Once again the volunteers of the Family Search Center at the National Underground Railroad Center are offering FREE genalogy classes for anyone interested in learning more about this fascinating hobby. Details will follow later but as of now September classes will focus on using the internet for more than just census work. In October, which is National Family History Month, the classes will be centered on introductory classes for the beginner.
It cannot be denied that most of us have experienced a degree of financial hardship due to the current economic slump. To some of us this simply means sacrificing a daily pit stop at Starbucks on the way to work. Some of us have partially or completely given up driving in order to dodge inflated fuel costs. At times these lifestyle changes can be frustrating and we may even begin to feel sorry for ourselves. During these times of self pity it is important to remember that for some of us the daily sacrifice is freedom. As of recent the human trafficking crisis has escalated and is taking place closer to home than most would expect.
The State Department’s annual Trafficking in Persons Report, released by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on June 16th, verifies that the global financial crisis has increased the worldwide trade in trafficked persons. The report features data and statistics from 175 countries about the amount of human trafficking that goes on within their borders and reveals that the global economic crisis is boosting the demand for human trafficking due to a growing demand for cheap goods and services.
According to the report, “A striking global demand for labor and a growing supply of workers willing to take ever greater risks for economic opportunities seem a recipe for increased forced labor cases of migrant workers and women in prostitution.” The report predicts that the economic crisis will push more businesses underground to avoid taxes and unionized labor, which will increase the use of forced, cheap and child labor by cash-strapped multinational companies.
“This is modern slavery. A crime that spans the globe, providing ruthless employers with endless supply of people to abuse for financial gain,” Clinton said. “Trafficking is a crime that involves every nation on Earth, and that includes our own. Trafficking is a grave problem in the United States.”
In 2008, the FBI opened 132 trafficking investigations, made 139 arrests and obtained 94 convictions. This encouraging trend looks as if it will continue in 2009. In recent months several domestic human trafficking investigations have led to arrests.
In late April a Brownsville, Texas man and woman were arrested on warrants issued following a six count indictment by a federal grand jury charging them with one count of importing aliens for prostitution purposes, one count of attempting to import a minor alien for prostitution purposes, and two counts of harboring aliens for prostitution purposes.
In May, two people from Reisterstown, Maryland were indicted on sex trafficking charges involving three minor girls. The perpetrators provided the three girls with marijuana, clothing, food, shelter, and condoms, and transported them to engage in sex for pay.
This month a Milwaukee couple, both medical doctors, was sentenced to six years in prison for forcing a woman to work as a domestic slave for 19 years. The victim testified that for 19 years she was hidden, forbidden from going outside, and told that she would be arrested, imprisoned and deported if she were discovered.
Human trafficking is on the rise yet many are still unaware that it exists. According to Clinton, “Trafficking thrives in the shadows, and it can be easy to dismiss it as something that happens to someone else, somewhere else. But that’s not the case.” Would you be able to spot human trafficking if were happening in your neighborhood?
Jamie White, Intern
WASHINGTON (AFP) — The US Senate approved a fiercely worded resolution Thursday formally apologizing for the “fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality, and inhumanity of slavery” of African-Americans.
The unanimous voice vote came five months after Barack Obama became the first black US president, and ahead of the June 19 “Juneteenth” celebration of the emancipation of African-Americans at the end of the US Civil War in 1865.
Click here to read the rest of the article
Even under the live oaks dripping with Spanish moss in the squares of Savannah, genealogy quietly lurks. And I could not resist. I had to learn some of the research capabilities this lovely city had to offer. So to the corner of Whitaker Street I went. The Georgia Historical Society holds a vast collection of materials within its walls. Even better are the willing librarians there to aid in your research. Unique to this library are a collection of Georgia and Savannah area newspapers dating back to 1763. They also have city directories as well as the organizational records of several of the churches of Savannah. Best of all they have a web site: www.georgiahistory.com where you can find an index t their holdings.
While Georgia may not be home to everyone’s ancestors, for those fortunate few, the Georgia Historical Society could be a gold mine.
The Freedom Center is making available attractive, field level seats for Saturday’s Civil Rights game between the Cincinnati Reds and the Chicago White Sox.
The tickets, at $65, include a buffet dinner, unlimited soft drinks and water and two beer tickets. They are in Section 138.
