African American Resources for Virginia: Difference between revisions

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*{{RecordSearch|3326815|Virginia, Slave Birth Index, 1853-1866}} at [https://familysearch.org/search FamilySearch] — index and images

*[http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=61568 U.S., Freedmen's Bureau Records of Field Offices, 1863-1878] ($) index and images

*[http://www.afrigeneas.com/slavedata/slavedata.html Slave Data Collection]

*[http://www.centralvirginiahistory.org/about.shtml African - American Families Database - The Central Virginia History Researchers]

Guide to '''African American genealogy in Virginia.'''

African American research in Virginia can be divided into two general time periods - '''before '''and '''after '''the '''Civil War'''.<br><br>  

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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]].  

''' Jamestown Colony '''

*[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>

''' The William Tucker 1624 Society '''

*[https://williamtucker1624society.org/ The William Tucker 1624 Society]

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Edmund S. Morgan's ''American Slavery, American Freedom: The Ordeal of Colonial Virginia'' (1975) ({{FHL|488327|item|disp=FHL Book 975.5 H6m}}) is considered one of the best histories of enslaved blacks in Virginia.

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]]).  

Most black slaves were imported into Virginia in the 100 year period between '''1676 and 1776''', though they were present as early as 1619. Slaves began to outnumber the white indentured servant workforce in the late 1600s. The majority were brought into the colony from Africa and the Caribbean. In particular, the African regions of the '''Bight of Biafra''' (modern [[Nigeria Genealogy|Nigeria]]), '''Senegambia '''(modern [[Senegal Genealogy|Senegal]] and [[The Gambia Genealogy|The Gambia]]), '''West Central Africa''' (modern [[Angola Genealogy|Angola]] and [[Democratic Republic of the Congo|Congo]]), and the '''Gold Coast''' (modern [[Ghana Genealogy|Ghana]]) were hotspots for Virginia slave traders. Smaller numbers came from the '''Windward Coast''' (modern [[Cote d'Ivoire Genealogy|Cote d'Ivoire]]), [[Sierra Leone|'''Sierra Leone''']], '''Bight of Benin''' (modern [[Togo Genealogy|Togo]] and [[Benin Genealogy|Benin]]), and '''Southeast Africa''' (modern [[Madagascar Genealogy|Madagascar]] and [[Mozambique Genealogy|Mozambique]]) according to surviving shipping registers.<ref name="ison">James Ison, AG, CG, [[Migration_Patterns_-_An_Alternative_for_Locating_African_Origins|"Migration Patterns: An Alternative for Locating African Origins."]] Lecture given at the National Genealogical Society Conference, Salt Lake City, Utah (2010) and the Federation of Genealogical Societies Conference, Knoxville, Tennessee (2010). Free version available online at FamilySearch Wiki.</ref>  

The [http://www.slavevoyages.org/ Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database] Internet site contains references to 35,000 slave voyages, including over 67,000 Africans aboard slave ships, using first name, age, gender, origin, and place of embarkation. The database documents the slave trade between Africa, Europe, Brazil, the Caribbean, and what is now the United States.  

Virginia headright grants identify some slave importations into the colony, see Appendix C: Africans in Virginia, 1619-1650 in [http://c.mfcreative.com/offer/us/obama_bunch/PDF/main_article_final.pdf Documenting President Barack Obama's Maternal African-American Ancestry: Tracing His Mother's Bunch Ancestry to the First Slave in America].<ref>Anastasia Harman, Natalie D. Cottrill, Paul C. Reed, and Joseph Shumway, "Documenting President Barack Obama’s Maternal African American Ancestry: Tracing His Mother’s Bunch Ancestry to the First Slave in America," Ancestry.com, 15 July 2012,  http://c.mfcreative.com/offer/us/obama_bunch/PDF/main_article_final.pdf.</ref>  

See also&nbsp;[[Virginia Emigration and Immigration|Virginia Immigration]] for further information about this source.

*'''1853-1865:''' {{RecordSearch|3326815|Virginia, Slave Birth Index, 1853-1866}} at FamilySearch - index and images

''' National Archives Catalog '''

*[https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Confederate_Slave_Payrolls_-_National_Archives_Catalog Confederate Salve Rolls RG 109 NAID 719477]

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

*[http://people.uvawise.edu/runaways/ Virginia Runaways<br>]

'''Virginia Plantation Records''' Occasionally, slaves are mentioned in plantation records. The [[Family History Library]] has several series of plantation records from the periods before and after the Civil War. These are listed in the Author/Title Search of the FamilySearch Catalog under the STAMPP, KENNETH M. or in the Subject Search under PLANTATION LIFE - VIRGINIA or PLANTATION LIFE - SOUTHERN STATES. Records are available at: {{Wikipedia|List of plantations in Virginia}}  

*'''Virginia Historical Society''': inventory, {{FHL|754137|item|disp=FHL Book 975 H2sm Ser. M}}; original records, films beginning with {{FHL|752708|item|disp=FHL Film 1985945}}.

The '''Family History Library''' has microfilms of most of the records described in the guide booklets. Virginia plantation records are scattered throughout.  

