Sunday, December 7, 2008

New Database for African-American Research

This was recently released by the Associated Press and also covered in Dick Eastman's newsletter:

"Historians hope a new Web database will help bring millions of blacks closer to their African ancestors who were forced onto slave ships, connecting them to their heritage in a way that has long been possible for white Europeans.
"Voyages: The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database" launched Friday in conjunction with a conference at Emory University marking the bicentennial of the official end of the trans-Atlantic slave trade in 1808. Emory spearheaded the two-year interactive project, which is free to the public.
"Genealogy and DNA tracing have gained popularity for blacks looking to trace their slave roots, and "Voyages" could help give a fuller picture of slavery for a culture stripped of its heritage... You can read more in an Associated Press story at http://tinyurl.com/5rgam7." [This is well worth the read to put the capabilities of the database in context.]

You can visit the website at http://www.slavevoyages.org/

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