Coach Kim Bettie
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Research & Revelations from the granddaughter of John Fields, formerly enslaved runaway with the spirit of entrepreneurship.

“His-story inspires people of all races and walks of life. My great-great grandfather, John Fields, was a formerly enslaved runaway with an open heart and spirit of entrepreneurship. He lived passionately working and serving his community until his last breath at 104 years old.”
— Kim Bettie

Thank you for visiting my historical journal and documented discovery of my great-great grandfather’s life lessons before and after enslavement. I’m sharing my research and revelations to inspire, motivate and transform.

You can click on the bolded links for more information about the research. And, click on the title of the blog to leave or read comments.

 
Posts tagged ancestory
Blogumentary About My Great-Great Grandfather For Black History Month 2022
 
 
 

I decided to produce my first '“blogumentary” for Black History Month 2022. My blogumentary is a video project based on my blog, Research & Revelations. The purpose is aligned with my podcast, to inspire harmony within yourself and between others.

In this blogumentary, I contrast the accounts of his-story from two very different interviews I discovered were recorded at the same time in 1937: The Slave Narrative from the Federal Writers' Project and a Black historian who wrote an article for the Indianapolis Recorder.

Get ready for a journey of a lifetime as you join me on this virtual voyage, transformative time travel and empathetic excursion. I dedicate this labor of love to my ancestors. I can hear them singing, "This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine," as I share my research and revelations about his-story.

 
Kim BettieBlack History 2022, black history month, john w fields, kim bettie, ancestory, blogumentary, slave narratives, indianapolis recorderComment
We Are Family
 
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We are family

I decided to finally make a visit to the New York Family History Center and Genealogy in Manhattan to do research on my great-great grandfather, John Fields. Family Search has 4,600 local facilities in 126 countries where anyone can access genealogical records and receive personal assistance with their family history. These centers include the world-famous Family History Library in Salt Lake City, large regional facilities in places like Mesa, Arizona, and Los Angeles, California, and smaller centers that are usually found inside Latter-day Saint meetinghouses.

The Manhattan center was packed with people researching, Elder Adams agreed to talk with me and gave me a quick tour. I learned that the Mormon Church obtained copies of post–Civil War records created by the Freedmen’s Bureau. When the slaves were set free, the Bureau opened schools, managed hospitals, gave food and clothing and legalized marriages during the reconstruction era.  Elder Adams told me that by gathering the handwritten records on roughly 4 million African Americans., the project would digitized the footprints of those born into slavery. FamilySearch, along with the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History, galvanized organizations and people worldwide to help get the files indexed and digitized.

As my tour of the church and family center was coming to an end, I asked Elder Adams why on earth the Mormon Church cared so much about African Americans reconnecting to their roots.  As Elder Adams and I walked down the corridor of the family center together, he looked over at me and answered very sweetly:

“We are all brothers and sisters in the afterlife.”
— Elder Adams, New York Family History Center and Genealogy
Kim Bettieancestory, john fields, john w fields, kim bettie, Family History Center, Family Search, Mormon Church, New York Family History Center and Genealogy, born into slavery, Smithsonian National Museum of African American History, digitizing slave files, Freedmen’s Bureau, black history monthComment