The buffet dinner includes barbeque, hot dogs, pasta salad, popcorn peanuts, cole slaw, cookies, etc.
If you purchase tickets, you will be directed by Reds personnel to the appropriate buffet stand. Lost drink tickets cannot be replaced. Alcohol will only be served to those of legal age and subject to the policies of the vendor.
To purchase tickets, please call 1-888-778-7321, or send an email to rsvp@nurfc.org.
Ticket orders must be received no later than Friday at 10 a.m. Purchased tickets may be picked up by three p.m. on Saturday at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center Security door on Walnut St, or at the Reds Will Call window after 3.
The 2009 Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP) was released today by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The report, mandated by Congress, presents an annual snapshot of the global presence of human trafficking and what individual nations are — or are not — doing to combat modern-day forms of slavery.
This year’s report says that the global financial crisis has increased the worldwide trade in trafficked persons, especially in Africa.
The report cites the International Labor Organization, which estimates at least 12.3 million adults and children are victims of forced labor, bonded labor and sex slavery each year.
The report is a useful tool for measuring progress in dealing with trafficking in human beings, but it is also controversial because while other nations are ranked in tiers according to their efforts to control and combat trafficking within their borders, the United States is not included, nor is it ranked. This year’s report lists 28 nations in Tier I — the highest ranking for minimum compliance with the United States’ anti-trafficking legislation, with 80 nations in Tier 2 and another 52 in the so-called Tier 2 Watch list. The latter designation, which includes China most prominently, is a somewhat murky category that praises a nation for attempting to make progress in combating human trafficking, but also is critical for an increase in reported trafficking incidents. In releasing the TIP Report, Secretary Clinton acknowledged that the U.S. is engaged in its own struggle with trafficking. Her statement said, in part:
“The ninth annual Trafficking in Persons Report sheds light on the faces of modern-day slavery and on new facets of this global problem. The human trafficking phenomenon affects virtually every country, including the United States. In acknowledging America’s own struggle with modern-day slavery and slavery-related practices, we offer partnership. We call on every government to join us in working to build consensus and leverage resources to eliminate all forms of human trafficking.”
More analysis of the report and its implications for America’s domestic and foreign policies will be addressed in future posts.
The same model bus like the one Rosa Parks rode to and from work in Montgomery, AL until the day in 1955 when she refused to move to the back of the bus for a white passenger, will be on display in front of the Freedom Center in the week leading up to Major League Baseball’s Civil Rights game.
The bus, #209, is owned and operated by the Transit Authority of Northern Kentucky (TANK). It will be parked in front of the Freedom Center’s main entrance each day from June 16 through June 21 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Visitors can board and sit in the bus. Its appearance also coincides with the Freedom Center’s current exhibit, “381 Days: the Montgomery Bus Boycott,” which traces the events surrounding Mrs. Parks’ historic protest, which ushered in the non-violent American civil rights movement.
“We are pleased and gratified that TANK is making the 1950-era bus, like the one Rosa Parks made famous, available to help the community celebrate the American civil rights movement,” said Donald Murphy, the Freedom Center’s Chief Executive Officer. “TANK graciously put the bus on display in front of the Freedom Center in 2005, to commemorate the passing of Mrs. Parks, and it was enormously popular with our guests. We think it will add a poignant element to the festivities leading up to the Civil Rights game.”
Bus #209 was manufactured in 1950 by General Motors, and operated in Northern Kentucky on Greenline routes. The bus eventually was sold and for a time operated in Seattle, WA, where TANK recovered the vehicle in 2001, brought it back to Northern Kentucky and restored it to its original condition. It is one of three historic vehicles that have been refurbished by TANK maintenance employees.
TANK uses #209 for community events and as an education tool, says TANK Deputy General Manager, Andrew Aiello.
“This bus helps young people better understand an earlier time, when segregation divided whites and blacks in nearly every facet of everyday life - including riding the bus,” Aiello said. “Thankfully, local public transit systems in Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati fought successfully against compliance with state-mandated segregation beginning as far back as 1916, when rail car transportation was in its heyday. Through legal tactics and finesse, the local transit companies were able to evade state-mandated segregation on the rail cars and then buses, including Bus #209,” he added.
Things are turning ugly.
That’s the assessment of many observers following the shooting incident at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum this past week, which followed the murder of a physician in Kansas who provided late-term abortions.
