Since February is designated as “Black History Month”, my question to those of that ethnicity in Tate County is: “What are you doing to preserve Tate County Black History?”
Are you compiling the history of your family or are you going to let all those wonderful stories be lost? Grandma and Grandpa won’t be around forever. If one thing has been evident through the COVID crisis it is that those dearest to us can be gone in a moment. It’s easy to tell yourself that there will be plenty of time, but no matter what age, that may not be the case. Will you work to preserve the contributions your family has made to Tate County? Did they serve in the military, establish a business? Were they founding members in a church, part of local government? Did they have a career as a doctor, lawyer, teacher, librarian, law enforcement or clergy? What achievements did they earn in their lifetime? The most important fact is that they were a citizen of Tate County and helped shape its history. And only you and your family can share what their life was.
Preserving history is NOT the responsibility of your local government or a local history/genealogical society. It is YOUR responsibility.
When interviewing the oldest members of your family, it is always good to record the interview so you can transcribe it later. It’s too easy to forget everything that was said if you don’t get to work on your notes for a while. I can speak from experience. I didn’t begin to accumulate my own family history until all my grandparents, as well as most of their generation were deceased. I couldn’t ask them about what it was like growing up, about their parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, siblings, and cousins. I couldn’t document the stories of the events in their lives. So much was lost because I didn’t start earlier.
Are you preserving the pictures of those dearest to you? Be sure to put names, dates and places on the backs so future generations will know who they are. Does a member of your family have the Family Bible? Take out your phone and take pictures of the pages that document those births, marriages, and deaths in case it is later damaged in a fire or weather disaster. You can also make copies of birth and death certificates, marriage licenses, certificates for honors awarded to the individual, military records. When you put them on your computer it is always good to save them to a USB or external hard drive, in case your computer is damaged. Store original documents in a fireproof box, if possible.
While this article speaks with regard to Black History month, these suggestions are the same for men and women of every race. Whether your ancestors came from England, Ireland, Scotland, Germany, Italy, Scandinavia, Asia, Africa, South America, or any other part of the world, if you want your family history preserved for future generations it is up to YOU. The earlier you begin the more that can be shared. And we hope that you’ll share what you can with TCG&HS. It’s not just the notable men and women who should be remembered. The accomplishments of men and women like Dr. George Washington Carver, Rosa Parks, Clarence Thomas and others are of national importance, but your family is equally important because their achievements are of local interest. They paved the road for their descendants to attain their own accomplishments.
Our library has tried to reach out to various individuals and groups to get them to share public data with us. Other than general data such as census, marriages, and school age children, we don’t have much on our shelves or in our files on Tate County’s black population. Information on founding members of churches and organizations and the dates of their involvement as well as other details pertinent to the contribution they made to our citizens of Tate County would be welcomed.
Cauthen Funeral Home allowed us to access death information from 1976 to 1994 and it is available in three books on our shelves. West Antioch #1 Baptist Church has a book compiled by Elizabeth McGhee King on the church’s history and we have that on our shelves. We have a volume that lists burials in several local cemeteries. We’d like to offer more to those who want to research their heritage, but we are dependent upon what people will share. If there are other church histories, cemetery records, histories of businesses or family histories that have been compiled, we’d like to add them to our resources.
If they are for sale, please email us the cost so we can add them to the list of books we want to purchase or since we are a non-profit organization you can donate a copy. If you want help in compiling such books, we have members who have experience and can give you guidance in the effort. You will be contributing to the preservation of the history of Tate County as well as Black History. I hope you won’t be like me and wait until the people who could provide important details are no longer with you.
The library is open on Thursday and Friday (except prior to a holiday) from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. We welcome anyone who wishes to research their Tate County ancestors.
Please call if you’ll arrive after 3 p.m. You may also contact us at tatehistory@hotmail.com or call 662-562-0390 and leave a voice mail message with brief details of your request and we will answer.
