Black Belt Genealogy News

The National Genealogical Society is seeking nominations for officers and the board of directors.

The election of NGS officers and board members will be held at the annual meeting at the NGS Conference in Cincinnati, Ohio, on Saturday, May 12, 2012.

The following positions are open for election this term:

Terms for officers run from 1 October 2012 through 30 September 2014.

·         President
·         Vice-president
·         Secretary
·         Treasurer

Terms for directors run from 1 October 2012 through 30 September 2016.

·         Director, Region 3
·         Director, Region 4
·         Director at Large (two candidates)

A PDF of the map showing the various regions is available on the NGS website at http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/galleries/aboutngs/BlankBODRegionsMap.pdf.

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This story appeared in the January 3, 2012 edition of the Montgomery Advertiser:

Preliminary ground-penetrating radar work performed at Lincoln Cemetery has confirmed what many suspected: There are far more bodies in the cemetery than many believed and many are in unmarked graves throughout the cemetery.

Originally designated for 700 burial plots when it was founded in 1908, the area’s oldest black commercial cemetery may contain about 5,800 bodies, according to the research of authority members and volunteers.

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Learn how to organize and publish your family history with Sharon Jackson at the 6th Annual Black Belt African American Genealogy Conference and Family History Fair.

For 12 years, Jackson had been collecting facts and photos and interviewing family members at family reunions, funerals and other gatherings.  “The net result of all my efforts,” said Jackson, “were lots of boxes and folders strewn all over my den. Utilizing Ancestry.com, Family Tree Maker and a local printer I was able assemble the first edition of the Washington-Thompson Family History book.”

In 2010, the California native retired from the City of Long Beach where she was the Public Affairs Officer for the Long Beach Airport. In addition to her duties as the Airport’s Public Information Officer, she also managed the Airport’s Noise Office.  The Long Beach Airport Noise Office and the Noise Abatement Program are recognized as model programs in the industry.

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WHITE HALL — Bob Man­ts was remembered Saturday for his civil rights commit­ment as well as serving as a role model for his family and community.

Mants’ death at the age of 68 earlier this month stunned those who admired him the most and some were in tears as they attended a memorial service at the Jackson-Steele Community Center.

Martha Noonan, who pre­sided at the program held not far from Mants’ house, said “integrity” was the word that most seemed to describe him.

She also noted that he could have bypassed the growing civil rights move­ment of the early 1960s by remaining at Morehouse Col­lege in Atlanta and pursuing “a well-worn path” to suc­cess.

Instead, he became involv­ed in the movement during its early stages and estab­lished a leadership reputa­tion that put him on the Ed­mund Pettus Bridge in Selma on March 7, 1965 — a day that became known as “Bloody Sunday” when marchers were beaten by Alabama state troopers.

Two weeks later, he helped lead thousands of activists from around the country on an epic weeklong march from Selma to Montgomery to urge state officials to end practices aimed at keeping black Alabamians from vot­ing.

“Bob was a passionate, de­voted and caring guy,” said Frank Smith, who took part in the movement and later became a member of the Washington, D.C., City Coun­cil. “He knew that if some­thing was going to change, somebody had to make it happen.”

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Born and raised in Macon County, Alabama in the Armstrong Community, Attorney Lateefah Muhammad is the second youngest of 11 children of the late Colonel Mabson, Sr. and Lillie Harris Mabson. She is a graduate of semi-private Cotton Valley Elementary School in Tuskegee, and South Macon High School in Roba, Alabama. A strong advocate for education, Lateefah is also a graduate of Tuskegee University at Tuskegee Institute, Alabama, with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Marketing. She earned her Juris Doctor Degree at Thurgood Marshall School of Law on the campus of Texas Southern University in Houston.

A general practitioner, Lateefah provides services primarily in cases involving family issues, personal injury, employment and religious discrimination, real estate, probate and business matters. She is a member of several affiliate organizations, including the Alabama State Bar, the United States District Court, Middle District of Alabama, Alabama Lawyers Association, Macon County Bar Association, where she holds the position of treasurer, and a past member of the Black Entertainment and Sports Lawyers Association. She runs a corporate law office at 3002 West Montgomery Road, Tuskegee Institute, Alabama.

During the 1996 Municipal Elections, Lateefah was elected to the Tuskegee City Council, the first attorney to ever be elected to the Council in the City’s 163-year history. She was the first Muslim woman elected to public office in Alabama.Lateefah also has the distinct honor of being the first and only Muslim sworn into office by Muslim American Leader Imam Wallace Deen Mohammed during the 1996 Inaugural Ceremony of the Tuskegee City Council.

While serving on the Council, Lateefah’s colleagues elected her to serve as a member and as chairperson of the Utilities Board of the City of Tuskegee, a multi-million dollar municipal corporation. She presently serves on the Board of Directors of The Village of Hope, Inc., a youth organization founded by Dr. Amelia Boynton Robinson in 2006, and Sisters United Foundation, Inc., an Alabama non-profit corporation that she co-founded in 2004. Featured in the 2011 Inaugural Edition of Who’s Who in Black Alabama, Lateefah does public speaking whenever her schedule permits.