African American genealogy is a field of genealogy pertaining specifically to the African American population of the United States. African American genealogists who document the families, family histories, and lineages of African Americans are faced with unique challenges owing to the slave practices of the Antebellum South and North. These challenges rise from a range of events, including name changes following the American Civil War, the act of separating families for sale as slaves, lack of issued birth or death records for slaves, etc.
The development of a genogram – a structured version of a pedigree chart or family tree – serves as an integral part of identity development, specifically in African American populations. In the twenty-first century, the internet has made the resources uniquely necessary to African American genealogy available to the public and the individual's personal ability to research, create, and maintain their own family tree has dramatically increased.
Recently, African American genealogy has made great strides forward, thanks to genealogical DNA testing, but some researchers warn of potential drawbacks. DNA testing can help African Americans trace their ancestry to general regions in Africa.
Family trees
Genealogy (from Greek: genea "generation, descent" and -logia "the study of") is the study of and enumeration of families, family histories, and lineages. Genealogists use a number of resources – including, but not limited to, census records, death certificates, family trees, and oral histories – to document ancestral relationships and lines. Companies such as FamilySearch, Ancestry.com, and MyHeritage among others have encouraged people to become personal family genealogists and record and trace their own family histories.
The most common way personal family genealogists record their family histories is with family trees, also known as a pedigree chart or a genogram (a structured, formal family tree). A family tree is a physical representation of an individual's ancestors listed in a way that often resembles a tree. Family trees can range from a simplistic listing of parents, grandparents, great-grandparents etc. or a more complex listing of siblings, parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, and other relatives. Family trees can be highly stylized or rendered plainly. Family trees provide a clear visual representation of the members in one's family by displaying how everyone is related; they also include information regarding where and when individuals were born.
Challenges African American genealogy can be challenging; tracking lost ancestors requires creativity and extensive research. Historian and genealogist Anita L. Wills has addressed the challenges of African American genealogical research, particularly in reconstructing family histories of free persons of color before the Civil War. Her book Notes and Documents of Free Persons of Color details strategies for overcoming gaps in historical documentation through the use of court records, military service documents, and oral histories. Lack of records Slavery, racial prejudice, and Jim Crow laws mean that many records are inaccessible, unavailable, or incomplete. The 1870 federal census was the first to record many former slaves by name. This makes finding family members before then very difficult.Siekman, Meaghan E. H. n.d. African American Genealogy. New England Historic Genealogical Society. Accessed November 25, 2020. Because scant documentation of enslaved African Americans and their families exists, people must usually use slaveholders' or enslavers' records to find their ancestors before emancipation. Slaveholders’ records can provide hints or other clues about African Americans’ ancestry or their enslaved ancestors’ movements and life.Grimm, Jessica. 2018. African American Genealogy: A Guide to Finding Your Ancestors Online. February 26. Accessed November 25, 2020. Relevant records include slaveholders' journals, history, paper trail, probate records, wills, and property deeds. Probate, account, and deed records will all be in the slaveholder's name.Hyland, David. 2020. Facing Challenges, Genealogist Offers Ideas To Trace African American Family Histories. February 28. Accessed November 25, 2020. Usually these records will include the number of slaves held, their names, and sometimes even age, sex, and birth.
Transferring property ownership
Slaves would often be bought and sold, moving from one person to another, as well as one plantation to the next. Some slaves ran away and then were caught and sold again. This sometimes constant movement causes challenges in tracking the location and residency of the ancestor. A large portion of slaveowners inherited their slaves from other family members. In these cases, looking at estate records, inventory documents, wills, and slave schedules is the most helpful.MySlaveAncestors.com. 2011. Estate Records. Accessed November 25, 2020. When slaves were sold and bought by various people, a variety of records were kept. This can include property deeds, newspapers, probate records, and bills of sale.n.d. American Slavery Documents. Duke University Libraries. Accessed November 25, 2020. Property deeds will often include information about when one person is transferring the ownership of their slave to the new buyer.
