BBC Radio: ‘Strange Fruit’

Posted on by Sylvia Wong Lewis

Sylvia Wong Lewis, Narrative Network founder, is featured on BBC Radio program Soul Music, on an episode called “Strange Fruit.” Producer Maggie Ayre, looks for stories behind music with powerful emotional impact. Concerned that UK audiences may not know about lynching, Jim Crow laws and other harms that resulted from the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, Maggie decided to take another look at this protest song.

Maggie found me through my slavery group–Coming to the Table, and invited me to join her Soul Music program with Emmett Till’s cousin, Simeon Wright; Robert Meeropol, the adopted son of Jewish teacher Abel Meeropol, author of the poem/song; and April Shipp, a Detroit quilt maker who created the “Strange Fruit” quilt. Each of us was asked to engage about the song, “Strange Fruit.”

“First recorded in 1939 by Billie Holiday, the protest song Strange Fruit came to symbolize the brutality and racism of the practice of lynching in America’s South. Now, decades later, such is the song’s enduring power that rapper Kanye West sampled the track on his latest album “Yeezus.” – Maggie Ayre, Producer, Soul Music, Radio 4, BBC News, Entertainment & Arts.

“The smell of the honeysuckle brings all of it back. That’s the smell prevalent in the area where we lived. The honeysuckle was in bloom. Because words can’t describe how we felt that night. How I felt. It was a combination of grief, shock, and fear. You have a sorrow that grips you because of what happened to Emmett.” – Simeon Wright, Emmett Till’s cousin.

Click here to read the full story: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-25034438

To listen to BBC Radio program, click here for the webpage in advance of the Tuesday, November 26, 2013, broadcast of Soul Music. Look on the Gallery section for photos of radio show guests:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03jb1w1

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Happy UnThanksgiving

Posted on by Sylvia Wong Lewis

UnThanksgiving reflections – Some of you may remember the Red Power Civil Rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Those brothers and sisters were the first people who started UnThanksgiving also known as Indigenous Peoples Annual Sunrise ceremony. Thousands of Native Americans and their supporters still gather, on Alcatraz Island in the San Francisco Bay Area for an annual Sunrise Gathering on Thanksgiving Day, to pray and pay homage to indigenous people.

In honor of my own Native ancestors, I attended a ceremony during the 80s when I lived in Oakland. It was the largest Powwow that I had ever attended. The Elders were standing, teaching, and leading prayers. They also shared their prophecies about the “invaders.”

To the sound of drums I witnessed a sea of many tribes–from Alaska, Hawaii, Mexico, Canada, East coast, Southern states, Caribbean, South America and more. Many of them proudly wore their full regalia and some  were in plain clothes. The men, women children and elders danced, sang and chanted in a huge solemn circle. It was beautiful, joyful, magical and sad all at the same time. The goal of the event, created by the International Indian Treaty Council and the American Indian Contemporary Arts, was to honor Native American history and to educate others about indigenous people everywhere.

“We are here to remind people that want to destroy our way of life, that we are still here. We are still carrying on our ways. We are still carrying on our traditions,” said Bill “Jimbo” Simmons, an International Indian Treaty Council leader at a past ceremony.

Forget about Black Friday shopping! Instead, eat, pray, love, read, and view some documentaries to make your Thanksgiving holiday more meaningful.

Here is my UnThanksgiving to-do list:

Native Foods: On Thanksgiving Day, make sure you eat or prepare something from the “three sisters”: beans, corn and squash, often called the heart and soul of America’s indigenous diet.

Pray: Expand your Thanksgiving prayer to include something about the indigenous people everywhere. Be creative and make up a special prayer.

Read: Did you know that some people believe that the history of Thanksgiving began in Texas and Florida and not with the Pilgrims at Plymouth Plantation? Some people (especially many Natives!) doubt Thanksgiving really happened! Learn the myth of Spider Woman, the creator of Mother Earth and other Native American legends. Read all about it.

Films: There are many films with Native American themes that I liked, such as Dances with Wolves and Windtalkers. Red Cry is a documentary that really stands out and is generating a lot of buzz now. Check it out.

