The Westport Library Resource Guides: African American Genealogy: Resources

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Tracing Your African-American Genealogy

Researching African American genealogy can be challenging, particularly as you work through records from before the Civil War. The good news is that wonderful resources are becoming more accessible all the time.

Post-1870 Research
If you are tracing African American ancestors in records after 1870, your research path looks like the research path of any United States-based family line. Begin with yourself and your immediate family. Work back using standard records, such as censuses and vital and land records.

The Transitional Period
For many people tracing African American genealogy, the period during and right after the Civil War is key. In 1860, nearly 4 million enslaved individuals lived in the United States, representing just under 13 percent of the population.

Here are some records to look for in this important period that can help you understand your ancestors’ lives and possibly help you locate the names of the slave owners so you can push their lines back further:

1870 United States census. This census is the first census to include the names of formerly enslaved individuals. It lists all members of each household, which provides a foundation of knowledge to build on.
1867 voter registration. As part of reentering the United States, Southern states had to meet certain requirements, including registering all African American men over the age of 21 to vote. Some of these records haven’t survived, and some weren’t very thorough. However, with the mandate to include useful information such as the “place of nativity,” they can be of great help if your ancestor was included.
Freedmen’s Bureau and Freedman’s Bank records. These records are probably the most important for tracing African American ancestors in this period. They cover the years 1865–1872, and they are now indexed and searchable at FamilySearch.org. Records from the Freedmen’s Saving and Trust Company, often referred to as the Freedmen’s Bank, date from the years 1865–1874 and are included with the Freedmen’s Bureau records.
Records of United States Colored Troops (USCT) in the Civil War. Over 186,000 African Americans served as part of the United States Colored Troops. Some of the records are available online.

African American Genealogy Before the Civil War
Tracing enslaved ancestors prior to the Civil War often requires you to explore new types of records. Enslaved people were considered property and so were not included by name in most records before emancipation in 1863. Census records, which theoretically moved from only including heads of the households in 1840 to including every name starting in 1850, did not record the names of slaves. Even the slave schedules kept with the 1850 and 1860 censuses typically only include information on enslaved individuals by sex and age—although there are a few exceptions. Continue reading from FamilySearch