West
African Griots are historians, storytellers,
traditional praise singers and musicians. Their
roles are hereditary and their surnames identify
them as Griots. For example, Toumani Diabate of
Mali comes from 70 generations of Griots. His
father, Sidiki Diabate was considered the “King
of the Kora” in Guinea, Senegal, Ivory Coast,
Mali and The Gambia. When he died, memorials
were held in each of these countries, attended
by foreign diplomats, government officials and
musicians. The most famous Griot in each of
these countries was chosen to preside over the
memorials and to celebrate the life of Sidiki
Diabate by “singing his praises” and recounting
his life story.
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more....
These cards hold
valuable information such as spouse,
parents, siblings,
place of birth
and in some cases,
master or mistress. Freedman's records
can now be found on
some of
the state pages in
which they refer.
Welcome
This site is
dedicated to assisting all of those in
pursuit of African American ancestry by
being a central depository for African
American records of historical proportion.
Organization of
resources is by States and
Projects/Databases. The Project Pages are
databases for individuals and records
pertaining to groups of people.
