African American Resources for Virginia: Difference between revisions

[http://www.pbs.org/wnet/finding-your-roots/ Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.] examines the Virginia ancestry of several prominent African Americans living today. His television series will provide you with many tips for tracing your own Virginia family tree.  

===Genetic Testing===

*[https://historicjamestowne.org/history/the-first-africans/ The First Africans - Jamestown Rediscovery]

*Official Tourism Website of the Commonwealth of Virginia has prepared a nice history of [http://www.virginia.org/africanamericansinvirginia/ African-Americans in Virginia].<br>

*K.I. Knight. ''Unveiled - The Twenty & Odd: Documenting the First Africans in England's American 1619- 1625 and Beyond.'' First Freedom Publishing, 2019.

Black slaves are often listed as property in their masters' deeds, wills, and probate inventories. The Virginia Historical Society's [https://www.virginiahistory.org/collections-and-resources/how-we-can-help-your-research/researcher-resources/guides-researchers-2 Guide to African American Manuscripts] identifies many records that document slave's names and owners within their large collection.  

White slave masters who belonged to the Quaker and Methodist faiths often set their slaves free in the 1700s and 1800s.<ref>John Henderson Russell, ''The Free Negro in Virginia, 1619-1865'' (Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1913), 57-58. Digital version at [http://archive.org/details/freenegro00russrich Internet Archive].</ref> Paul Heinegg prepared a detailed list of [http://www.freeafricanamericans.com/virginiafreeafter1782.htm '''Virginia slaves manumitted'''] (freed) between 1782 and the 1820s.  

Volume 16 of ''The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography'' (1941) includes Virginia narratives:{{FSC|61226|item|disp=FS Library Book 973 F2aa series 2 v. 16}}.<br>

===Revolutionary War, 1776-1783===

[http://www2.vcdh.virginia.edu/gos/laws.html The Geography of Slavery in Virginia] includes a list of Virginia slave laws, references to slaves in the House of Burgesses Journals, and other documents.

==Free People of Color==

In the nineteenth century, it was not uncommon for free blacks to purchase their enslaved relatives (husbands, wives, children, parents) and maintain their status as slaves in efforts to keep the family intact (newly freed blacks in Virginia faced a discriminatory law (starting in 1806) requiring them to leave the state).<ref>''The Free Negro in Virginia,'' 92-93.</ref>  

Jackson, Luther Porter, ''Free Negro Labor and Property Holdings in Virginia, 1830-186''0. Chicago, 1937. xiii, 311 leaves.E185.93 V8 J18 1937  

In '''1870''', five years after slaves were freed, '''counties '''with the '''largest black populations''' (more than 10,000) were [[Albemarle County, Virginia|Albemarle]], [[Bedford County, Virginia|Bedford]], [[Campbell County, Virginia|Campbell]], [[Dinwiddie County, Virginia|Dinwiddie]], [[Halifax County, Virginia|Halifax]], [[Henrico County, Virginia|Henrico]], [[Louisa County, Virginia|Louisa]], [[Mecklenburg County, Virginia|Mecklenburg]], [[Norfolk County, Virginia|Norfolk]], and [[Pittsylvania County, Virginia|Pittsylvania]]. '''Towns '''with the '''largest black populations''' (more than 5000) were [[Alexandria, Virginia|Alexandria]], [[Charlottesville, Virginia|Charlottesville]], [[Danville, Virginia|Danville]] (Dan River), [[Lynchburg, Virginia|Lynchburg]], [[Norfolk, Virginia|Norfolk]], [[Petersburg, Virginia|Petersburg]], [[Portsmouth, Virginia|Portsmouth]], and [[Richmond, Virginia|Richmond]].<ref name="no" />  

===Records===

*'''Virginia Historical Society''' [https://www.virginiahistory.org/sites/default/files/uploads/AAG.pdf Guide to African-American Manuscripts]

   

*'''The Library of Virginia''' [http://www.lva.virginia.gov/public/guides/AA_Genealogical_Research.pdf Resources for African American Genealogical Research]