• HOME
  • ABOUT MAAGI
    • History
    • Tracks
    • Faculty
    • Staff
    • Appreciation
    • Sponsors & Supporters
  • LOGISTICS
    • Location
    • Lodging
    • FAQ
  • MEDIA
    • Videos
    • Photos
  • REGISTER
    • Online
    • By Mail
  • MEMBERSHIP
  • CONTACT US
MAAGI
  • HOME
  • ABOUT MAAGI
    • History
    • Tracks
    • Faculty
    • Staff
    • Appreciation
    • Sponsors & Supporters
  • LOGISTICS
    • Location
    • Lodging
    • FAQ
  • MEDIA
    • Videos
    • Photos
  • REGISTER
    • Online
    • By Mail
  • MEMBERSHIP
  • CONTACT US

MAAGI Tracks & Classes

​2019 INSTITUTE TRACKS & CLASSES

  • Tracks 1a & 1b
  • Track 2
  • Track 3
  • Track 4
  • Track 5
<
>
Track 1a: Fundamental Methods and Strategies        ​

​​Faculty: Shelley Murphy, Judy Russell, Melissa Tennant Rzepczynski,  Angela Walton-Raji


​Class Offerings:
  • Intro to Allen County & PERSI - Tennant Rzepczynski
  • Time & File Management and Organization - Murphy
  • Determining Evidence with Records and Resources  - Murphy
  • A Genealogy Case Study - Murphy
  • So What What’s? Next-Evidence Analysis - Murphy
  • Creating Genealogy Timelines - Murphy
  • Public Records & the Law - Russell
  • Slavery and the Law - Russell
  • When Worlds Collide - Russell
  • Documenting the Ancestral Community - Walton-Raji
  • Telling the Story, of How You Solved A Problem - Walton-Raji
  • Researching the Free and Enslaved Africans/American (1619-1865) - Murphy

Track 1b: Methods and Strategies for Slavery Era Research
​
Coordinator, Shelley Murphy
Faculty: Shelley Murphy, Judy Russell, Angela Walton-Raji, Toni Carrier, Bernice Bennett, Nicka Sewell-Smith, Janis Minor-Forte


Class Offerings:
  • Slavery and the Law - Joint with Track 1A - Russell
  • Systems to Track and Document Enslaved Populations - Sewell-Smith
  • Researching the Digital Library on American Slavery: Access Pre-Emancipation Slave Documents-Forte - Joint with Track 3 - Forte
  • Reconstruction Era Records: the Key to Breaking Through the 1870 Brick Wall  - Carrier
  • Documenting Enslaved Ancestors: Working in Antebellum Records - Carrier
  • Slave Rebellions & Resistance - Walton-Raji
  • Slave schedules - Use Them Properly - Walton-Raji
  • Researching Plantation Journals:  A Resource to Pre-Emancipation Documentation of Slaves, their Lifestyle, Owners, Culture & Kinfolk 
  • Examining Slave Ship Manifests - Bennett
  • Finding your ancestors in Wills and Deeds: a Case Study - Bennett
  • Slave Runaway Ads for Slave Era Research-Bennett
  • No Stone Unturned: Case Studies in Identifying the Last Slaveholder - Sewell-Smith​
Picture
Shelley Murphy, B.S., M.A., D.M.
Track 1a & 1b Coordinator
Bio
Track 2: DNA & Genealogy 

​Faculty:
 Shannon Christmas, Janice Lovelace, Judy Russell, Nicka Sewell-Smith

Focus Track 2a: This section is for individuals who are new to DNA testing and have not taken a formal course or feel competent that they understand the basics of Genetic Genealogy

Focus Track 2b: This section is an intermediate DNA class and it it designed for individuals that have taken a DNA course either through MAAGI or another entity and are ready to move into intermediate to advance DNA analysis. 


