Getting Started With African American Research

The desire to navigate one’s identity and heritage can be easily overwhelmed by an onslaught of information and resources. Tackling your family history does not have to be complicated if you follow the right steps. This handout is designed to help you follow a step-by-step process on how to effectively get started.

Step 1: Write Down What You Know

Contrary to modern instinct, capturing your family history doesn’t begin online—it begins with you! Before you head online, write down everything you know about your family. Print out a pedigree chart or fill out a My Family booklet to help keep track of everyone. Doing so will help you to easily spot any holes or gaps in information. At the back of this guide, you will find an example pedigree chart to use and fill out.

Step 3: Interview Relatives

After you have exhausted your own personal knowledge, it’s time to reach out to your parents, siblings, and extended relatives to document the people and facts that you’ve yet to uncover. Ask them for your help in filling in the blanks of your pedigree chart or My Family booklet.

Beyond asking for basic information, conducting interviews with your relatives will help you in compiling an oral history. Oral histories add an invaluable layer with stories, personalities, and details that bring your ancestors to life. The FamilySearch Family Tree and FamilySearch Memories app can help you to record those interviews.

For tips on how to successfully conduct an interview, head to the FamilySearch Wiki page: Creating Oral Histories

Getting Started
African American Genealogy

Step 4: Create a FamilySearch Account

Once you’ve laid the proper foundation, now is the time to get online and input the information you’ve collected. Head to FamilySearch.org and sign-up for a free account. You will need an email address in order to create one.

Creating a FamilySearch account will allow you to preserve your family’s information forever. On FamilySearch, you can collaborate with others who have common ancestors. With your permission, others can also access your information to provide you with additional help if needed.

Sign up for free account here

Step 5: Create Your Own Family Tree

As you complete the steps to sign up for a FamilySearch account, FamilySearch will direct you to begin inputting the information you’ve collected on your own and with other family members. Begin adding the names, dates, and locations as instructed.

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Once you’ve created an account, log-in, click on the Family Tree tab, and begin adding names to your family tree. Input the names, dates, and locations you’ve collected.

You do not need all of an ancestor’s information to add them to the tree. Simply input as much as you can, and then come back later to add more or correct the information. You can always edit and update an ancestor’s profile at any time.

For more information on adding names to the tree, head here

Step 6: Search for Existing Ancestors

Look to see if your ancestors are already in the tree by accessing FamilySearch Family Tree. With a database of more than 1.2 billion ancestors, the FamilySearch Shared Tree is a cooperative, public tree, where FamilySearch users can see how they connect to each other. Instead of concentrating efforts on privately constructing individual trees, FamilySearch users work together to build a single, shared tree that helps everyone discover more about their respective ancestors and other family members.

In many instances, people are already working on your tree, unbeknownst to you. Search FamilySearch Shared Tree to see if ancestors have already been captured on the tree, saving you a lot of time and sparing you from unnecessary work.

For instructions on how to search the shared family tree and connect it to your profile, head here