Novice and advanced family researchers from Alabama and around the country are expected to attend a free, all-day genealogy conference this Saturday, Feb. 20, at the Selma-Dallas Public Library in observance of Black History Month.

Sponsored by the Black Belt African American Genealogical and Historical Society, Inc. (BBAAGHS), workshops will focus on research methods, techniques and resources, for African-American family history research.

Mary Jones-Fitts, a professional genealogist from Faunsdale is among the workshop presenters.

Jones-Fitts is an expert in Alabama slave records, specializing in Marengo and surrounding counties.

A researcher with more than 25 years of experience, she is founder and organizer of the Faunsdale Connection, the annual reunion of the descendants of 81 slaves brought to Faunsdale Plantation from Somerset Place Plantation in Creswell, N.C. in 1843. Somerset is now a National Historic Site.

The conference will begin with registration at 8 a.m. at the Selma-Dallas County Library, located at 1103 Selma Ave. at Broad Street. A buffet luncheon is included with the free registration.

For further information, see the Web site www.bbaaghs.org or e-mail bbaaghs@bbaaghs.org

The BBAAGHS is a non-profit organization dedicated to the study and exchange of information and ideas among people interested in African-American genealogy, family history and historic preservation in the 12 counties of Alabama’s Black Belt Region: Bullock, Choctaw, Dallas, Greene, Hale, Lowndes, Macon, Marengo, Perry, Pickens, Sumter and Wilcox.