MSOG was recently contacted by a journalism student at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University (cronkite.asu.edu). Xavier Brathwaite and his colleagues are seeking descendants of people who were involved in the Revolutionary War in any capacity, with the goal of gathering as many stories as possible from the unsung heroes who contributed to the founding of our nation. He describes the project this way:

 

We are a student-led lab working with Arizona PBS (AZPBS) to develop a VR/AR [virtual/augmented reality] experience sharing the stories of “ordinary revolutionists”—everyday people who lived in the Thirteen Colonies during the American Revolutionary War period and who did their part in bringing forward the United States. We want to hear and tell the stories of the citizen soldiers, artisans, craftspeople, merchants, farmers, nurses, and more who stepped forward during a time of great uncertainty. To gather these stories and depict them as accurately as possible, we are reaching out to people who have ancestors who meet this description. . . . We would be asking the genealogists questions about their ancestors, such as the accomplishments they made, which side of history they were on, and specifically how the descendant feels about people knowing their ancestors’ story. Documents or any type of proof linking the ancestor to the descendant is also preferred.

 

We hope that some of our MSOG members with Revolutionary War ancestors will be interested in communicating with Mr. Braithwaite and possibly participating in his project. You can reach out to him directly at xbrathwa@asu.edu. Along with your name and email address or phone number, you might include a few sentences identifying your ancestor and their connection to the Revolutionary War. And please let us know if you decide to participate, either by copying us on the email or sending a separate one to info@msoginc.org. Thank you!