African American Resources for Virginia: Difference between revisions

''[[United States]]  [[Image:Gotoarrow.png|go to]]  [[Virginia]]  [[Image:Gotoarrow.png|go to]]  [[Virginia_African_Americans|African Americans]]'' [[Image:{{Virginiaslavesale}}|Slaves Awaiting Sale, Richmond, Virginia, 1853]] [[Image:Slavery.JPG|thumb|right|200px]]  

[[Image:Africa ethnic groups 1996.jpg|thumb|right|300px]] African American research in Virginia can be divided into two general time periods - '''before '''and '''after '''the '''Civil War'''.  

Many African Americans alive today are having their DNA tested to learn which tribes in Africa they descend from. To learn more about this procedure, read [[Hiring a DNA Testing Company]].  

The first slaves were imported into Virginia in 1619. Slaves were emancipated in 1865. The Official Tourism Website of the Commonwealth of Virginia has prepared a nice history of [http://www.virginia.org/africanamericansinvirginia/ African-Americans in Virginia].<br>  

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Information about slaves can be found in '''slavemasters' deeds''' (see [[Virginia Land and Property]]),'''slave schedules''' (see [[Virginia Census#Online_indexes_and_images|Virginia Census]]), '''wills''' (see [[Virginia Probate Records]]), '''tax lists''' (see [[Virginia Taxation]]), '''family Bibles''' and '''diaries''' (see [[Virginia Bible Records|Virginia Bible Records]]), '''plantation records''', '''interviews with former slaves''', and in '''court order books''' (see [[Virginia Court Records]]). A few '''parish registers''' (see [[Virginia Church Records#Church_of_England_.28Anglican.2C_Protestant_Episcopal.29|Virginia Church Records]]) list slaves who attended church with their masters. In Virginia the births of slave children should be listed in '''county birth registers''' starting in 1853 (see [[Virginia Vital Records]]).  

The Library of Virginia has a collection titled '''Public claims, slaves and free blacks, 1781-1865'''. The collection contains tax records for free blacks and slaves, records of condemned blacks who were executed or transported out of state, and records of runaway slaves who were caught and whose owners could not be found. The runaway slaves became the property of the state and were sold to new owners. Copies are available on microfilm at the Family History Library: {{FHL|783095|item|disp=FHL Films 2027937-2027942}}.<br>  

[[Image:Runaway slave ad.jpg|thumb|right|300px]] Names of hundreds of runaway slaves, their descriptions, owners, and ages appeared in '''newspapers'''. They have been published and can be found in: <br>  

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

Not all blacks were slaves in Virginia before the Civil War. Virginia had the largest free black population in the United States.<ref>''The Free Negro in Virginia,'' 9.</ref> Many black families had been free there since the 1600s. For each eight slaves in the state, there was one free person of color.<ref>''The Free Negro in Virginia,'' 10.</ref> Some of the largest families had the surnames Cumbo, Driggers, and Goins. Many free people of color descended from black slave men who had children by white indentured servant women.<ref name="drig">The previous school of thought had the colors and genders swapped - it was believed that they descended from illegitimate offspring of white slave masters and black slave women. A 1662 law stated that the offspring of such relations would take the legal status of the mother. Most children resulting from illicit relations between white slave masters and black slave women remained in slavery. See Paul Heinegg, ''Free African Americans of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland and Delaware,'' http://freeafricanamericans.com/, accessed 25 May 2012; and ''The Free Negro in Virginia,'' 19.</ref> Others were manumitted.<br>  

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70 years later, in '''1860''', many of these people's descendants appear to have continued to live in the same areas. Counties with more than '''1500''' free colored people were [[Accomack County, Virginia|Accomack]], [[Dinwiddie County, Virginia|Dinwiddie]], [[Henrico County, Virginia|Henrico]], [[Nansemond County, Virginia|Nansemond]], [[Norfolk County, Virginia|Norfolk]], and [[Southampton County, Virginia|Southampton]].<ref name="no" /> The town of [[Petersburg, Virginia|Petersburg]] in 1830 (Dinwiddie County) had 3440 white inhabitants, 2850 slaves, and 2032 free blacks, making the black population the majority.<ref>''The Free Negro in Virginia,'' 14.</ref><br>  

'''Tax assessors''' often recorded more information about free blacks in Virginia than census enumerators. Pre-1850 censuses list only the head of household by name, whereas tax lists sometimes list all males over the age of 16 by name. In 1813, according to Paul Heinegg, "many counties&nbsp;(or divisions of a county) mistakenly counted free women of color over 16 as taxables." In addition, "some counties had either a separate list of 'Free Persons of Color' or 'Free Negroes and Mulattos' or a notation after the person's name to indicate their race. Generally these tax lists provide a better source of information than either the registers of free Negroes or the census records."<ref>Email from Paul Heinegg to Nathan W. Murphy, 8 July 2012.</ref> Heinegg abstracted free blacks identified in each Virginia county. His abstracts are available [http://www.freeafricanamericans.com/virginiatax.htm online].<br>  

*Hudgins, Dennis. '''''Surry County, Virginia'''''<i>Register of Free Negroes</i>. Richmond, Va.: Viginia Genealogical Society, 1995. {{FHL|704453|item|disp=FHL Book 975.5562 F2h}}.<br>  

{{FreeNegro}}Black families freed prior to 1820 have been reconstructed in: <br><br>  

During the period of segregation, African Americans appear in the same sources as white people, such as '''censuses''' (beginning in 1870), '''marriage registers''' (though there was often a separate register for "colored marriages"), <span style="font-weight: bold">birth certificates, death certificates, </span>'''deeds''', '''wills''', '''military records''', '''cemeteries''' and '''church records''' (though they were usually segregated churches and cemeteries), '''tax records,''' '''voter registrations,''' '''city directories''' (though they might appear at the back of the book) and '''newspapers '''(including ethnic African American newspapers). Unique records relating specifically to black Virginians include '''cohabitation records''', '''Freedmen's Bank''' records, and African American '''biographies'''.<br>  

**[http://www.lva.virginia.gov/public/guides/AA_newspaper_holdings.pdf African American Newspapers Held in the Library of Virginia]  

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{{African American|African American}}{{Virginia|Virginia}}  

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