The first African settlers in the U.S. were indentured servants in Jamestown, Va., in 1619 (before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock) and freed after 7 years.
The Freedman's Bank and the Freedmen's Bureau were separate organizations, from different federal departments, in separate National Archives record groups.
Ten percent of the African American population was free before the Civil War.
Only 15 percent of freed slaves used the family name of a former owner.
From 1865 to 1875 many African Americans changed their family name.