FamilySearch Wiki

African American Migration

Revision as of 17:32, 27 January 2025 by Jack Later (talk | contribs) (→‎Emigration to Liberia)

African American Genealogy Wiki Topics
African American Image 5.jpg
Beginning Research
Original Records
Compiled Sources
Background Information
Finding Aids


African American Migration

A record of major migrations of African Americans and precipitating events.

American Revolution

Enslaved Americans migrated to Canada in search of freedom after the American Revolution See: Africans in Canada

Emigration to Canada

Underground Railroad

Network to Freedom - National Park Service

Reference Sources

  • J. Blaine Hudson. Encyclopedia of the underground railroad Jefferson, North Carolina : McFarland & Co., 2006. FS Catalog Book 973 H26hj
  • Levi Coffin, Reminiscences of Levi Coffin, the reputed president of the underground railroad : being a brief history of the labors of a lifetime in behalf of the slave, with the stories of numerous fugitives, who gained their freedom through his instrumentality, and many other incidents. Cincinnati, Ohio : Western Tract Society, 1876. Online at FamilySearch Digital Library. Also at various libraries (WorldCat)
  • Larry Gara. The liberty line : the legend of the Underground Railroad. Lexington, Kentucky : University of Kentucky Press, 1961. FS Catalog Book 973 F2ag
  • William Still. The Underground railroad reprint of 1871 ed. New York, New York : Arno Press, 1968. FS Catalog Book 973 F2asL
  • Wilbur H. Siebert. The Underground railroad from slavery to freedom. reprint of 1898 ed. North Stratford, New Hampshire : Ayer Pub. Co., 2000. FS Catalog Book 973 F2siw
  • Peter Hinks and John McKivigan, eds., R. Owen Williams, assistant Ed., Encyclopedia of Antislavery and Abolition. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2007. FS Catalog Books 326.803 H593e vols. 1-2


State and Local Source

District of Columbia

  • Jerry M. Hynson. District of Columbia D.C. Department of Corrections runaway slave book, 1848-1863 : U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia fugitive slave cases, 1862-1863.Westminster, Maryland : Willow Bend Books,1999. FS Catalog Book 975.3 F2hj

Illinois

  • Glennette Tilley Turnr. " The Underground Railroad in Illinois." Glen Ellyn, Illinois: Newman Educational Pub., 2001. FS Catalog Book 977.3 H2tg
  • Owen W. Muelder. " The Underground Railroad in western Illinois." Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Co., 2008. FS Catalog Book 977.3 H2mo

Kentucky

  • J. Blaine Hudson. " Fugitive Slaves and the underground railroad in the Kentucky borderland." Jefferson,North Carolina: McFarland & Co., 2002. FS Catalog Book 976.9 F2h

New Jersey

  • Emma Marie Trusty. "The Underground railroad: ties that bound unveiled ; a history of the underground railroad in southern New Jersey from 1770 to 1861."Philadelphia, Pennsylvania : Amed Literary Inc, 1999. FS Catalog Book 974.9 F2te

New York

  • Tom Calarco. The underground railroad in the Adirondack region.Jefferson, North Carolina : McFarland & Company Inc., Publishers, [2011?}}, ©2004. FS Catalog Book 974.75 H6c
  • Emerson Klees. Underground railroad tales with routes through the Finger Lakes region. Rochester, New York : Friends of the Finger Lakes Pub., c1997. FS Catalog Book 974.78 H2k
  • Underground railroad in Tompkins County, (N.Y.) Ithaca, New York : S.H. Gallwey, 1963. Online at FamilySearch Digital Library
  • Marjory Allen Perez. Final stop, freedom! : the Underground Railroad experience in Wayne County, New York. S.l. : Herons Bend Productions, c2017. FS Catalog Book 974.787 H6p
  • Susan Stessin-Cohn and Ashley Hurlburt-Biagini, In defiance : runaways from slavery in New York's Hudson River Valley, 1735-1831 Delmar, New York : Black Dome Press Corp., 2016 FS Catalog Book 974.7 H6c

Ohio

  • Margaret A. Parker, written and compiled, The underground railroad of Meigs County, Ohio. Pomeroy, Ohio : Meigs County Historical Society, c2007. FS Catalog Book 977.199 H2p

Pennsylvania

Vermont

  • Wilbur Henry Siebert. "Vermont's anti-slavery and underground railroad record, with a map and illustrations." reprint. (New York, 1969) FS Catalog Book 974.3 H2si

