Month: February 2015

Seven girls from Pumphrey and the Glen Burnie area, who are members of the Dream Girls Youth Ministry at St. John United Methodist Church, collaborated to write a new book called “Angel Voices,” which was released February 4, 2015.

Over the course of three Saturdays, Armani Jackson, Shamira Miles, Camille Sewell, Roshawnna Brinkley, Raven Gaither, Chyianne Raymond and Jada Raymond worked with local author Feleshia R. Thomas to write the 33-page book.

The collaborative effort ties into the purpose of the Dream Girls Youth Ministry. It was established under the direction of Gloria Jean Smith, Jackie Middleton, Carolyn McCutcheon, Lucille McDowell, Pam Jones and Stephany Cotton. Smith spearheaded the group that works to mentor 14 girls ranging from eight to 13 years of age. Women who mentor female students encourage them to follow their dreams. Since 2012, members have gained leadership skills, worked on building self-esteem, improved goal-setting abilities and etiquette lessons. Sewing and cooking lessons have been on their agenda, along with tea parties. Some activity ideas are suggested by youth in Dream Girls Youth Ministry. However, it was Smith’s idea to write “Angel Voices.”

“She [Jean Smith] said it would be nice if they wrote a book. She met Feleshia Thomas and she was talking to Feleshia about it. Feleshia said that she has a little publishing company and that’s how it originated,” Middleton said. “All seven of the girls are on the cover. That is another exciting thing.”

Thomas introduced topics in the book. Smith remarked that many of the girls who participated in the project are introverts. The activity prompted them to express themselves and evaluate their opinions and values.

“Outside of the fun of doing it, I think it gives them an identity, because it is their book. We talked to principal, Kathryn Fieldhouse. She is going to put the book in the library at Brooklyn Park Elementary School. They seem to be excited,” Middleton said.

Shamira, a sixth grader who attends Brooklyn Park Middle School, is a co-author of “Angel Voices.”

“The book is about interviews with seven youth between eight and 13 about subjects like bullying, rap music and what makes kids happy,” Shamira said.

Camille, 10, also attends Brooklyn Park Elementary School. She agreed to participate in writing the book after Smith asked her to become involved.

“This book is designed for everyone who enjoys reading about young people and what they think about,” Camille said, “It feels good [to be an author] and it was a great experience, because it allowed me to write about a lot of important things in the lives of young people.”

Middleton says that she has observed that Dream Girls Youth members are transforming from little girls into young ladies. Through their book project, youth reportedly improved their ability to communicate with adults.

“I think that adults can learn from this book, because we talked about some subjects which are important in our lives, and the lives of other girls our ages. One of the topics was ‘Sometimes I feel like.’ My answer was I feel like I want my mom to take me out and do things and go places, instead of staying home and relaxing or going to my room. I would like us to do more things together,” said 12-year-old Roshawnna.

The authors of “Angel Voices” hope to inspire others to read. Their project also serves as a reminder of the importance of literacy.

“Reading is important, because if you can’t read, it is hard to do anything. Sometimes reading can take you places that you have never gone, and let you read about things that you will probably never do. For instance, fly to the moon. If you can’t read, you can’t function too well. And as you get older, it will be even harder,” Shamira said.

A book signing will be held at St. John United Methodist Church, located at 6019 Belle Grove Road in Baltimore on March 7, 2015 at 4:30 p.m. The event will be open to the public. For more information, call Jackie Middleton at 410-370-3683 or Jean Smith at 443-433-8192.

Until the late 20th century, African-Americans found it difficult to have obituaries published in newspapers around the country. In modern times, some blacks cringe over the cost for publication of memorials for their loved ones because the charges associated with obituaries often limit the length of the document and prohibit the publishing of a complete tribute to the deceased.

However, two organizations, including one in Virginia and another in Utah, have established a method in which obscure stories of thousands of deceased African-Americans are finding their way to the Internet.

“We work with large national, state and municipal archives to make large collections like censuses and vital records more available online to the masses,” said Paul G. Nauta the public affairs manager for FamilySearch International in Utah, an organization that boasts being the largest genealogy organization in the world. “There are so many smaller collections, like the Virginia African-American Funeral Programs, that fill in the blanks of our family members’ lives and provide incredibly rich detail and context that makes them much more personal and real to us.”

The Virginia African-American Funeral Programs project began five years ago as a collaborative initiative between FamilySearch and the Tappahannock-based Middle Peninsula African-American Genealogical and Historical Society (MPAAGHS) of Virginia.

In a news release, officials said more than 10,000 funeral programs have been digitized, and over 200,000 names of the deceased persons and their families and friends mentioned in the programs were linked by volunteers and published in a free searchable database at the FamilySearch website.

“Funeral programs are a veritable treasure trove of family history information because they provide such a wealth of information about the deceased,” Bessida Cauthorne White, president of MPAAGHS, said in an email. “A typical funeral program includes birth and death dates and places and the names of parents, spouse, children, and other relatives. The biographies included on most of the programs, are mini-histories that add a glimpse of the decedent’s personality by disclosing schools attended, work history, church and organization affiliation, hobbies, and accomplishments.”

Also, funeral programs may contain multiple photographs of the deceased and family members.

“We often use the printed copies of the funeral programs to answer family history inquiries,” White said. “To be able to finally search the programs electronically will be tremendous.”

With regards to the length of the obituary that could make it costly to publish, funeral programs don’t have such limitations, according to White.

“You get a much richer picture of the deceased person,” White said.

To date, FamilySearch has published over three billion historical records online in free collections from over 100 countries. It continues to digitize and publish about 400 million new records online for free each year, according to Nauta.

The responses from families who are able to connect to both their living relatives as well as their deceased ancestors from these types of free collections online continue to swell with growing interest in one’s roots,” he said.

Nauta says that satisfied and happy online patrons are continually posting and sharing the joys of their discoveries from free collections like these online with other family members and friends across the various social media.

“The funeral programs are wonderful as a source because they share very personally rich information,” he said. “It’s common to see a photo of the deceased and easy to discover their life story through the information the funeral programs usually disclose, such as a broad range of family relationships stemming multiple generations in all directions, their profession, personal interests, hobbies, lifetime highlights, as well as some lowlights, that help personify the decedent and endear them to you.”

For more information about the program, visit: www.mpaagenealogicalsociety.org or www.familysearch.org.