GFO African-American Special Interest Group August Meeting

Local author and genealogist Stephen HanksThe Genealogical Forum of Oregon’s African American Special Interest Group meets on the third Saturday of each month. The next GFO monthly meeting on Saturday, August 17 will feature genealogist Stephen Hanks and the presentation titled “Tracing Your African American Roots to 1619 and Free Persons of Color."

Hanks will discuss how to trace your roots to free persons of color and to descendants of the Africans in America prior to the establishment of chattel slavery. He will also discuss the work of genealogist Paul Heinigg.

The meeting will take place from 12 p.m. –2 p.m. at the Genealogical Forum of Oregon located at 2505 SE 11th Ave Suite B-18.

A GFO GenTalk will immediately follow the meeting at 2 p.m. featuring guest speaker Barbara Schrag. More information about the GFO GenTalk is available at https://gfo.org/learn/gen-talks.html.

Upcoming GFO Meetings and Speakers

• September 21: Harold Hinds, exploring GFO resources
• October 19: Brick wall/assistance session
• November 16: Charles Foy, Ph.D., black mariners and freedom in the 18th century (Webinar)
• February 15: Deborah Abbott, Ph.D., using manuscription collections at historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) (Webinar)