What do you think of Un-Thanksgiving? Do you have any other suggestions for Native American-themed films or books? In your family history, do you have Native ancestry? Please share in the comments section below.

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Cooking Genes: Culinary Legacy

Posted on by Sylvia Wong Lewis

Most of my family members seem to have cooking genes. Well, except for my oldest brother Johnny. When asked what he made for dinner, he always said: “I made a phone call!” My other brother Sidney can hold his own with Red Beans and Rice (Louisiana-style) or Chicken Pelau (Trinidadian one-pot stewed chicken and rice).

However, my father was a professional baker. And he could “throw-down” his own traditional Southern Creole and African American soul food (Mississippi and Louisiana). When I asked him how he learned to cook so well, he said: “Where I come from, everybody knows how to cook!” On weekends mom and dad had a tag team catering business, of sorts. He was a local legend for his pies baked in the Southern tradition—apple, peach, sweet potato, and pecan.

But, he never sold them. He was a gentle, sweetheart of a man who believed in southern hospitality. He gave away his pies simply because people loved them. Brooklyn neighbors would visit and wait for the pies to come out of the oven. After he passed away, it was years before I would eat pie.

My mother was a great cook too, God rest her soul. She loved to say that our food was delicious because we were a “mixed-up” family! She had a different outlook regarding enterprise. She would certainly sell a few of dad’s pies! She was West Indian (Chinese Trinidadian/Guyanese) and always included a pie deal in her boxed-lunch business—one of her many “side hustles.”  Mom’s specialties were Creole Caribbean appetizers.  She would re-purpose dad’s extra piecrust dough to make Jamaican Meat Patties and Indo-Caribbean Samosas.

Dad always made extra piecrust for Mom and pretended as if he didn’t know what she was up to. My parents cooked in their own separate kitchens. The kind of food that we ate could be called: Afro-Asian-Indo-Caribbean-Soul-Creole Cuisine. We lived in a two-family brownstone—dad downstairs and mom upstairs. Our home was always full of our mixed-heritage relatives and extended family members. Most of them had migrated from the American South or some Caribbean nation.

Mom would setup over a dozen trays of patties and samosas. She would cook some and freeze and bake some later. Actually, “the girls”—me, my sister Kim and cousin Sandi— were put to work on a home-based assembly line. That was “back in the day” when children were obedient. Kim would roll out the dough and cut out circles using a cookie cutter or an inverted jar. I would fill the dough circles with a cooked spicy ground meat mixture or potato-vegetable fillings. I would carefully fold the patties into half moons and press them closed with a fork. Sandi would paint each patty with an egg wash, arrange on trays, and place in an oven and bake. We made what seemed like hundreds of these bite-sized snacks. On the day of Mom’s event, like an Atlantic City bus trip, we would wake early bake, cool, and pack and sell these goodies as part of a boxed-lunch deal.

Today, my sister and I both love to prepare our traditional foods. When we get together, we exchange food gifts and re-trace family recipes. We sometimes shop in old ethnic New York neighborhoods searching for special items. I believe that we inherited “cooking genes.” We learned to cook by immersion in our elder’s kitchens. They taught us the same way that they learned —through family stories and hands-on experience.

Traditional food has always been my passion. I love the stories associated with them as well as the opportunity to experiment with healthier versions of these traditions. I also love cookbooks, food blogs, and I am always searching for interesting family recipes and stories.

Who inherited cooking genes in your family? Do you have a favorite family recipe? Would you like to participate as a guest blogger in our “cooking genes” series?

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Military genealogy

Posted on by Sylvia Wong Lewis

Military genealogy is a good way to celebrate Veteran’s Day. In honor of this year’s Veteran’s Day, I dedicate this post to saying “Thank you” to all veterans.  Let us remember all the sacrifices that veterans made just so we could have safety and freedom. Do a genealogy search for the military veterans in your family. Always keep in mind: “Freedom is not free.” No amount of appreciation is enough to honor our veterans.

