IAAM: The International African American Museum Launches Groundbreaking African American Genealogy Center. “Today, the International African American Museum (IAAM) announced the launch of its Center for Family History – an innovative national genealogy research center dedicated solely to celebrating and researching African American ancestry. The center will engage in genealogy education, original research, community archiving, public outreach, and collections. It will also assist with DNA testing. The Center for Family History is the International African American Museum’s first program launch. It will engage visitors online now … and in one of the most prominent gallery spaces in the museum.” Disclaimer: I’ve been doing some writing for Toni Carrier, one of the people behind this launch. I don’t get extra for promoting the new center, and I’m not being paid directly for promoting it. I do think it’s a fantastic idea and want to help get the word out.
African-Americans
The Next Web: Googling ‘black baby portraits’ reveals yet another problem with AI
The Next Web: Googling ‘black baby portraits’ reveals yet another problem with AI. “In today’s episode of AI Screws Up Again, try typing in ‘black baby portraits’ into Google. You will not get many photos of black babies.” The article points out that the same issue occurs with Bing.
Public Now: Montgomery County [MD] Public Libraries Announces Digital Collection of Local African American Newspaper
Public Now: Montgomery County Public Libraries Announces Digital Collection of Local African American Newspaper. This is Montgomery County, Maryland. “Montgomery County Public Libraries (MCPL) announced that seven years of the Montgomery Times newspaper is now available through a digital archive on MCPL’s website. The Montgomery Times began publication in 1992 and was combined with the Prince Georges Times in 1999 as the African American Times. The paper ran until 2002, covering news of interest to the African American community in Montgomery County.”
CBS 19: BamaWorks grant to help build database of Jefferson school students
CBS 19: BamaWorks grant to help build database of Jefferson school students. “A grant will help the Jefferson School African-American Heritage Center create a database of students who attended Jefferson high School…. The project proposal aims to create a database from yearbooks from the school that date between 1940 and 1951.”
University of Arkansas: University Libraries Digitize Southland Papers
University of Arkansas: University Libraries Digitize Southland Papers. “A new digital exhibit is now available for viewing on the University of Arkansas Libraries’ website. Lives Transformed: The People of Southland College tells the story of the first institution of higher learning west of the Mississippi River for African-Americans.”
TechCrunch: Equal Justice Initiative, backed by Google.org, launches ‘Lynching in America’
TechCrunch: Equal Justice Initiative, backed by Google.org, launches ‘Lynching in America’. “Thanks in part to funding by Google.org, Equal Justice Initiative has launched an online platform to explore the history of lynching in America. The goal with Lynching in America is to enable people to confront the history of lynching through research, data and the stories of those affected by lynching in America.”
Free to Use and Reuse: 19th-Century Portrait Photos (Library of Congress)
Library of Congress: Free to Use and Reuse: 19th-Century Portrait Photos. “Military brass, senators, socialites and even babies—these are a handful of Washington, D.C., subjects photographed by Charles Milton Bell (1848–93) during the last quarter of the 19th century. The Library recently digitized more than 25,000 glass plate negatives produced by Bell and his successors between 1873 and the early years of the 20th century. The photographs document the capital city’s social and political history—and also its fashions and preoccupations.”
