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African American Resources for Alabama: Difference between revisions
African American Resources for Alabama (view source)
Revision as of 15:16, 27 September 2018
, 27 September 2018Adding to research strategy
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==Research Strategy== | ==Research Strategy== | ||
The | Researching African Americans is often more challenging than researching other groups of people. Start with the present and then work back, one generation at a time. When starting out, first interview relatives, especially older relatives, and survey the records already gathered by others. Oral tradition is an important step because relatives may provide both information on recent generations and clues on where to search next. Additionally, relatives may have journals, newspaper clippings, vital certificates, or other such records of ancestors that may provide essential information and clues. Some crucial records to search for are birth certificates, death certificates, census records, and cemetery records and tombstones. The most difficult parts of African American research are slavery and the decades that followed it. One reason that researching slaves is more difficult than researching other groups of people is because slaves did not have surnames, so the only way to identify them was by who the owner was. Later, segregated schools, inexplicable surnames, and a lack of written or signed contracts became obstacles for genealogists who researched African Americans. Before the abolition of slavery in 1865, almost 250,000 of the 4 million slaves in the southern states were freemen. However, these freemen did not leave much of a paper trail because of fear, illiteracy, and a lack of money. Many had settled in Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma. <ref>Armstrong, Elizabeth. "We are family: Piecing together the past." ''The Christian Science Monitor'', 20 November 2002. https://www.csmonitor.com/2002/1120/p16s01-lign.html (accessed 27 September 2018).</ref> | ||
Research guides: | Research guides: | ||
* | *Burroughs, Tony. ''Black Roots: A Beginner's Guide to Tracing the African-American Family Tree''. New York: Fireside, 2001. | ||
*Taylor, Frazine K.''Researching African American Genealogy in Alabama A Resource Guide.''Montgomery, Alabama: New South Books. 2008. | *Taylor, Frazine K.''Researching African American Genealogy in Alabama: A Resource Guide.''Montgomery, Alabama: New South Books. 2008. | ||
==History== | ==History== | ||