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Renowned genealogist and author Frazine Taylor will be speaking at the Tupper Lightfoot Memorial Library in Brundidge on Saturday, Nov. 4.

Taylor will host a workshop to teach those in attendance how to conduct their own oral histories and how to use census data to create a family tree. Taylor says that there are many tools and resources that one can use to get a visual of their property, life and family. While hiring a professional genealogist is the easiest way to go, it can also be very costly. Taylor aims to help those in attendance be able to connect the dots of their family tree by using the tools that are available to everyone.

“I am only going to discuss two (subjects) during the workshop, but I will highlight others,” Taylor said. “They are Oral Histories and the Federal and State Census records, Chapter 4 in my book, “Researching African American Genealogy in Alabama and will highlight many of the details that you might need to conduct an oral history with your relatives, as well as other resources you can use.”

Taylor is a native of Wallsboro and graduated from the Southern Normal High School in Brewton before earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Commerce from Knoxville College in Tennessee. She also received a Master’s Degree in Library Sciences from Atlanta University in Georgia.

Taylor went on to serve in the Peace Corps, living in the Fiji Islands for a number of years. Later, she worked at Tuskegee University’s library and interned at the National Agricultural Library in Maryland. She went on to become the Co-Head of Reference for the Alabama Department of Archives and History and is an expert on Alabama records.

Taylor currently works part-time at Alabama State University as an archivist and she also houses her genealogy collection at ASU. She’s also the President of the Elmore County Association of Black Heritage, Chair Emeritus of the Black Heritage Council of the Alabama Historical Commission and previously served as President of the Alabama Historical Association and the Friends of the Archives. Taylor researched family roots and ties to Alabama for the PBS Series African American Lives 2 and Finding Your Roots.

During her career, Taylor has received numerous awards including the AHA Virginia Van der Veer Hamilton Award, the Senior Trooper Award from the Elmore County NAACP and the Dorothy Porter Wesley Award from the Association for the Study of African American Life and History. The IGHR Scholarship was also named in her honor in 2018.

Taylor’s workshop will be held at Tupper Lightfoot Memorial Library in Brundidge at 10:30 a.m. on Nov. 4.