24. Friday Follow: Finding genspiration, what goes around comes around.

One of the greatest things that happen out on Twitter is that you are able to find people to connect with who become a great source of inspiration to you. From the moment I started following @SusanAnnBlakley, she has uplifted me with her tweets.  She also usually answers the question:  "What is happening?" where she has been keeping her followers up to date about the efforts she is putting forth to compile her family history.

Twitter helps us all in the genealogy community to satisfy two very strong desires:

1.  To find our own voice and to be heard.

2.  To help others and become a part of something bigger than ourselves.

There are so many great communities out there.  I follow some of the best people I know.  I am learning a lot.  I am stretching and drawing closer to others who are doing the same. It feels so good to make these connections and to be learning so much.  

Because of the way that I have been excepted and helped by those I follow, and because I have been given the opportunities to be of service too, I feel a strong desire to share on a bigger scale.  As everyone probably knows, African American research has been in the past ever so challenging.  I can remember that it was not so long ago that I thought it was impossible for me to even find my great great grandparents.  

I have been fortunate to have found access to some of the best resources like FamilySearch resources.  Now this industry leader and others are collaborating to make resources available to us that would have taken a great deal of time and a lot of money to access. These leaders are encouraging us to collaborate and share what we know on sites like FamilySearch Forums and FamilySearch Wiki.

I feel the strong need to reach out and help others who are just starting and have to follow the same trail of records to document their ancestors.  That is why I started the African American Resources webring where members can share and and ask for free help in locating resources.  The resources that we know about and discover will be added to FamilySearch Wiki where others can find access to historical documentation that will get them past those brick walls.  I hope they will be able to at least accomplish what I have been able to accomplish.  

Below is my traveling family history display that I use at family reunions and family history workshops.  I almost had forgotten how difficult it is when you do not know where to look for resources.  One of the African American participants at a recent workshop said, "You know, I had almost given up....until I saw this!"

My Southern Family Archive (Chick-Tucker, Johnson-Vance and extended families!)

  In this close knit group, we will also help each other keep up with the technology useful within the various communities and in showcasing our work on blogs and websites.  I began this post telling you about @SusanAnnBlakley and the great genspiration she has been to me.  Well, this week I was able to find out a little more about how awesome she is.  

She was the first person to register her blog at African American Resources.  I had not actually been to her site.  I am totally amazed by what she has been able to find and present.  I am so fortunate she has been able to see the vision of what we want to accomplish.  I am now following her blog, and I know she will be a source of great inspiration to many others.  

Just browsing her site makes me want to find a possible connection to my family :),  but all the surnames are different....so far.  

Click here  to visit. Don't forget to follow!

So there's the power of a #FF!  Finding and connecting with others increases our capacity to do good.  Thanks, Susan! 

If you know anyone who feels like giving up or wants to know how to get started blogging or twittering, please help them by sharing the following link:

Join African American Resources