African American Taxation

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United States

African American Genealogy

Taxation

Enslaved persons were considered taxable property in some states. Therefore, they may be mentioned in county tax records prior to emancipation.

Free African Americans of taxable age (usually between ages 16 and 50) should appear on county tax lists by name. If they owned property, they should also appear on county property tax lists.

To find these records, go to the Catalog in FamilySearch. Type in the State, followed by County in the "Place" field. Select "Taxation" in the list of record sets.

Additional Sources:

Please see the article "African American Research at the Library of Virginia to 1870. This article discusses the records of Free and Enslaved persons. It includes Registers and Lists, Census Records, Personal Property Tax Records, Cohabitation Registers, Emancipation Records, Petitions, Locating Enslavers, Locating Enslaved Individuals, Patrol Records, Civil War Records, Freedmen's Bureau records, and online resources.

In the 1810s, Virginia imposed a 'specific tax" exclusively on Free African Americans. The Library of Virginia, Free Negro Tax Records, contains a large database of Free African Americans who were assessed a tax - Virginia Open Data Portal. This list includes names, sex, place of abode, and trades.