Welcome to our African American Class section.  This page under construction but should be activate by October 4 2019.

Our Instructor is Charlotte Bocage

Biography: Charlotte Marie Bocage is a full-time professional genealogist with more than four decades of experience. Before 1977 a nagging question was in her mind, “Who are my ancestors?”  The oral history passed on through her mother since she was five years old was the basis for her research. The 1977 TV series Roots inspired her to put a name to what she had been doing for so long and to formally continue her genealogical search to answer that question. Charlotte has been sharing her knowledge since 1999. She is the Bocage Family genealogist and historian tracing her paternal family back to 19th century Louisiana. The names in her family database were published in two Bocage Family History books and one Bloom Family History book. Her Louisiana Research book is to be published. 

Charlotte  volunteers at the Southern California Genealogical Society Research Library, the Los Angeles Regional Family History Center and in the past with Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness.  She is an instructor with Family Tree University and U.C.L.A. Osher Life Long Learning Center. She is the First Vice President with the Pasadena Area African American Genealogical Society; on the Board of Directors, the Education chair, the Outreach chair and Kids’ Family History Camp chair with the Southern California Genealogical Society, the Bocage Biennial Family Reunion chairperson, and the Bloom Family Reunion chairperson

Lecture Resume: University of California, Los Angeles Osher Life Long Learning  Program Instructor, 2008-2016, 2013; Southern California Genealogical Society Annual Jamboree, Burbank, CA, 2002, 2004 – 2007, 2016; Southern California Genealogical Society Lunch and Learn Education Program, Burbank, CA, 2006-2018; The International Black Genealogy Summit, 2016; The New Orleans Multicultural Tourism Network National Family Reunion Seminar and Expo, New Orleans, LA, 2002; LA County A. C. Bilbrew Public Library, Black Resource Center, 2005-2018; LA County Public Library System 2006-2019; Los Angeles Public Library Adult Events Program, 2003, 2004, 2013-2018; Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society National

BEGINNING AFRICAN AMERICAN RESEARCH

  • Getting Started
  • Beginning African American Research
  • African American Genealogical Research Facts
  • Data Entry Basics
  • Start with What You Know
  • Fill out a pedigree chart
  • Fill out a family group sheet
  • Vital Records
  • Organizing Forms
  • Verify and Document What You Know
  • Start Your Search
  • Consider Genealogical Software
  • Resources
  • Wrap-up