Award-winning author John F. Baker, Jr., will present a workshop on doing African American genealogy as told through his own genealogical research which produced his recently published book, The Washingtons of Wessyngton Plantation: Stories of My Family’s Journey to Freedom. The workshop will be held on Saturday, July 25, 2009, from 9:00am until 10:30am at the Tennessee State Library and Archives (TSLA), located at 403 Seventh Avenue North, Nashville. The workshop is free and open to the public.
Baker discovered the story of his ancestors quite by accident when he saw a photograph of four former slaves, entitled “Black Tennesseans,” in a seventh grade social studies book. Later he learned that two of them were his grandmother’s grandparents. Baker has lived his entire life just a few miles from Wessyngton Plantation in a town populated by hundreds of descendants of its former slaves. For more than thirty years, he has been researching, conducting interviews, and collecting photographs and information about them and the hundreds of others enslaved on the plantation.
Baker has written extensively on Wessyngton and the lives of African Americans there. The National Historical Home submission, Families and Cabins: Archaeological and Historical Investigations at Wessyngton Plantation included his paper, which earned him a national history award from the American Association for State and Local History.
Those wishing to attend the workshop must contact TSLA to reserve a seat as the number of attendees is limited. Reservations can be made via e-mail to workshop.tsla@tn.gov. Patrons can also register by telephone by calling 615-741-2764. Parking is available in front, on the side, and in back of the Library and Archives building.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
TSLA Public Services
403 Seventh Ave North
Nashville, TN 37243
Fax: 615-741-6471
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