[http://manybooks.net/titles/wpa2897328973.html ''Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States, From Interviews with Former Slaves''], recorded after the Civil War, recounts memories of life as a slave.  

[https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/70541?availability=Family%20History%20Library Charles L. Perdue,  Thomas E. Barden and Robert K. Phillips, eds. ''Weevils in the Wheat: interviews with Virginia ex-slaves.''Charlottesville,Virginia: University Pres of Virginia, 1976. FHL 975.5 F2w]

African Americans from Virginia served on both sides of the '''Revolutionary War'''. Many Virginia slaves ran away from their masters and joined British forces after a proclamation issued by Lord Dunmore in 1775. He promised freedom for this act, and 500 slaves promptly joined him, whom he organized into the Ethiopian Regiment.<ref>Wikipedia contributors, "Ethiopian Regiment," in ''Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia,'' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopian_Regiment, accessed 14 June 2012.</ref> Free people of color commonly served their companies as drummers, fifers, and pioneers.<ref>''The Free Negro in Virginia,'' 109-110.</ref> Black "pioneers" would "Assist in Cleaning the Streets &amp; Removing all Nuisances being thrown into the Streets." {{Wikipedia|American_Revolutionary_War#Black_Americans|Black Americans in the Revolutionary War}}  

[http://www.blackloyalist.info/ '''Black Loyalist'''], created by The University of Sydney, includes biographical information about approximately 1,000 black loyalists from the Norfolk, Virginia area.

In the colonial period, slaves were taken by Virginia slave masters into areas where white settlements appeared, such as [[North Carolina Genealogy|North Carolina]], [[Georgia Genealogy (state)|Georgia]], [[Kentucky, United States Genealogy|Kentucky]], and [[Tennessee Genealogy|Tennessee]].  

In the early 1800s, approximately 500,000 Virginia slaves were forcibly moved to the Deep South.<ref name="ison" /> The firm of Franklin &amp; Armfield in [[Alexandria, Virginia|Alexandria, Va.]] was responsible for transporting many of Virginias slaves to the Deep South in what has been dubbed "Slavery's Trail of Tears."<ref>Edward Ball, "Slavery's Trail of Tears," ''Smithsonian'' (Nov 2015):58-82.</ref>Dorothy Williams Potter in ''Passports of Southeastern Pioneers 1770-1823'' ({{FHL|265121|item|disp=FHL Book 975 W4p}}) identifies some white families that took slaves with them from Virginia to the territories that are now [[Alabama, United States Genealogy|Alabama]], [[Florida Genealogy|Florida]], [[Louisiana Genealogy|Louisiana]], [[Mississippi Genealogy|Mississippi]], and [[Missouri, United States Genealogy|Missouri]].

'''Slavery Legislation.''' To learn about the laws that affected Virginia slaves, see:  

[https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/719405?availability=Family%20History%20Library June Purcell Guild; compiled by Karen Hughes White and Joan Peters.''Black laws of Virginia : a summary of the legislative acts of Virginia concerning Negroes from earliest times to the present.'' Warrenton,Virginia?" Afro-American Historical Association of Fauquier County, Virginia, 1996. FHL 975.5 P3g]

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>  

Free people of color appear in the same Virginia sources as the white population. They had surnames, interacted with whites, Indians, slaves, and free blacks; bought and sold land, took out marriage licenses, left wills, baptized their children in the Church of England, owned slaves, paid taxes, and sued others in court.<ref>''The Free Negro in Virginia,'' 89-90.</ref> Sometimes clerks specified their race, other times, they did not.  

Example of registers that have been published:  

*Kegley, Mary B. ''Free People of Colour: Free Negroes, Indians, Portuguese and Freed Slaves''. Wytheville, Virginia: Kegley Books, 2003. {{FHL|1234067|item|disp=FHL Book 975.5 F2kf}}; digital version at [https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/records/item/383287-free-people-of-colour-free-negroes-indians-portuguese-and-freed-slaves?offset=1 Family History Archives]. ('''Augusta, Carroll, Giles, Lee, Montgomery, Pulaski, Russell, Washington, '''and '''Wythe counties'''.)<br>

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

A good history to read on the subject is:  

*Russell, John Henderson. ''The Free Negro in Virginia, 1619-1865''. Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1913. Digital version at [http://archive.org/details/freenegro00russrich Internet Archive]. 1969 reprint: {{FHL|233767|item|disp=FHL Book 975.5 F2r}}.<br>

Many free African American families migrated from Virginia to [[Robeson County, North Carolina|Robeson County, North Carolina]] in the 1700s.<ref name="drig" /> Virginia's free people of color are also now believed to have been the ancestors of Appalachia's [[Melungeons|Melungeon]] population.<ref>Travis Loller, "DNA study seeks origin of Appalachia's Melungeons," ''Yahoo! News,'' 24 May 2012, http://news.yahoo.com/dna-study-seeks-origin-appalachias-melungeons-201144041.html.</ref> An 1806 law required freed slaves to leave the state within twelve months of gaining their freedom. This stiff law was softened by subsequent laws in the 1820s and 30s.<ref>''The Free Negro in Virginia,'' 90.</ref> Many free blacks from Virginia had resettled in [[Indiana, United States Genealogy|Indiana]], [[Illinois, United States Genealogy|Illinois]], [[Ohio, United States Genealogy|Ohio]], and [[Michigan, United States Genealogy|Michigan]] between the 1840s and 1860s.<ref name="drig" />  

