African American Research
It is very difficult to trace slave ancestors. Here are a few tips:
Speak with your elderly ancestors. They may be able to tell you family lore, history, and legends.
Gather information on all family members, not just direct ancestors.
If you can’t find your ancestor in the vital records, you may need to look for a separate “colored” register.
Old newspapers may sketch out the lives of the formerly enslaved and mention relatives from whom they were separated.
If a relative applied for social security benefits, the SS-5 (application) will contain their birth dates and places and parent’s full names. To find their social security number, check the Social Security Death Index (available on family search and ancestry).
Census Records
It is common to see a person’s race appear different over time. Census takers often guessed a person’s race based on skin tone.
1870 census – first to enumerate former slaves by name
If you find your relative, look for nearby white families, particularly those listed as farmers. They may be the slaveholder.
Look for the potential slaveholder’s family in the 1860 census.
Check if the potential slaveholder’s personal property was significantly higher in 1860 than 1870. This could indicate a loss of “human property.”
Look up the head of household in the 1860 Census Slave Schedule. If you find an entry for the possible slaveholder, look for a slave that fits your ancestor’s gender and approximate age.
If a relative was listed in the 1860 or 1850 census by name, they were free at the time the census was taken.
If you find a slaveholder, check:
Bills of sale or deeds of gifts,
Hiring contracts,
Mortgages – a slaveholder could use his slave as collateral for another purchase, and
Manumissions – search for these in deed books.
Freedmen's Bureau
Note: Freedman’s Bank and Freedmen’s Bureau are two different organizations
The Freedmen’s Bureau, formally known as the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands, was established in 1865 by Congress to help millions of former black slaves and poor whites in the South in the aftermath of the Civil War.
The Freedmen’s Bureau provided a number of services, and collected a number of records including:
Hospital and Medical Records – great resource for death records
Marriages (only has records for 12 states, does not include Georgia)
Census Returns of Colored Population – often recorded former slave owners name
Labor contracts for freed slaves – often recorded former slaveholders name
Apprenticeship records
Note – the phrase “orphan” sometimes means that the parent was unable to support the child rather than the parents were deceased
Requests for food, transportation and medical care,
Court records
School Records – children and adults often attended school after emancipation
Home Registers (homeless camps)
Note: Only about half of the datasets are indexed, and some of location data is incorrect (if part of the microfilm roll said New Orleans, the entire roll was labeled as New Orleans)
Use the Family Search Wiki coverage table for an overview of what areas and dates are covered
Helpful to find nearest field office to a family’ location
Some field offices have pre-Bureau records
NARA microfilm guides can be found here.
Smithsonian Freedmen's Bureau Collection
Signature registers contained a great deal of genealogical information. They are indexed and digitized on Ancestry and Family Search
Useful Websites
10 Million Names. Recover. Restore. Remember. Seeks to document the estimated 10 million African Americans who were enslaved in the US between the 1500's and 1865
Offers historical overlays and geographical data tracking the slave trade.
Afro-Louisiana History and Genealogy – Contains a searchable database of more than 100,000 slaves who were brought to Louisiana in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Digital Library on American Slavery
Focuses on slave records between 1775 – 1867
Database consists of two projects:
The Race and Slavery Petition Project – 18th and 19th century legislative actions involving slaves and their owners, and
The North Carolina Runaway Slave Advertisement – these newspaper ads are descriptive and sometimes reveal slave family information.
International African-American Museum Center for Family History
Focuses on African American Genealogy in South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.
An African American History Searchable Database.
University of North Carolina Documenting the American South
University of Virginia Slave Narratives
Voyages: The Transatlantic Slave Trade Database
Contains ship names, arrival dates, timelines, maps and much more.