On February 9, 2016, the La Porte County (IN) Genealogical Society met at the La Porte City Park Department Headquarters at 250 Pine Lake Avenue. A business meeting was followed by refreshments, provided by Larry & Kathi Carlson.
In celebration of the Bicentennial of the state of Indiana, the program committee has a theme of Ethnic Groups which have shaped our state. February is Black History month, and our speaker, Gerry Jones, former director of the Stepping Stone Shelter in Michigan City, told about “Generations of Firsts in Our Black Community.” In addition to her first-person accounts, further insights were provided by Sel Dunlap, an active participant in La Porte County politics and community life, and Allen Williams, of Safe Harbors, who spoke about the Black History projects at the former Mullen Elementary school in Michigan City, now titled “The Mullen Center”.
The society and the Michigan City Public Library are again organizing a bus trip to the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne. This year’s event is scheduled for April 6, and Patricia Harris distributed sign-up forms. There will also be a flyer in the March, 2016, issue of “The Door”, the society’s newsletter, and on the website.
The society and the Michigan City Public Library are jointly sponsoring a film series as an Indiana Bicentennial activity. The first showing will be “Black Robe” March 6, 2016, at 2 PM at the Library.
More details about the society are available at http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~inlcigs/. The society also has a blog at http://lpcgs.blogspot.com. There you can find summaries of meetings, news items about the society, and a posting of several years of the society’s newsletter.