Quick Guide to African American Records: Difference between revisions

*Strategies for discovering your African American ancestors in various periods of history:

**Beginning Your Search  

**Searching Recent Records  

**Searching Transition Records from Slavery to  

**Freedom  

*The most useful records and indexes to search.

=== Beginning Your Search  ===

**Write down what your family knows about your ancestors.  

**Record names, dates, and places on family group record forms and pedigree charts.  

1. Search United States records, as described in the United States Research Outline (30972) such as:  

*[[Social Security Death Index (SSDI)|Social Security Death Index]]

2. Search records from the state where your ancestor lived.  

*City directories  

*Court records  

*Land records  

Taylor, Marie. Family History Library Bibliography of African American Sources. Salt Lake City: Family History Library, 2000. (FHL book 973 F23tm; fiche 6002568.) This bibliography:  

**Has citations for about 3,320 African American sources.  

**Includes Canadian records.  

This bibliography has two sections:  

**Search the "Bibliography Arranged by Subject" section for general types of records, such as church, court, slavery and bondage, or vital records.  

**Search the "Bibliography Arranged by Locality" section for records from the U.S. state or Canadian province where your ancestor lived. Each state or province has a subject section, followed by a section for each county.

The following records can help you determine if an ancestor was born free or freed by a slave owner.  

**Federal censuses, 1790–1860. Any ancestor listed in the federal population schedule was free.  

**Local government registers of free persons of color. Freed slaves had to register with the local government to prove their freedom.  

Other useful military records:  

**Buffalo Soldiers (Indian wars)  

**Philippine Insurrection (1898)  

For information on the above records, see:  

**U.S. Military Records Research Outline available at this site.  

**Research outlines for the states where your ancestors lived - available on this site.

Registers of Signatures of Depositors in Branches of the Freedman's Savings and Trust Company, 1865–1874. National Archives Microfilm Publications, M0816. Washington, D.C.: National Archives, 1969. (FHL films 0928571–91.)  

**Information includes birthplace, place brought up, residence, age, complexion, name of employer or occupation, spouse, children, father, mother, brothers and sisters, remarks, and signature.  

**Early books give the name of the former master or mistress and the name of the plantation.  

The records are divided as follows:  

**Part 1, Alabama–Louisiana  

**Part 2, Maryland–South Carolina  

United States. House of Representatives. Commissioners of Claims. Records of the Commissioners of Claims 1871–1880. National Archives Microfilm Publications, M0087. Washington, D.C.: National Archives, 1945. (FHL film 1463963–76.)  

**Nearly 22,300 cases are filed by individuals, family groups, churches, and businesses.  

**Case files include items such as family letters and Bibles, wills, probate records, personal accounts, property inventories, and other genealogical data.  

'''American Slave Narratives'''  

'''Apprenticeship and Orphans’ Records'''  

*[http://www.afrigeneas.com/aacensus/ African American Census Schedules Online]

== Tips  ==