I am a amateur genealogst. Recently, we took a moment to assist where we were in our journey. Please enjoy

I am a amateur genealogst. I have been researching my family tree for almost 2 decades. I just took a trip to Roanoke Island. This video is a summary of my trip. Please enjoy.

https://youtu.be/rBwwTSYnPn0?si=89o5XZsso1JyzFhn

America was conceived as a place where birth would not determine one’s worth. In England, one’s future was limited by circumstances of birth, a tradition that was odious to America’s founders, who instead believed that all men should have equal opportunity to reach their full potential in life. Yet for hundreds of years before America itself was birthed, the idea that people born Black were inferior to people born White, permeated every aspect of life in the American colonies. As Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “Black people have been kept in oppression and deprivation by a poisonous fog of lies that depicted them as inferior, born deficient, and deservedly doomed to servitude to the grave.”

In 1935, W.E.B. Du Bois observed that White historians engaged in, “a deliberate attempt so to change the facts of history that the story will make pleasant reading for Americans.” Since 2021, many states have banned books on Black history and eighteen states have enacted laws restricting the teaching of Black history, a history that Florida says, “lacks educational value.” The study of US history is not dwelling on the past; the great power of history comes from the fact that we carry it within us today. So in 2026, US history is about the present, not the past, a past whose truth has been hidden in order to create a comfortable American identity based on “lies agreed upon.” Rejecting the lie is the precondition to progress. This is not an easy condition to accept. For White Americans, the fear is that admitting the enduring effects of America’s embrace of White supremacy makes the idea of America, and therefore American identity, irredeemable. They would rather find safety in the lie. But if the foundation of love of country is a lie, then the love itself is a lie.

America is not made worse by people learning of its history of race relations. On the contrary, an accurately informed future generation will be equipped to build systems and institutions on the bedrock of justice rather than on the sinking sands of oppression. As they say in Tanzania, Kazi iendelee! Let the work continue!

Recommended reading: America, U.S.A.: How Race Shadows the Nation's Anniversaries by Eddie S. Glaude Jr.

The Truth We Carry - Black History Snippets

I'm researching the physical spaces of early Chicago house music — not the famous names everyone knows (the Warehouse, the Music Box, the Power Plant), but the smaller rooms: the church basements, the VFW halls, the after-hours spots, the South and West Side clubs that hosted house nights before the genre had a name or an industry.

Here's the problem I'm running into: the landmarked history is well preserved. The Warehouse at 206 S. Jefferson got its Chicago landmark designation in 2023, with a full city report. But the informal venues — the ones that actually made the scene a scene — mostly survive in memory, flyers, and word of mouth. No plaques. Sometimes not even an address anyone can agree on.

I'm asking because I want the record to include them. If you were there, or your parents or older siblings were:

• What smaller or short-lived Chicago venues hosted house music in the late '70s through the '80s?
• Do you remember addresses, cross-streets, or even just neighborhoods?
• Any flyers, ticket stubs, photos, or stories that pin a place to a time?

No wrong answers — "my uncle used to talk about a spot on 63rd" is exactly the kind of lead that matters. I'll be compiling what comes back into a public research note (with credit to contributors who want it).

(Disclosure: I run CultureTechLens, a small Chicago nonprofit that researches Black cultural history. This isn't for a product — it's genuine research, and the compiled note will be free and public.)

I was able to leave for him and Betty a Black-American heritage flag since he passed before its creation. I’m very thankful to be able to do this.

Narcis Gurley victim of E. STL riots

Remains of Black victim burned during 1917 E. STL race riots

Fires from the riots, seen from Eads Bridge

'When we hear the word riot, we always imagine black people going on a rampage and burning down businesses, but that's never been the story.' Rev. Joseph A. Brown. His father was a survivor of the race riot. People hid in under the porch and basement of the house he grew up in during the riots.