Archives and Libraries

Ohio Historical Society

Historical Society of Pennsylvania

Harvard Library

Indiana Department of Natural Resources


Additional Sources

  • Harriett Tubman was a woman of remarkable skill, determination, and dedication. She was a "conductor" for the Underground Railroad where she assisted enslaved runaways to find freedom not only in the northern U.S. but all the way to Canada.
  • Freedom train : the story of Harriet Tubman, Dorothy Sterling. Garden City, New York : Doubleday, 1954. FS Catalog Book 921.73 T79s

There was a notable community in Nova Scotia. Some of the formerly enslaved persons would intermingle with Canadian Indians, as they often did in the U.S. Don't ignore Canada when looking for your African American ancestors! Check out this site about Harriet Tubman

For more, see: Canada First Nations Genealogy Research Community on Facebook

Fugitive Slave Laws

National Archives Catalog - US District & Circuit Courts Records of Fugitive Slaves Cases

National Archives at New York City

  • Fugitive Slave Case: Stephen Pembrook. National Archives at New York City

FamilySearch Wiki Coverage Table

FamilySearch Catalog

Runaway Enslaved Advertisements

Online Websites

Publications

  • Runaway slaves : rebels on the plantation, John Hope Franklin and Loren Schweninger. Oxford, England : Oxford Univ. Press, 2000, ©1999. FS Catalog book 975 H6fj
  • Runaway Slave Advertisements : a Documentary History from the 1730s to 1790,Lathan A. Windley, comp.. 4 volumes. Westport, Connecticut : Greenwood Press, c1983. FS Catalog book 975 F2wL
  • Running for freedom : slave runaways in North Carolina, 1775-1840. Freddie L. Parker. New York, New York : Garland Pub. Co., 1993. FS Library 975.6 H6p

FamilySearch Catalog

  • Alabama. Mobile County. Record book of run-away slaves; 1857-1865; index, 1857-1865, Mobile, Alabama, Probate Court, 1991. FS Catalog film 2218263
  • River roads to freedom : Fugitive Slave Notices and Sheriff Notices Found in Illinois Sources compiled by Helen Cox Tregillis. Bowie, Maryland : Heritage Books, Inc., 1988 FS Catalog book 977.3 H6t
  • Runaway Slave Advertisements of the Pennsylvania Gazette & index, 1740-1776. Billy G. Smith. Salt Lake City Utah, Genealogical Society of Utah, 1988. FS Catalog film 1421885

Emigration to Liberia

Liberia History

American Colonization Society Sources

Library of Congress

State Sources

National Archives

Publications

Migration within the United States

Enslaved Populations before the Civil War

By 1790, nearly all Africans to be imported to the United States had already arrived. They lived in primarily four states.

  • Virginia—293,000
  • South Carolina—107,000
  • Maryland—103,000
  • North Carolina—101,000
  • No other state had more than 30,000 enslaved people.

Between 1820 and 1860, huge increases in the enslaved population occurred across the South. Enslaved populations in 1860 are listed below:

  • Virginia—491,000
  • Georgia—462,000
  • Mississippi—437,000
  • Alabama—435,000
  • South Carolina—402,000
  • Louisiana—332,000
  • North Carolina—331,000
  • Tennessee—275,000
  • Kentucky—225,000
  • Texas—183,000
  • Missouri—115,000
  • Arkansas—111,000

Migration after the Civil War
Between 1790 and 1900, 90% of African Americans lived in the South.
By 1960, 50% of African Americans lived in the South.

  • 100,000 African Americans moved to Kansas in late 1870's, early 1880's
  • 500,000 African Americans left the south during WWI (1916-1919)
  • 90,000 to Pennsylvania
  • 73,000 to Illinois
  • 43,000 to Michigan
  • 1 million African Americans left the South in the 1920's
  • 5 million African Americans left the South between 1940-1960
  • During 1970's, African Americans started returning to the South, especially to larger, urban cities.
  • By 1990, 84% of African Americans lived in urban areas.
  • See Field to Factory: Afro-American Migration 1915-1940 by Spencer Crew - at Internet Archive.

Enslaved in the North
By 1800, approximately 37,000 northern African Americans were still reported in bondage. By 1830, most northern states had required freeing of enslaved persons, although 3,600 people remained in bondage, mostly in New Jersey.

Free Blacks
In 1860, there were 488,000 free Blacks or about 10% of total African Americans in the U.S.

  • 46% of free Blacks (226,000) lived in North and West
  • 46% lived in upper South (KY, MD, MO, TN, VA, NC, DC)
  • 8% lived in deep South
Retrieved from "https://integration-ru.familysearch.org/en/wiki/index.php?title=African_American_Migration&oldid=6103973"