This is also a special time for me to remember some of the heroes in my family and community including my big brother John A. Smith (Viet Nam era), my father Alfred Burton Smith, paternal uncles Joseph and John Baptiste Smith, maternal uncle Owen Cameron, the Navajo Code Talkers (Native American WWll soldiers who confounded the enemy by talking in an unbreakable code); Tuskegee Airmen (America’s first military Black airmen); Montford Point Marines (first Black Marines, WWll), Buffalo Soldiers, and other veterans who “fought for the right to fight.” This year’s New York 94th Annual Veteran’s Day Parade theme is “Women in Service.”  So, a special salute to all women who served our nation is always in order too. Thank you, Women Warriors! Sending up love and light to all veterans and their families.

African American Civil War soldiers
African American Civil War soldiers

What about your military ancestors. Would you like to know more about your family’s military genealogy?

How to do military genealogy: If you want to do a genealogy search for military veterans in your family history, there are many resources available to you online. But, you must first ask yourself many questions before you get started. What do you want to know? Many times your search will lead to more questions! Here is an overview from National Archives about how to approach your search: “When researchers contact the National Archives to conduct research on their ancestors, they often ask about records relating to military service. Unfortunately, there is no simple answer. The inquiry, in fact, leads to more questions: What branch of service did the person serve in? Do you know the conflict they fought in or their dates of service? Was the person in the Regular Army or a volunteer unit? Did the individual serve as an officer or enlisted man? Did the person apply for or receive a pension? These questions are important, for the answers help determine which search paths to follow. The two main repositories for records relating to military service are the National Archives and the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC). The National Archives Building, Washington, D.C., holds records relating to

  • Volunteer enlisted men and officers whose military service was performed during an emergency and whose service was considered to be in the federal interest, 1775 to 1902
  • Regular Army enlisted personnel, serving 1789–October 31, 1912
  • Regular Army officers, serving 1789–June 30, 1917
  • U.S. Navy enlisted personnel, serving 1798–1885
  • U.S. Navy officers, serving 1798–1902
  • U.S. Marine Corps enlisted personnel, serving 1798–1904
  • Some U.S. Marine Corps officers, serving 1798–1895
  • Those who served in predecessor agencies to the U.S. Coast Guard (i.e., the Revenue Cutter Service [Revenue Marine], the Life-Saving Service, and the Lighthouse Service, 1791–1919)

The National Personnel Records Center, St. Louis, Missouri, holds military personnel files of

  • U.S. Army officers separated after June 30, 1917, and enlisted personnel separated after October 31, 1912
  • U.S. Air Force officers and enlisted personnel separated after September 1947
  • U.S. Navy officers separated after 1902 and enlisted personnel separated after 1885
  • U.S. Marine Corps officers separated after 1895 and enlisted personnel separated after 1904
  • U.S. Coast Guard officers separated after 1928 and enlisted personnel separated after 1914; civilian employees of Coast Guard predecessor agencies such as Revenue Cutter Service, Lifesaving Service, and Lighthouse Service, 1864–1919

To request copies of an individual’s military personnel file held at the National Personnel Records Center, use a Standard Form 180, “Request Pertaining to Military Records.” For more information on what records are available at NPRC and who may request them, consult their web site. Locating the Records The records and microfilm publications described here are available at the National Archives Building in Washington, D.C. Some microfilm publications are available at NARA’s regional facilities. Consult the online Microfilm Catalog to find out which facilities may have the microfilm you are looking for. For researchers unable to visit the National Archives, copies of compiled military service records, pension files, and bounty land records held by NARA can be obtained through the mail. To obtain the proper request form, please write to Old Military and Civil Records, National Archives and Records Administration, 700 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20408-0001. NATF Form 80 is now obsolete and has been replaced by NATF Form 85, “National Archives Order for Copies of Federal Pension or Bounty Land Warrant Applications,” and Form 86, “National Archives Order for Copies of Military Service Records.” Forms can also be requested through our web site. If requesting information on military records related to Navy, Marine Corps, or Coast Guard personnel, please do not use a form; send a written inquiry either by mail to the address above or by email to Contact NARA. For additional information beyond the scope of this article, consult the Guide to Genealogical Research in the National Archives of the United States (2000). There is a section on military records containing chapters on records of the Regular Army, service records of volunteers, naval and marine service records, pension records, bounty land warrant records, and other records relating to military service.”