Perdue Charles, Jr., Thomas E. Barden, and Robert K. Phillips. ''Weevils in the Wheat'': Interviews with Virginia Ex-Slaves. Charlottesville&nbsp;: university Press of Virginia, 1976. FHL '''975.5 F2w '''  

'''Cohabitation Records''' are registers created when the former slaves legalized their marriages (they were not allowed to marry until 1866). The tradition during the period of slavery had been to "jump over the broomstick" as a marriage ceremony.<ref>Christopher A. Nordmann, Ph.D., CGRS, "Jumping Over the Broomstick: Resources for Documenting Slave Marriages," ''National Genealogical Society Quarterly,'' Vol. 91, No. 3 (September 2003):196-216. Digital version at [http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/cs/ngs_quarterly_archives NGS website] ($).</ref> This valuable genealogical data is being made available online through the Library of Virginia's [http://www.virginiamemory.com/collections/collections_a_to_z Virginia Memory Collection] (scroll to "Cohabitation Registers"). More about this source is also found on the [[Cohabitation Records]] Wiki page, and the [[Virginia Cohabitation Records|Virginia Cohabitation Records]] Wiki page.  

'''Freedman's Savings and Trust Company''' signature cards or registers may list the slave's former masters, birth date, birthplace, occupation, residences, death information, parents, children, spouse, or siblings. [[Virginia, United States Genealogy|Virginia]] had three branches of this bank:  

*Richmond 1867-1874

Two valuable sources for the period after the Civil War are:  

#United States. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands. ''Records of the Assistant Commissioner for the State of Virginia,'' Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 1865-1869. Washington, DC: National Archives, 1988. {{FHL|588804|item|disp=FHL Films 1601562-628}}. There are several indexes.

Biographies of prominent Virginia African Americans have been published. For example, a list of blacks who held public office during Reconstruction is available in: {{FHL|206297|item|disp=''Negro Office Holders in Virginia, 1865-1895''}}, by Luther Porter Jackson. The Black History Committee of The Friends of the Thomas Balch Library prepared two volumes titled ''The Essence of a People: Portraits of African Americans Who Made a Difference in Loudoun County, Virginia'' (2001-2002). {{FHL|1851278|item|disp=FHL Book 975.528 F2f}}.  

Large '''African American cemeteries '''in Virginia have included:  

*[http://www2.vcdh.virginia.edu/cem/ '''African-American Cemeteries in Albemarle and Amherst Counties''']. Project sponsored by the African American Genealogy Group of Charlottesville and Albemarle County.

PBS's interactive [https://utah.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/arct14.soc.amexrecsta/reconstruction-the-second-civil-war-state-by-state/#.WclmLsiGOUk Reconstruction: The Second Civil War] discusses what life was like for freed slaves and their descendants in the nineteenth century.

There were several large migrations of Virginia African Americans into other parts of the country in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In 1900, most Southern born blacks living in the North had been born in Virginia or Kentucky.<ref>1900 U.S. Federal Census. Study by James Ison.</ref>Around the time of World War I, many rural Virginians moved to urban [[Washington, D.C.|Washington, D.C.]], [[Baltimore, Maryland Genealogy|Baltimore]], [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|Philadelphia]], [[Newark, New Jersey|Newark, New Jersey]], [[New York City, New York|New York City]], and [[Boston, Massachusetts|Boston]]. In the World War II era, many moved to [[Chicago, Illinois|Chicago]] and [[Wayne County, Michigan Genealogy|Detroit]].<ref name="ison" />

*[http://mpaagenealogicalsociety.org/ '''Middle Peninsula African-American Genealogical &amp; Historical Society of Virginia'''] serves the counties of Essex, Middlesex, King and Queen, King William, Gloucester, Mathews and the Northern Neck (King George, Lancaster, Northumberland, Richmond and Westmoreland counties).

**The Virginia African-American Funeral Programs, 1935-2009. Project of over 10,000 funeral programs indexed and digitized. Middle Peninsula African-American Genealogical and Historical Society of Virginia (MPAAGHS) Data base at FamilySearch.org: {{RecordSearch|1880968|Virginia, African-American Funeral Programs, 1935-2009}}<br>

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

**[https://www.lva.virginia.gov/public/guides/AA_Genealogical_Research.pdf African American Research at the Library of Virginia to 1870]

*'''Virginia Commonwealth University''' - [https://www.library.vcu.edu/research/special-collections/ Virginia Black History Archives Collections]

*[https://catalog.archives.gov/id/719477 Confederate Slave Rolls, 1861-1865. NAID 719477. Digital images]

*[http://www2.vcdh.virginia.edu/afam/cvilleenter.html Race and Place: An African American Community in the Jim Crow South, Charlottesville, Va.], University of Virginia Library

<references />  

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