heroines in the Family, Women of Color Who Challenged Slavery, presented by Angelica Roberts.
Angelica Roberts, Fred Hart Williams Genealogical Society member, will tell the stories of three courageous ancestral relatives who lived in the 1800s—Harriet Work Lennox, who helped build community in Michigan after her freedom was purchased by her father in North Carolina, Caroline Lenox French of Detroit, remembered for her role in a daring Underground Railroad escape, and Sarah Parker Remond of Massachusetts, bold abolitionist speaker.
The ancestors of Angelica’s father were free people of color who migrated to Michigan before the Civil War. Michigan Public Radio’s “Stateside” has said “Roberts has spent her life searching for and preserving the stories of these ancestors whose lives and work helped shape Michigan into the state it is today. To her, it is a labor of love as she uses historical records along with intuition and imagination to piece together the story of those who came before her.”
Angelica is a quilt artist who lives in Kalamazoo County, where her Harris ancestors were the first African American pioneer settlers. The deeper stories of her newest heroines were only revealed when she connected with cousins in her Lennox line. Descendants of both enslavers and enslaved, the cousins held clues about Harriet, Caroline, and Sarah.
Our May 4, 2024, meeting was our 45th annual meeting and election. The program was a book discussion on “The World According to Fannie Davis” with the author – Bridgett M. Davis
Our April 6, 2024, speaker was Jamon Jordan, Official Historian, City of Detroit. He spoke on the topic: Women of the Resistance. He highlighted the many contributions of women in the liberation of African Americans and the civil rights movement.
Our March 2, 2024 program was “Preserving Your Genealogical Heritage: Archival Storage Essentials and Preservation Resources,” the presenter was Sasha Johnson.
AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY PROGRAM
On 2/3/2024 the meeting program was, How To Use Airtable For Cluster Research: A Case Study – Presented by Mary Crosby
Be sure to watch Gospel on PBS February 12 & 13, 2024 at 9:00 PM (EST). Mary Crosby was a local researcher for the documentary hosted by Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr.
Our January 6, 2024, meeting topic was Henry Ford and the Inkster Project – Presented by Howard Lindsay, PhD
