Election Ballot 2025

In accordance with the Society of the First African Families in English America's By-Laws, the society is providing notice that it has scheduled its annual elections. Please be advised of the following:

(1.) For the position of President General with have three excellent candidates. Please be advised that you will only have a single vote to select the next President General. The candidate with the highest number of votes determines the outcome of the election (Group 1).

(2.) For the positions of Historian General, Surgeon General and Genealogy General there were no opposing candidates, therefore a single slate of candidates was selected. For the slate of candidates only one vote is required (Group 2). 

NOTE: In accordance with our Bylaws we have provided the responsibilities for each of the SOFAFEA Officer positions ...please review here. Please review the qualifications of all of the candidates below. After you have made you selection proceed to the bottom of the page click the VOTE button. Elected candidates will be announced at the annual meeting in May. 

Group 1: Election for President General
Meet the Candidates 
(in alphabetical order)

Mr. Douglas Cornwall is currently the Treasurer General of the Society of the First African Families of English America. He began his genealogical journey 10 years ago with many questions to be answered about his ancestors. The Cornwall family lineage traces back deep into the earliest colonial periods of New York, Massachusetts, and the Canadian Maritimes and while the research in this family is impressively thorough, it is his mother’s family that is the current focus of his Genealogical research. This journey has uncovered a deep history in the Mid-Atlantic states of Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, as well as Midwest branches in Missouri and Illinois. Further work has uncovered connections to the 1619 “Twenty and Odd” Africans through the famous enigma Anthony Johnson and a long history of free people of color making a way for themselves and their families in the early centuries of this country, and to John Gowen and Margaret Cornish. Douglas is an AAHGS member, a charter member of the Sons and Daughters of the United States Middle Passage and a charter member of the Society of the First African Families of English America.  He is also a seasoned technology and business leader with over 25 years of experience in delivering strategic insights, developing competitive intelligence, driving business growth and contributing to several major corporate business transformations. He has worked in diverse companies ranging from early-stage technology start-ups to Fortune 500 to Wall Street Investment Banks and is ideally positioned for a leadership role in the Society. He holds B.S and M.S. degrees in Engineering and Applied Mathematics from MIT, UC Berkeley and Johns Hopkins and an MBA from Stanford University

Ms. L. Jacqueline (Jackie) Long is currently the Secretary General of the Society of the First African Families in English America. She has been expanding research on her New England roots building on decades of family history research given to her branch by cousin Bob Greene. With such a good start. she was able to prove colonial and revolutionary lineage and be accepted for membership by the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (NSDAR); the Sons and Daughters of the United States Middle Passage (SDUSMP), and the Society of the First African Families of English America (SOFAFEA). Jacqueline is also a member of the African American Historical and Genealogical Society (AAHGS), the New England Historical and Genealogical Society (NEHGS), Georgetown Historical Society (GHS), and the Pejepscot History Center (PHC). Based in Harlem New York, Jacqueline is an independent real estate practitioner.  She is a designated Member of the Appraisal Institute and holds New York State Real Estate Broker and Real Estate Appraiser licenses. She earned her BA degree from the University of Pennsylvania and her MS in Urban Planning from the Columbia University School of Architecture. 

Reverend Doctor Khadijah Matin is currently the Chaplian General of the Society of the First Afriah received he Doctcan Families in English America. She has an MS in Education from Fordham University. At OneSpirit Interfaith Seminary Khadijr ordination in Interfaith Ministry, and a Certificate in Interspiritual/Interfaith Counseling. She earned heror of Ministry from New York Theological Seminary, with a specialized focus in multi-faith ministry.  She was designated as a Rothschild Fellow, where she created coaching program designed to support diverse clergy and faith-based service providers. Khadijah currently serves as co-facilitator of the OneSpirit Interspiritual Counseling/Companioning program. Her research focus areas include an examination of faith and family history in the shaping of identity and community, and the varied ways in which service and spirituality intersect. Presently Khadijah serves as an advisor to the Afro-American Historical & Genealogical Society and the Association of Muslim Chaplains.

(continue below for more candidates)

Group 2: Slate of Candidates for 2025 Election
Meet the Candidates 
(in alphabetical order)

NOTE: A single vote to select all three candidates.

Ms. Gigi Best Richardson is currently the Historian General of the Society of the First African Families of English America. Ms. Richardson is a Co-Owner and Curator of Best Richardson African Diaspora Literature and Culture Nonprofit Museum in St. Augustine, Florida. She is a member of the Association of African American Museums, Florida Antiquarian Booksellers Association, and Afro American Historical and Genealogical Society. She is a Historian (Phi Alpha Theta), Genealogist, Speaker, Poet and a Virginia Humanities Scholar. Gigi is an award-winning author of "Thomas the Melungeon: His Locust Family of Free Persons of Color Civil and Revolutionary War Patriots - Vol 1."  She is a member of the Sons and Daughters United States Middle Passage, the  Society of the Order of First Families of North Carolina; Daughters of the American Revolution; Colonial Dames 17th Century; New England Women; National Society Daughters of Founders and Patriots of America; Colonial Dames of America; and Daughters of the Union Veterans of the Civil War. She attended Morgan State University's Graduate Literature Degree Program from 1992-1996.

Dr. Wendel Goins is currently the Surgeon General of the Society of the First African Families of English America. Dr. Goins is a retired surgeon currently practicing physician living in Charlotte, North Carolina. He is a member of the Society of the Descendants of Charlemagne; Society of the Descendants of the Founding Fathers of New England; Sons of the American Revolution.
 

Dr. Shelley Murphy is currently the Genealogy General of the Society of the First African Families of English America. She is the founder of the Midwest African American Genealogy Institute. She is also coordinator and Instructor at the Midwest African American Genealogy Institute she has developed educational programs for the Center for Family History at the IAAM. She is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and the Society of the Sons and Daughters of the Middle Passage. She holds membership in the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society, National Genealogical Society, Association of Professional Genealogists, and multiple local genealogy societies. 

(continue below to cast your vote)

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