Pre-requisites for all participants in both tracks: Participants should have taken at least one autosomal DNA test and received their results prior to attending to MAAGI. Any of these tests are suggested: AncestryDNA, 23andMe, FamilyTreeDNA and MyHeritage DNA. 

There are 2 sections for this track. Assignments will be made after assessment.

​Additional Requirements:
  1. All students are required to purchase and read: The Family Tree Guide to DNA Testing and Genetic Genealogy by Blaine T. Bettinger, and Genetic Genealogy in Practice by Blaine T. Bettinger and Debbie Parker Wayne.
  2. Must have received your autosomal and other DNA test results.
  3. Participate in one MAAGI DNA Conference Call – TBA
  4. Download an upload your autosomal results to Gedmatch.com
  5. Create a spreadsheet of your results

Class Offerings:
  • The Beginner’s Genetic Genealogy - Christmas
  • The Genetic Network - Christmas
  • DNA Standards and Privacy/Ethics - Russell
  • DNA and Genealogy - Christmas
  • Strategies for Using Autosomal DNA - Christmas
  • Genetic Genealogy Planning - Christmas
  • The Emotional Side of DNA - Sewell-Smith
  • GEDMatch, what to do with it and how? - Christmas
  • Off-Site Solutions -  Smith
  • From Widows to Slavecestors to DNA - Sewell-Smith
  • The Family DNA Project - Sewell-Smith
Picture
Bernice Alexander Bennett, B.S., MPH
Track 2 Coordinator
Bio
Track 3: Intermediate Genealogy - Pre & Post Slavery Era Research

​Faculty: Juliana Szucs, Ancestry.com; Roberta Ridley, Allen County Public Library; Dr. Alfred Brothers Jr., Lt. Col Air Force Retired, Melissa Tennant, Allen County Public Library; Janis Minor Forté, AAGHSC, and MAAGI Track Coordinator
​
Focus: Learn to expand your research.  Learn to explore new document record groups.  Investigate new study techniques and methodologies.  Learn problem solving skills and how to develop a new research path.  This track provides in depth skill building is researching pre and post slavery era records. 
 
Designed to uncover the hidden documentation of formerly enslaved and free persons of color, this Track is designed to explore the records of the pre and post slavery era period.   The core curriculum of this Track’s focus is on best practices standards in African American genealogy with emphasis on methodology and skill-building techniques.  Attendees embark on a new adventure to find documentation of enslaved ancestors; to developing new analytical skills, to developing new research pathways towards pre and post emancipation era family history.  Learn collaboration and partnership techniques and the value of genealogy support groups.   Learn from nationally recognized experts.

Class Offerings: 
  • Search Strategies and Using Trees to Organize Information: Getting the Most out of Ancestry.com – Szucs
  • Exploring Collections Beneficial to African American Research:  Hidden Treasures at Ancestry.com, Finding Slave Certificates – Szucs
  • Exploring US Probate Records on Ancestry:  Slaves identified by name, age, grouping, bill of sale estate settlement, in court records, research tips, -Szucs
  • Discovering Unfamiliar African American Resources at Allen County Library. What's New, What's Different and How to Find It, University Library Selected Record Set - Tennant
  • African American Military Records: Search, Find, Decipher, Understand, Incorporate – Brothers
  • Founding of a Nation: The Revolutionary War & Post-Revolutionary War Period Records – Brothers
  • Rebirth of a Nation: The Civil War & Post Civil War Period Records; U.S. Becomes a  Superpower; - The Expeditionary Wars: World War I, and World War II Records  – Brothers
  • Understand & Appreciating the Mysteries of Our Ancestor’s History:  A Case Study of social conflict and genetics, family honors, social conflict.  Ethics:  What to tell, when to tell it, or not. - Ridley     
  • Census Data:  More than Just a Population Count.  Knowing What the Census Columns  Says, African Americans on pre emancipation census schedule(s) – Forté  
  • Researching Plantation Journals:  A Resource to Pre-Emancipation Documentation of Slaves, their life style; their Owners, Culture & Kin, - Forte Seven Proven Strategies to Identify the Slave Holder: Finding Missing Kin and Reconstructing Families.  Learn exploration, methodologies and strategies in record system search - Forté
  • What’s My Brick Wall?  Focus:  A hands-on problem solving session. Participants present brick wall/road block in brief.  Work Group(s) analyze, strategize, brain storm, review, report - Forté
Picture
Janis Minor Forté, B.A., M.A.
Track 3 Coordinator
Bio
Track 4: Writing Track

