The Board for Certification of Genealogists (BCG) is pleased to announce four winners of Paul E. Sluby African American Scholarships for 2021. Scholarships will allow winners to attend one of five premier national genealogical institutes in 2022.

BCG established the Paul E. Sluby Sr. African American Scholarships in 2020. Each scholarship will cover up to $1,700 of institute tuition, travel, and lodging expenses. BCG will also waive its final application fee of $300 for scholarship recipients who submit portfolios of work to be considered for certification within three years of the announcement of an award.

The winners for 2022 are:

Janice Cross Gilyard (Summit, New Jersey)
Ms. Gilyard is president of the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society – New Jersey chapter. She has been a speaker at conferences in New Jersey and nationally, including RootsTech 2021. She brings more than 25 years worth of genealogical research experience to her desire to become certified.

Michelle Susberry Hill (Houston, Texas)
Ms. Hill has a doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction in education and is in a GenProof class. She has attended the Genealogical Principles Course at Boston University. She is a council member for the Fayette County Historical Commission and volunteers as a Historical Records Transcriber for the government.

Tameka S. Miller (Richardson, Texas)
Ms. Miller graduated from Texas A&M and has a doctorate in Psychology from the University of Houston. Her interest in her ancestry was channeled in her dissertation research which discusses Louisiana Creole identity and biracial identity. She is looking forward to honing her skills in formalized training.
 
Christopher Smothers (Marietta, Georgia)
Mr. Smothers is the reason indexes to Mississippi death records are available to researchers! He was responsible for building bridges between the Mississippi State Archives, the Mississippi State Department of Health, and in partnership with Reclaim the Records and their digitization by FamilySearch. He is currently attending Chattahoochee Technical College and the Boston University Program for a Certificate in Genealogy.

“BCG is pleased to sponsor attendance at these high-quality educational offerings, with the goal of increasing the number of under-represented communities in the ranks of Certified Genealogists,” said President LaBrenda Garrett-Nelson, JD, LLM, CG®, CGL℠. “Thank you to all of the applicants who expressed interest in furthering their genealogical education. BCG would welcome a submission from you next year for 2023 scholarships.”

For more information on the scholarship program, see https://bcgcertification.org/learning/african-american-scholarship/.

The words Certified Genealogist and letters CG are registered certification marks, and the designations CGL and Certified Genealogical Lecturer are service marks of the Board for Certification of Genealogists®, used under license by board certificants after periodic evaluation.