HipsWhips&Tips

We all cope 👊

The Angling Marketplace The Angling Marketplace is the ONLY online auction that is totally cost-free to sellers!

🎉 20,123 DOWNLOADS — AND I’M STILL TRYING TO WRAP MY HEAD AROUND THAT NUMBER.

When I initially created my free e-book, Reclassified: Black Indians of the Southeast, my goal was actually pretty simple.

I wanted to create a solid introduction for people who had never encountered the history of paper genocide, racial reclassification, and the complicated history of Black and American Indian identity in the United States.

I knew there were people researching their families who were encountering ancestors described in historical records in ways that raised more questions than answers. I knew there were people who had grown up hearing stories about American Indian ancestry in their families but had no idea where to begin investigating those traditions. And I knew that terms like “paper genocide” and “racial reclassification” were completely unfamiliar to many people.

So I wanted to create something accessible.

Something that could serve as a starting point.

I had no idea that more than 20,000 people would eventually download it.

Today, Reclassified: Black Indians of the Southeast has officially reached 20,123 downloads.

That number means a great deal to me because this isn't simply content that I created for entertainment. Researching, documenting, preserving, and teaching this history has become my life's work.

Every historical record uncovered creates another opportunity to better understand the people who came before us.

Every person who begins researching their family tree is another person asking questions about history that perhaps no one in their family has asked in generations.

And every time someone downloads this book, shares it with a relative, discusses the documents with their family, or decides to begin researching their own ancestry, this information travels a little further.

That brings me tremendous joy.

My objective has never been to tell people what their ancestry is. My objective is to encourage people to research it—to move beyond assumptions, family legends, racial categories, and internet arguments and start examining historical records for themselves.

Look at the census records.

Look at birth, death, and marriage records.

Look at tribal and enrollment records where applicable.

Look at the classifications that changed from one generation or document to another.

Ask why.

And most importantly, document what you find.

Because understanding our ancestors requires understanding not only who they were, but also how governments, institutions, enumerators, courts, and record keepers described and classified them.

That is the larger conversation I hoped this little e-book would introduce.

And somehow, that “little introduction” has now been downloaded 20,123 times.

To everyone who has downloaded it, read it, challenged it, researched the sources, shared it with family members, or used it as the beginning of your own genealogical journey:

THANK YOU.

Seriously.

You are helping keep this historical conversation alive.

And if you're one of the people who has been following my work but still hasn't downloaded your copy, the book remains completely FREE.

📚 Reclassified: Black Indians of the Southeast

Visit NativeBlackAncestry.com and download your copy today.

Then don't just read it.

Research your own family. Follow the documents. Preserve what you discover. And pass that information on to the next generation.

We crossed 20,000 downloads.

Now let's see if we can take this thing to 25,000. 🪶📚🔥

A Montana man killed 8 relatives, including 4 kids, at Sunday dinner, family says
https://apnews.com/article/billings-montana-family-killed-house-burned-e977fa5e9cd635eea4e111ad8b2c79ff?utm_source=app&utm_medium=android_share&utm_campaign=facebook

Man breaks down in tears after his wife and toddler were killed Kameron Glasgow was just feet away from his wife Kenya, 31, and their two-year-old daughter, Kennedi, when they were tragically struck down in Margate, Florida at around 2.30pm on Sunday.

Body found burned, wrapped in tarp identified as Greenville man GREENVILLE, Miss. (WJTV) – Greenville police announced a body that was wrapped in a tarp and burned has been identified. Investigators said the body of Robert Elliot, of Greenville, was locat…

Body found burned in South Jackson, investigation underway News.

163 missing children recovered in statewide Florida operation Sarasota and Manatee county sheriff's offices took part in five-day initiative.