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===Freedmen's Bureau Land=== | ===Freedmen's Bureau Land=== | ||
After the Civil War | After the Civil War, formerly enslaved persons were promised free land and a mule. They rarely received the land and were lucky to receive a mule. For more information about records of this type of land see the [[African American Freedmen's Bureau Records|Freedman's Bureau]] Wiki page. | ||
===Homestead Land=== | ===Homestead Land=== | ||
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====Deeds==== | ====Deeds==== | ||
Enslaved people were treated as chattel (property) and thus any transaction involving them may be listed as a deed in land and property records of the county or state. This could include bills of sale, deeds of gift, chattel mortgages (when the enslaved person was used as collateral for a promissory note), marriage contracts (when the wife was bringing enslaved persons into the marriage), estate settlements, quit claim deeds, etc. Sometimes | Enslaved people were treated as chattel (property) and thus any transaction involving them may be listed as a deed in land and property records of the county or state. This could include bills of sale, deeds of gift, chattel mortgages (when the enslaved person was used as collateral for a promissory note), marriage contracts (when the wife was bringing enslaved persons into the marriage), estate settlements, quit claim deeds, etc. Sometimes enslaved persons were bequeathed or sold as part of the probate of an estate and this transfer or sale may be listed as a deed mixed in with probate records. | ||
====Registers of | ====Registers of Enslaved Persons, Registers of Freedmen, and Manumission Papers==== | ||
By the time of start of the Civil War in 1861 about ten percent of African Americans were free. Most free African Americans carried their own papers, but these could be stolen. In order to distinguish between | By the time of start of the Civil War in 1861 about ten percent of African Americans were free. Most free African Americans carried their own papers, but these could be stolen. In order to distinguish between those who were enslaved, runaways, and free African Americans, many counties or states in the upper South and border states kept one or more sets of registers or papers. Some had registers of enslaved persons. Some kept registers of Blacks, Freedmen, Free Men of Color, or "free Negroes." Some kept copies of manumission papers of people freed from slavery. To find these kinds of registers or papers look in county courthouse records. They are most likely found in the court papers, among the land and property deeds, or occasionally in probate records or tax records. Sometimes these kinds of records are found at state libraries, archives, or historical societies. | ||
Benjamin Joseph Klebaner. ''American Manumission Laws and the Responsibility for Supporting Slaves.'' The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 63 (1955): 443-453. | Benjamin Joseph Klebaner. ''American Manumission Laws and the Responsibility for Supporting Slaves.'' The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 63 (1955): 443-453. | ||
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====Slave Trade Registers==== | ====Slave Trade Registers==== | ||
The Constitution allowed the outlawing of the importation of | The Constitution allowed the outlawing of the importation of enslaved persons to the United States after 1808. Between then and the Civil War, the internal slave trade became an important business in the Southern United States. Most states regulated the slave trade. A few kept records of slave traders and their businesses. Look for such business registers at state libraries, archives, historical societies, or county courthouses. | ||
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[[Category:African_American Records]] | [[Category:African_American Records]] | ||
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