Women History Month Celebrates "The African American Woman"

In 1981, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Rep. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) co-sponsored a joint Congressional resolution proclaiming a national Women's History Week. In 1987, Congress expanded the celebration to a month, and March was declared Women's History Month.Women History month is too recognized and celebrates the diverse and historic accomplishments of women,

In honor of this historic and yearly event, I would like to honor and celebrate the strong African American women in my family in pictures.

Coleman Women

From left to right my sister Ruby, Oldest sister Ruthie Lynn, Mom in the white and myself Lela

Grandmothers

Sallie Mae Thomas Coleman

Carrie Bell Cameron 1900-1991

My aunt Alyce Coleman 1936-1958

My beautiful sister Edna Faye Coleman July16, 1956 - April 27, 1999

Cousin Hazel Reed - Anderson 1935-2008

Great aunt Frances Cameron - Washington 1906-1960

Aunt Josie Lee Cameron-Washington 1923-2006

The Beautiful African American Woman

I am the great, great, great, great granddaughter of the slave,

I am of African decent

And have not always known

What that meant!

I am derived from the great African

Kings and Queens

And I am all of that it seems!

I have been told that we were sold

For no less gold than it takes to pay

Your toll!

My women ancestors were strong, bold, and intelligent.

They worked from sunup to sundown, raised their families, dealt with racism on

A daily basic, fought to keep their jobs but in the end

They were robbed.

Robbed of years of happiness and years of pay

And now here they lay, the beautiful African American woman in God's hand.

By Lela R. Coleman @2011

Researching and Technology

As a family history researcher, I have often said researching family history is a “Labor of Love”. I began researching the Coleman’s and Cameron’s of Mississippi in 1994.

It is personally rewarding to know your roots. each time you discover another piece of family history you uncover a piece of American history from the human perspective.

Genealogy addiction comes with frustration. I am sure every family history researcher shares the frustration of wondering if there was something else that could have been uncovered, or some record missed.  This is a frustration that all genealogy researchers learn to live with but it never diminishes the curiosity of looking for more.

For the serious genealogy researcher, strong dedication is needed a true love of the past and even a zealous pursuit of genealogy clues and leads.  As ancestors become real people in our minds, there is a sense of fulfillment.

Thanks to technological development which includes the internet and software programs which has simplified family history research.

Thanks to technology and the internet, I have located long lost relatives and some I did not know I had.

In a previous blog, I introduced Sterling “Robert Ford” Cameron who had ran away from home at 12 years old was never seen again for close to 40 years. By the miracle of the internet, I have been introduced to Sterling's son.

In early February 2011, I received an email from a lady by the name of Ruth Oates in Los Angeles California. Ruth had found the picture and story I had written on Sterling “Robert Ford” Cameron attached to his name on Ancestry.com. Ruth had been married to Sterling’s son Robert who had died in 1982. She was also present at the funeral of Sterling “Robert Ford” Cameron in 1969.

Robert Oates, son of Sterling "Robert Ford" Cameron

The story above is an example of how technology has opened up a whole new world for family history researchers.