Both Paul Krugman, who normally writes about economic matters, and Judith Warner have written despairing columns about the rise in hate crimes. The writers each blame a coarsening political temper as helping exacerbate feelings of rage already heightened by the impact of job losses and economic insecurity. Writes Warner: “(the attack) on the Holocaust museum has to be viewed as an extreme manifestation of a moment when racist, anti-Semitic agitation is rapidly percolating. White supremacist groups are vastly expanding. And right-wing TV rhetoric, thoughtless in its cruelty and ratings-hungry demagoguery, is helping feed the paranoia and rage that for some Americans now bubbles just beneath the surface.”
In the wake of the Holocaust Museum tragedy, human rights organizations quickly issued statements condemning hate crimes and advocating more responsible, less vitriolic political discourse. The Freedom Center’s statement focused on the need for education that promotes human rights, social justice and civic responsibility as the keys to overcoming intolerance, racism, and ethnic and cultural hatred.
Let us know how you feel about the rash of hate crimes and, more importantly, what you feel should be done to foster a more constructive political discussion.
This weekend, the Freedom Center’s Chief Executive Officer, Donald Murphy, is receiving the Alumnus of the Year from the University of California-San Diego (UCSD). The award recognizes distinguished alumni who’ve made an impact in their community or significant career achievements.
Murphy graduated from the UCSD in 1975 with a bachelors of art degree in biology.
In an interview with San Diego public radio station KPBS, Murphy talks about the winding career path that led him from being a park ranger to the CEO of a national museum dedicated to relating the story of the nation’s struggle to overcome slavery. He also talked more in depth about the Freedom Center’s mission in this lengthy interview with Loma Linda station KCAA.
“Don Murphy is a visionary leader and steward whose relentless dedication to truth is teaching generations the meaning of freedom,” said Armin Afsahi, assistant vice chancellor for alumni affairs and executive director of the UCSD Alumni Association.
Murphy’s responsibilities at the Cincinnati-based National Underground Railroad Freedom Center include managing a $6 million budget and securing funding for programs and exhibits, which pay homage to enslaved Africans in early America as well as black and white abolitionists.
Murphy previously worked at California State Parks, where he spent six years directing the statewide system. After creating several high-profile programs in Sacramento during the late 1990s, he was recruited in 2001 by the Bush administration to serve as deputy director of the National Park Service where he managed a budget of more than $2.3 billion and 30,000 employees.
Today’s New York Times has a fascinating feature on the iconic image of “Tank Man,” the unidentified Beijing pedestrian who — 20 years ago this week — calmly stepped in front of a column of Army tanks on Tiananmen Square in protest of the government’s violent crackdown on Chinese citizens protesting state oppression of human rights.
It turns out that four different photographers captured the moment, from slightly different angles, and that their individual stories of how the images ended up in the global news media makes for interesting reading.
Tank Man’s identity has never been established, nor has his fate been determined. The Chinese government remains highly sensitive about the 1989 protests; the Tank Man images are not widely available within China and, as the anniversary of the protests approaches, censors have blocked Twitter and other social media networks.
What’s your take on these images, and the relevance of Tank Man’s defiance means to contemporary audiences?
Listen to the inspiring voice of host Carl Westmoreland, “Carl,” Doctor of the Underground Railroad, on the Freedom Station Radio Show every Tuesday from 2:00pm to 4:00pm Eastern Standard Time.
While you are working or researching, you can listen with the rest of the Freedom Center community via the Internet to a powerful and informative show featuring hot freedom topics, Underground Railroad activists and Freedom Center guests and news direct from the national center in Cincinnati, Ohio!
Submit a question or comment during the show by using the comment form below.
A question that we receive frequently in the Family Search Center is: ” Why can’t I research a census later than 1930?” The answer lies in the protection offered by the U.S. government to our privacy.
The government releases each census 72 years after its completion which means that the 1940 census will be released in 2012 and the 1950 census in 2022. Can you assess these now? You can if you are willing to pay a $65.00 fee and do some paper work. This fee covers only one search of one census and for one person only.
The details can be found on the census web site www.census.gov/. Under People and Households you will find the tab for Genealogy.
Or you can contact them at
National Processing Center
1201 E 10th Street
Jeffersonville, In 47132
Phone: 812-218-3046
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