African American Migration

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African American Migration[edit | edit source]

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

American Revolution[edit | edit source]

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

Emigration to Canada[edit | edit source]

Underground Railroad[edit | edit source]

Network to Freedom - National Park Service[edit | edit source]

Reference Sources


State and Local Source

District of Columbia

  • 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, by Jerry M. Hynson. Westminster, Maryland : Willow Bend Books, 1999. FS Catalog Book 975.3 F2hj

Illinois

Kentucky

New Jersey

New York

Ohio

Pennsylvania

Vermont

Archives and Libraries[edit | edit source]

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, by Dorothy Sterling. Garden City, New York : Doubleday, 1954. FS Catalog Book 921.73 T79s. At various libraries (WorldCat)

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[edit | edit source]

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

  • Judicial cases concerning American slavery and the Negro. by Helen Honor Tunnicliff Catterall. Five digital volumes. Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1926 reprint. New York, New York : Negro Universities Press, 1968. FS Library Digital Books linked from here

Runaway Enslaved Advertisements[edit | edit source]

Online Websites

Publications

  • Runaway slaves : Rebels on the Plantation, by 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,by Lathan A. Windley, comp.. 4 volumes. Westport, Connecticut : Greenwood Press, c1983. FS Catalog book 975 F2wL. At various libraries (WorldCat)
  • Running for Freedom : Slave Runaways in North Carolina, 1775-1840. by 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. At various libraries (WorldCat)
  • Runaway Slave Advertisements of the Pennsylvania Gazette & index, 1740-1776. by Billy G. Smith. Salt Lake City Utah, Genealogical Society of Utah, 1988. FS Catalog film 1421885

Emigration to Liberia[edit | edit source]

Liberia History

American Colonization Society Sources

Library of Congress

State Sources

National Archives

Publications

  • The American Colonization Society, 1817-1840, by Early Lee Fox. 1919 reprint. New York, New York : AMS Press, 1971. Online at FamilySearch Digital Library
  • Liberia, or, the Early History and Signal Preservation of the American colony of Free Negroes on the Coast of Africa : compiled by American Documents, by William Innes. Edinburgh, Scotland : Waugh and Innes, 1831 FS Catalog book 966.62 H2i
  • Emigrants to Liberia, 1820 to 1843, an Alphabetical listing, by Tom W. Shick. Newark, Delaware : University of Delaware Department of Anthropology & Liberian Studies Association in America, 1971. FS Catalog book 966.62 W2e
  • Behold the promised land : a History of Afro-American Settler Society in Nineteenth-century Liberia, by Tom W. Shick. Baltimore, Maryland : Johns Hopkins University Press, 1980. FS Catalog book 966.62 H2s
  • Slavery and the Peculiar Solution : a History of the American Colonization Society, by Eric Burin. Gainesville, Florida : University Press of Florida, 2005. FS Catalog book 973 C4be
  • ''"On Africa's Shore." A History of Maryland in Liberia, 1834-1857, by Richard L. Hall. Baltimore, Maryland: Maryland Historical Society, 2003. FS Catalog book 966.62 H2d
  • Maryland in Africa: the Maryland Colonization Society,1831-1857, by Penelope Campbell. Urbana, Illinois : University of Illinois Press, 1971. FS Catalog book 966.6 H2c
  • Report of the Select Committee, to Whom was Referred the Subject of the Removal of the Free Colored Population from Charles County. Maryland. Maryland: General Assembly. House of Delegates, 1844 At Internet Archive
  • An African republic : Black & White Virginians in the Making of Liberia, by Marie Tyler-McGraw. Chapel Hill, North Carolina : University of North Carolina Press, c2007. FS Catalog book 966.62 H2t
  • The Price of Liberty : African Americans and the Making of Liberia, by Claude A. Clegg, III. Chapel Hill, North Carolina : University of North Carolina Press, 2004 FS Catalog book 966.62 H2c

Migration within the United States[edit | edit source]

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
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