Alonzo Felder was a full-time IT Analyst with a career spanning over thirty-seven years at Duke University. He spent his days providing end user-level computer support and troubleshooting computer related issues. He is now retired.

Over the last four decades, Mr. Felder has become versed in a number of disciplines, including legal, historical, and investigative research methods. He has co-authored, co-investigated, and edited scientific articles, journals, and medical research studies. He has conducted historical research for use in a variety of presentations and publications, and has presented on family history research at numerous workshops and presentations. His most recent presentation was for the Stanford L. Warren Branch Library, where he explored motivations for family history research, as well as pitfalls to discovery and ways to overcome “brick walls” in research.

He is an online participant and contributor on a number of public genealogy-oriented forums and social media venues, including GenForum, Finding Your Roots, AfriGeneas Genealogy and History Forum, Genealogy.com, and Ancestry.com, just to name a few. His work has been featured at THE LoDi PROJECT museum in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Mr. Felder and his research work are referenced in the following publications:

• Emancipation Betrayed: The Hidden History of Black Organizing and White Violence in Florida from Reconstruction to the Bloody Election of 1920, by Paul Ortiz.
• Old South, New South, or Down South? Florida and the Modern Civil Rights Movement, edited by Irvin D. S. Winsboro.

Mr. Felder has contributed to the Finding Your Roots TV show website, “The Race Card Project,” by Michele Norris of NPR’s All Things Considered. In 2017 he presented the event “Let’s Talk Roots,” a panel discussion about the impact family history has in our community, in Raleigh, North Carolina. He has also given numerous presentations on the importance of grandparents and seniors for a variety of senior faith-based groups.

In 2015 Mr. Felder founded My Roots Foundation and currently serves as its president. My Roots Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization based in Durham, North Carolina. The mission is to honor ancestors and promote awareness of the importance and impact of family history through discovering, preserving, and sharing the stories of the forebears.

Work mentioned in Psychology Today’s online publication posted April 2, 2017.

“The Stories of Our Lives” section by Robyn Fivush, Ph.D.
“Cultural stories provide roots for growth
Being part of a cultural group through storytelling is beneficial.”
Link: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-stories-our-lives/201704/cultural-stories-provide-roots-growth_=_

Mr. Felder actively works as a participant and workshop presenter for DiversifyIT, a voluntary group of Duke University professionals working in the information technology (IT) field who seek to address issues of diversity in the IT workforce.
https://diversifyit.duke.edu/

Active contributor to the DGHI Community, Diversity and Inclusion Committee, and member of the DGHI Equity Task Force.

Participant/Member of Cohort 4 of the Duke University School of Medicine and Duke Health’s Teaching and Leading Equity Now (TEN) series, a part of the Duke Office of Diversity and Inclusion.

Mr. Felder has been featured in a variety of newspaper and magazine publications, including “Foundation helps people discover–and celebrate–their family history” by Lewis Beale.

Correspondent
October 21, 2015, 05:10 p.m.
Updated October 21, 2015, 10:48 p.m.
link: https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article40763325.html#storylink=cpy

Triangle Gives: My Roots Foundation connects generations to strengthen families | News & Observer
By Corbie Hill
newsobserver.com Nov 22, 2017

“I realized...how to deal with racism.”
by Alonzo Felder
Duke Magazine photos by Author; Illustration by James Boyle
September 26, 2020, Special 2020 issue