2025 AAHGS National Conference – Day 1

It has been five years since the Afro American Historical and Genealogical Society has held an in-person conference. These past five years we have all been virtual. When I heard that the conference would be in-person earlier this year, I knew I wanted to be there. This year’s conference is being held in Charleston, South Carolina. As usual our travel day did not go exactly how we expected. Our first flight out of Arkansas was delayed which meant that we missed our connecting flight in Atlanta. When I say we missed it, we actually missed the flight by just under 5 minutes. We were put on standby for the next flight which was three hours later. Luckily we were able to get on that flight and landed in Charleston and arrived at the hotel just after 6pm.

When we arrived at the hotel, every seat was taken in the lobby by conference attendees, and the air was filled with laughter and conversation. Walking in we saw many familiar faces, gave lots out of hugs, and reconnected with people we hadn’t seen in five years. There were many people that we had only seen virtually and although we knew them, we hadn’t actually ever met in person. I knew then that this was definitely going to be a great experience.

The first day of the conference didn’t start for me until 3pm, there was a photo/document scanning event from 12pm-2pm. Since we had planned to go to the International African American Museum, I didn’t bring anything to scan this trip. So that meant we had the morning and most of the afternoon to go to the IAAM. This museum has been on my museum bucket list since they were building it. I was so excited to go the museum. It was simply wonderful. It was full of rich African American history and African American South Carolina history. There’s a family research center in the museum as well. I was able to record a 10 minute family history story about my 3X great grandfather, Robert Hatchett, that will be preserved at the library.

The first session of AAHGS conference is always Welcome, Orientation, and Newcomer’s session presented by Dr. Shelley Murphy. This year was no different with the exception that it was a panel discussion with Nicka Smith, Thom Reed, Brian Sheffely and Deborah Robinson in addition to Dr. Shelley Murphy. It was a packed session in the main ballroom. So packed that they had to bring out more chairs. After that session the break out sessions started after the welcome/newcomer’s session.

The welcome reception was this evening at 7pm. It was at that moment walking into the ballroom that I realized just how many people were attending the conference. The ballroom was full of people laughing, talking, singing/dancing to the music. It was a wonderful sight to see indeed. We ate, saw some of our RootsTech cousins, met new genealogy friends, and continued to reconnect with people we hadn’t seen since the last conference in 2019. The first day is always a long day, but it truly was the best day this year.

Although the conference started at 3pm, and I only attended two sessions today, it was still a long day. But one of the things I love about going to genealogy conferences is that I’m always so busy that I never know how late it is until I’m headed back to the hotel room. Today was better than fantastic. I can’t wait to see what genealogy excitement is in store for me on day 2 tomorrow.

Sessions I attended:

• Welcome, Orientation, and Newcomer’s Session
• Utilizing AL and Full-text Search to Advance Your African American Research, presented by Julia A. Anderson

Click HERE to read about 2025 AAHGS National Conference Day 1

Click HERE to read about 2025 AAHGS National Conference Day 3