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By Kent Larsen
Church Going All-Out at Today's Press Conference
NEW YORK, NEW YORK -- The LDS Church's press conference today announcing the
release of its "Freedman's Bank" CD-ROM will be a major news event, if the
Church's plans are any indication. The press conference will be held
simultaneously in 13 different locations, including Washington DC's National
Press Club. Attending the conference in addition to LDS Church officials
will be US Senator Orrin G. Hatch, Senator Harry Reid, Representative Sheila
Jackson Lee of Texas and Reginald Washington, a genealogy specialist at the
National Archives.
News of the announcement already made the news in many newspapers in the US.
The CD-ROM contains the records of the Freedman's Bank, a post-civil war
institution created to assist newly freed slaves. At its peak, the bank held
more than $57 million in deposits, and its records include the ancestors of
an estimated eight to 10 million African Americans.
According to the LDS Church, the CD-ROM contains the single largest database
of lineage-linked African-American records. And William Haley, son of
"Roots" author Alex Haley, says that the Freedman's Bank records may be the
"Rosetta Stone" that unlocks African-American ancestry during the
post-civil-war period.
Sources:
Major Announcement Concerning African-American Ancestry and Roots; Records from 19th Century to be Released Monday
USNewswire 22Feb01 N6
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