Joseph;

I've often wondered the same thing. And you've only touched on the research Haley did in the U.S. He also spent an incredible amount of time at the P. R.O. (Public Records Office) in London, England, researching the ships manifests to determine which one carried Kunta Kinte to the states. In a public statement in 1970, he said something like, "I knew more about the sailing of that ship than the captain did," referring to the hours and hours he'd spent reading and re-reading the ship's logs.

Boggles the mind when I think about how his search got me started way back then. I wonder if I'd have had the same drive and passion about genealogy THEN, without the internet or personal computers or every-name indices of all the censuses, etc., as I do now.

We have it SOOOO good, and yet we complain when the internet is slow, or if our scanner doesn't work properly, or if someone doesn't respond to an email quickly enough ...

We're such babies compared to Haley :>).

Thank goodness for Haley and all the inspiration he gave that continues to live on all these years later. It's truly humbling.

- Lisa B. Lee, PLCGS
Oakland, CA