Name changes Discovering a surname for a slave either during slavery or after slavery poses a great challenge because they were so often changed. After the passing of the Emancipation Proclamation, many former slaves adopted new names of their own choosing, or adopted the names and surnames of their previous owners.2020. Facing History and Facing Ourselves. Facing History and Facing Ourselves. Accessed November 25, 2020. Many slaves changed their last name to that of "Freedman" to represent their new standing in society. They did this to either adopt a surname for the very first time, or they wanted to replace a surname that was given to them by a former master.Shell, Robert. n.d. Cape Slave Naming Patterns. Accessed November 25, 2020. There are many cases where a family once enslaved has passed down a name through several generations, and others chose a name that completely separated themselves from slavery and their former owners. Many newly freed slaves would choose the name of a popular person whom they admired, or considered influential and important. Some examples include changing their name out of admiration for a black or white abolitionist, or even to the surname of a U.S. president. Other freed slaves changed their names for reasons such as occupation, skills that they held, or a place where they had lived.Jr., Henry Louis Gates, and Meaghan E.H. Siekman. 2017. Tracing Your Roots: Were Slaves' Surnames Like Brands? June 17. Accessed November 25, 2020. Some names were taken for reasons that will only ever be known by the former slaves themselves.Shell, Robert. n.d. Cape Slave Naming Patterns. Accessed November 25, 2020. In other cases, they had their names assigned to them by record takers.
Most of the records searched will have originated from the slave owner; these records were written for the benefit of the owners, not the slaves themselves. Enslavers rarely had knowledge of their slaves' chosen names; instead, records reflect the names enslavers used to differentiate slaves from one another. Because of these challenges, scrupulous research is necessary to learn ancestors’ names and the significance of those names.
Resources
Types of records Before the Emancipation: +Record TypeDescription1860 U.S. CensusCan identify names of slaveholders.1860 U.S. Census Slave SchedulesA separate census used to identify slaves as property. It includes the names of slave owners along with details about the slaves they own. You can identify which plantations and families had slaves.ManifestsDocuments that detailed the cargo coming and going from ports. Plantation RecordsIncludes details of slaves who lived there. Property DeedCan detail the possession of slaves and the transaction or transfer from one person to the next through deeds and Slave Trade registers.Probate RecordsCan include wills that show the transfer of slaves to family members, documents showing slaves counting as tax, and can even include public auction records. NewspapersIncludes ads for the selling of slaves, ads calling for their imprisonment or apprehension, or ads to notify the slave owner of their apprehension. Bill of Sale Documents sometimes the name, sex, age, price sold, and other details of a slave who had been sold. Estate Records Generally lists the inventory of the estate, and typically listed enslaved individuals by name, included their age, and sometimes listed the family they belonged to. Church RecordsLists members which can provide helpful hints to the identifying of slaves especially before the Civil War. Military Records Lists most if not all the vital information for black soldiers who served in the American Civil War and others.
After the Emancipation: +Record TypeDescriptionEmancipation DocumentsCan include both manumissions and evidences or affidavits of freedomn.d. Illinois Servitude and Emancipation Records (1722–1863). Illinois State Archives. Accessed November 25, 2020.Bible Records Would often list the name and dates of births, deaths, and marriages kept in old bibles.Death CertificateWasn't required by law until the 20th century, but can help identify names of parents who lived before the Civil War. NewspapersCan contain obituaries, ads of freed blacks searching for their family etc. For more a further list of records and more detailed descriptions, click here
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Freedmen's Bureau (1865–1872) During Reconstruction, the United States Congress enacted the Freedmen's Bureau (also known as the Bureau of Refugees or Freedmen and Abandoned Lands) in 1865.Editors, History.com. 2010. Freedmen's Bureau. A&E Television Networks. The Freedmen's Bureau could be considered one of the first federal welfare programs. It supervised relief efforts to help millions of African Americans transition from slavery to freedom and citizenship; moreover, the Bureau also supported impoverished whites with aid and provided general assistance in the postwar Southern states.2016. African American Records: Freedmen's Bureau. National Archives. September 19. Accessed November 6, 2020. These programs included black colleges, hospitals, family-reunification programs, the reassignment of Confederate-owned land, the distribution of food and clothing, and the creation of legal records that contain the names of hundreds of formerly enslaved people and sometimes the name of their white owners.Hurst, Ryan. 2009. Freedmen's Bureau (1865-1872). February 16. Accessed November 6, 2020. For the years 1865 to 1872, the Freedmen’s Bureau is a priceless resource for African American genealogists searching for information about their ancestry, thanks to records such as legal marriage certificates, school records, census lists, medical records, and court records (to see a full list, click here).n.d. The Freedman's Bureau Records. National Museum of African American History and Culture. Accessed November 25, 2020.
Records from the Freedmen's Bureau can provide a wealth of information about ancestors. These records can contain:
The name of the individual Date the record was taken Residence Age Gender Birthdate Birthplace Death date and place Marriage date and place Names of family members