Are you looking for family history military records? Please share your story.

Genealogy Events in New York

Posted on by Sylvia Wong Lewis

The following is a list of selected genealogy and family history events offered in New York City by New York Public Library, National Archives, and New York Genealogical & Biographical Society.

National Archives eVetRecs: A hands-on tutorial is offered on how to use the National Archives eVetRecs system.  This online system creates a customized order form to request information from your, or your relative’s, military personnel records from WWI to present, Tuesday, November 12, 2013 – 12:00pm to 1:00pm, Learning Center, on the 3rd floor of the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House at One Bowling Green, NY. Sponsor: National Archives at New York City.

Papal Arms within the Discipline of Ecclesiastic Heraldry: George N. Cannizzaro is the industrial specialist for metals at U.S. Army’s Institute of Heraldry in Fort Belvoir, Virginia. He has a special interest in church heraldry and has designed coats of arms for two cardinals, schools, religious communities, and families. He is the proprietor of Cardinal Custom Heraldry, an online studio at ccheraldry.com. The Institute’s Director, Col. Charles V. Mugno, will also attend and speak on recent activities of the Institute. Wednesday, November 13, 2013 – 6:00pm, The New York Genealogical & Biographical Society, 36 West 44th Street, New York City. Sponsor: Heraldry Committee of the NYG&B.

Genealogy Digital Resources: Explore current and historical newspapers and periodicals available online through NYPL. Thursday, November 14, 2013 – 2:00pm and Thursday, December 12, 2013 – 2:00pm. South Court Classroom A, Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street, NYC. Sponsor: The New York Public Library.

Book Talk: The Quack’s Daughter: A True Story About the Private Life of a Victorian Girl. The Vassar Club of New York joins the NYG&B in sponsoring a talk by historian Greta Nettleton, whose book was reviewed in the spring 2013 issue of The New York Researcher. Nettleton is the great-granddaughter of Cora Keck, who was sent east to Vassar’s School of Music in 1884 by her notorious, patent-medicine millionaire mother Mrs. Dr. Keck in an effort to rescue the family’s damaged social reputation. Thursday, November 14, 2013 – 6:00pm. The New York Genealogical & Biographical Society, 36 West 44th Street, New York City. Sponsor: The New York Genealogical & Biographical Society

Who Lived in Your House? Have you ever wondered about the history of your home? Who used to live there or what their lives were like? This class will show you how to research the history of your building and the people who owned and lived in it. The Milstein Division is home to one of the largest free United States history, local history and genealogy collections in the country. Saturday, November 16, 2013 – 2:00pm.  South Court Classrooms, Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street, NYC. Sponsor: The New York Public Library.

Citizen Cartography: Do you want to help the geospatial library of the future? This workshop orients you with tools (available at maps.nypl.org) enabling librarians and the public to add valuable geographic context to old maps. The workshop focuses on the website’s core activity: georectification, or “warping” maps. This means overlaying digital images of historic maps onto a contemporary digital map (similar to Google Maps), transforming them into tiles of a virtual atlas. Dates: Tuesday, November 19, 2013 – 3:30pm; Tuesday, December 17, 2013 – 3:30pm; Tuesday, October 22, 2013 – 6:00pm; Tuesday, November 5, 2013 – 6:00pm;Tuesday, December 3, 2013 – 6:00pm.  South Court Classrooms, Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street, NYC. Sponsor: The New York Public Library

Genealogy handbooks are an overlooked resource. This short course will present different types of handbooks and explain how to use them to improve the quality and depth of genealogy research. This is a companion course to other Uncovering your Family History courses offered by the Milstein Division. First come, first served. Thursday, November 21, 2013 – 3:15pm. South Court Classrooms, Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street, NYC. Sponsor: The New York Public Library.

Your Family History – Immigration Records: Discover genealogical resources at the New York Public Library. Uncovering your Family History, the second installment, explores passenger lists and naturalization records. First come, first served. Thursday, December 5, 2013 – 3:15pm. South Court Classrooms, Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street, NYC. Sponsor: The New York Public Library.

Do you know about other genealogy and family history events coming up in the New York area? Please post details in the comments section.

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