Black History Research Workshop: 

Reclaiming Your Past: Studying and Researching African-American History

On Saturday February 13, 2010 the Nyumburu Cultural Center’s Leadership Series will be sponsoring a FREE Black History Appreciation & Research Workshop. All are welcomed to participate, especially students of all ages. This workshop will begin promptly at 11:00 AM and end at 2:00 PM in the Nyumburu Cultural Center’s Multipurpose Room (www.nyumburu.umd.edu). Participants will learn about important dates, events and historical figures. However, the workshop will primarily focus on conventional and non-conventional research methods as a means towards expanding the participants overall Black History knowledge base. This event is sponsored by the National Congress of Black Women and the Nyumburu Cultural Center.

Black/African History is World History. Unfortunately for myriad reasons (e.g., institutional racism) Black History continues to be undervalued and marginalized throughout the United States, especially within public schools. The fact that countless innovations, inventions, and discoveries have come out of Africa, and her rich Diaspora, is irrefutable. Africa and her prosperous Diaspora have produced some of the greatest minds, leaders, and teachers the world has ever known. This workshop promises to train participants how to independently conduct their own research and studies around various aspects regarding Black History. The workshop will be conducted by Seattle-based researcher, independent historian and scholar, Mr. Ed Diaz.

Extremely dissatisfied with the absence of African American history in local and national mainstream history books, Ed Diaz founded (and is president of) the Association for African American Historical Research and Preservation (AAAHRP). Its mission is to locate, collect, preserve and disseminate historical and genealogical information related to the African American population. In 2004 the organization held its first Black History Conference, and has held five to date. The highly-respected AAAHRP conferences have attracted historians, scholars, genealogists, and researchers from across the nation, and even other countries, including Brazil, Canada, England, and Mexico. AAAHRP has established itself as a leader in African American History conferences and research, and is widely recognized by historians, academicians, and the public at large as being at the forefront in the dissemination of black historical information.