Last Thursday, June 25, Saundra's video premiered  on Spectrum News 1 . She was interviewed by Kennedy Chase about researching Black Patriot ancestors, an topic of  historic interest right now. Saundra's Patriot was Black so this made for some challenging research.  In the interview, Saundra explained,  “I did a lot of genealogy on the general public, but I did not have the time to focus on my family.”  She applied those skills honed over the years of past research to connect with her extended maternal line and trace her lineage back to  free Black Patriot, Jesse Harris . The video highlights several stumbling blocks that black researchers encounter and encourages persistence. Saundra noted that more discussion on researching black ancestors occurred than was shown in the final edit, but she thought Kennedy Chase did a wonderful job of pulling it all together. This was her first TV appearance, and she's excited to share more. Watch Saundra's Spec...

An article from the N&O has haunted me for years. It was about the first reading of the Declaration of Independence in Wake County and what that must have been like. I saved it. Can't find it now, but every summer at this time I think of it and how it captured my historic fancy those several years ago. So much so, that my young family including my two sons, husband and my father and step-mother made the trek downtown that hot, hot July 4 to tour the Joel Lane house and stand at the Boylan Bridge spot and imagine (despite construction detritus all around) what it must have felt like and sounded on that hill at the first reading in August of 1776. Well, it haunted me enough to go searching for the article again. After several failed attempts - success! I must give mad props and a plug to the NC Government and Heritage Library for their library card and the online access it provides. From their site, with my library card to log in, I was able to search the N&O Archives t...