Faculty: Bernice Benett, Shelley Murphy, Janis Minor Forté, Thomas MacEntee, Nicka Smith
​

Focus: The goal of this track is to encourage researchers to turn their research into the printed word. Whether the medium is electronic in the form of  a blog or e-book, or to have a tangible printed publication, participants will learn about the various platforms from which they can turn their research into a published work.

Class Offerings:
  • ​Time and File Management – Murphy
  • Developing Your Book Proposal for Mainstream Media – Walton-Raji
  • It’s All About the Writing – Murphy
  • Using Canva for Publication Design – Smith
  • Publishing a Heritage Book – Minor-Forté
  • Publishing a Genealogy E-book – MacEntee
  • Publishing a Family Book – Smith
  • The Story of How I Solved a Research Problem – Walton-Raji
  • Writing Assignment – Create Your Own Blog/Develop Your Own Proposal
  • Self-Publishing for Genealogists – MacEntee
  • MS Word and Self Publishing – MacEntee
  • Present Your Project – Walton-Raji
Picture
Bernice Alexander Bennett, B.S., MPH
Track 4 Coordinator
Bio
​Track 5: Freedmen of the Five Civilized Tribes    
NEW TRACK FOR 2019!

Faculty:  Ron Graham, Terry Ligon, Janice Lovelace, Nicka Sewell-Smith, Angela Walton-Raji


Focus: In July 2019 MAAGI will become the first genealogy institute to offer a track devoted entirely to the Freedmen from Indian Territory and the Five Tribes: Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek and Seminole Nations. This focus in the genealogy community, is long overdue as the Oklahoma based Freedmen are uniquely the largest group of African-descended people with the most provable ties to any Native American tribe. For three days the participants will take 12 classes, all of which will be devoted to methods of researching the documenting the history of this most under-discussed population. 

Class Offerings: ​
  • Basic Records for Oklahoma Freedman Research -Walton-Raji
  • Chickasaw Freedmen and Equity Case 7071 - Ligon
  • Before the Dawes Rolls – Exploring Slavery Era & Earlier Freedmen Records - Walton-Raji
  • IT Freedmen in the Civil War: USCTs & Indian Home Guards- Walton-Raji
  • Understanding Creek Dawes Records - Graham
  • Creek Freedmen Towns/Districts  - Graham
  • The Case of Joe & Dillard Perry & Dora and Jesse McGee - Ligon
  • Finding Ike Rogers and other Cherokee Freedmen - Sewell-Smith
  • Following the Footnotes in Oklahoma Freedmen Studies- Ligon
  • Land  Records: Allotment and Beyond? - Lovelace
  • Life Before Statehood – Freedman Associations, Societies, and Schools - Walton-Raji
  • Africans on the Trail of Tears - Ligon
  • Freedman Community Extraction Project - Ligon
Picture
Angela Walton-Raji, B.A., M.Ed.
Track 5 Coordinator
Bio

Don't get left behind.

Three days of learning, researching and networking await you at MAAGI!
Register Today
Copyright © 2013-2019 Midwest African American Genealogy Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
  • HOME
  • ABOUT MAAGI
    • History
    • Tracks
    • Faculty
    • Staff
    • Appreciation
    • Sponsors & Supporters
  • LOGISTICS
    • Location
    • Lodging
    • FAQ
  • MEDIA
    • Videos
    • Photos
  • REGISTER
    • Online
    • By Mail
  • MEMBERSHIP
  • CONTACT US