Angela Walton Raji is a researcher/ author from Fort Smith, Arkansas In 1997 Angela launched the African-Native American Web site. The page had developed out of my research and work with the records that document the Freedmen of the Five Civilized Tribes. This enormous record set became the basis of my work with “Black Indian” records and eventually formed the basis of my book, Black Genealogy Research. African American Ancestors Among the Five Civilized Tribes.
In the past 12 years, my research has expanded to include the history and documentation of blended African & Native American families in more states. As a genealogist, the focus remains on providing the evidence and properly citing the sources in order to tell the family story. As I have become more familiar with resources for documentation of African American families that were associated with people from multiple Native American communities, I have expanded the focus of my research to include genealogical resources for families beyond Indian Territory.
The focus will remain on relying upon standard genealogical methodology that will lead to the proper documentation of one’s family history. The page will discuss and include record sets that are essential to construct one’s family history.
Be sure to check out the following link. African-Native American Genealogy Blog: n-nativeamerican.blogspot.com or For Choctaw and Chickasaw Freedmen:
http://choctawfreedmenlegacy.blogspot.com/
Terry Ligon was born and reared in the community of Watts in Los Angeles County California. He has received degrees from the University of San Francisco and the Academy of Art College located in San Francisco, CA. Over the past 30 years Mr. Ligon has been widely accepted in the genealogical community as a specialist of Indian Territory Freedmen
Mr. Ligon has been an avid genealogical and historical researcher since 1989 when he was given a treasure trove of family photos, letters and documents that contained faces of people he was not familiar with. So began his remarkable journey into a family genealogy that included an oral history that his father had an Indian grandmother.
Mr. Ligon was able to confirm for his father prior to his death in 1999 that his grandmother Bettie Ligon was considered herself to be a Chickasaw Indian. This discovery led to Terry’s lifelong research into a lawsuit known as Equity Case 7071 which involved approximately 1500-2000 people seeking to be recognized as Chickasaw or Choctaw citizens by blood and entitled to receive three hundred and twenty acres of land based on their ancestry.
When Terry’s father gave him the family’s heirlooms he also gave him a responsibility to share the information with his siblings. Little did his father know it would lead to Terry sharing his discoveries with many people who had similar family history?
There was one more request or demand his father gave him and that was to write a book on his research. Based on all of his research and the promise he made to his father, Mr. Ligon is in the process of writing a book about his remarkable journey to discover his family’s genealogy and history as well as documenting his father’s Indian Grandmother Bettie Love-Ligon.
To reach Mr. Ligon 925-529-1069
www.blackandredjournal.blogspot.com
www.bettieslist.blogspot.com
