African American

1. Research: Learn about researching enslaved ancestors.
   
   FS—Researching Formerly Enslaved African Americans - 2019
   BYU—Researching Your Enslaved Ancestors - 2017—46:40
   
   
   


2. Watch these videos to learn about tracing slaves and slave owners.
   
   AAC—Researching Slave Ancestors—11:15
   AAC—Identifying the Slave Owner—13:10


3. Slave Schedules: Learn about the 1860 and 1850 Slave Schedules.
   
   FS—Wiki: U.S. Census Slave Schedules
   AR—Slave Schedules Require a Strategy - 2013


4. Slaveholdings: Learn about tracing slaveholdings in families.
   
   FS—Tracing Slaveholdings in Families, Part 1—28:03 - 2011
   FS—Tracing Slaveholdings in Families, Part 2—21:26 - 2011


5. Slave Registers: Learn about Ancestry resources for British Colonies Slave Registers.
   
   Slave Voyage Database and Slave Registers for British Colonies - 2017


6. Case Studies: Read these case studies for finding ancestors born in the slave era.
   
   Tracing Your Roots: Who Were My Kin Born During Slavery? - 2018
   Tracing Your Roots: Have I Found My Ancestor's Plantation? - 2017


7. Watch this case study video about tracing an African American's journey from slavery to freedom.
   
   AC—Case Study: Finding John Lee—From Slavery to Freedom—22:24 - 2020
   
   
   


8. Learn about tracing surnames in enslaved ancestor lines.
   
   Tracing Your Roots: Is My Ancestor’s Surname From Slavery or Marriage? - 2017


9. Descendants: Learn how to find descendants of an ancestor's slaves.
   
   How Do I Find Descendants of My Ancestor's Slaves? - 2014

Records and Databases

1. Biographies: Explore slave biographies in the Atlantic Database Network slave record collection.
2. Databases: Learn about databases that document genealogy of slaves.
   
   TH—Great Databases for Slave Genealogy - 2019


3. Explore the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database on the SlaveVoyages.org site.
4. Explore the AfriGeneas slave record collection.
5. Census: Learn about using census records to track slave parentage.
   
   Who Were My Enslaved Ancestor's Parents? - 2016
   Census Transcriptions


6. Church: Learn about church records kept during the slavery era.
   
   Slavery, the Church, and their Record-keeping - 2021


7. Insurance: Learn about insurance records for slaves.
   
   RT—Slaves + Insurance = Rich Records - 2019


8. Runaways: Explore runaway ads for slaves on the Freedom on the Move site.
9. Misc. Records: Explore a variety of records in the Race and Slavery Petitions Project.
10. Explore miscellaneous records and will transcriptions on Christine's African American Genealogy Website.

10 Million Names Project

1. Learn how the 10 Million Names project is connecting family stories for descendants of 10 million enslaved African Americans.
   
   RT—Introducing the 10 Million Names Project (63:31) - 2023
   
   
   
2. Visit the 10 Million Names website.

QUIKLinks

• United States Census Slave Schedule, 1850
• AC: U.S., Southeast Coastwise Inward and Outward Slave Manifests, 1790-1860
• AC: New Orleans, Louisiana, Slave Manifests, 1807-1860
• AC: Louisiana, Slave Records, 1719-1820

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1. Introduction: Read this article for an introduction to the the Freedmen's Bureau, a government services institution that assisted freed people and refugees after the Civil War, and the Freedman's Bank, a government savings institution where Civil War soldiers and former slaves could invest money.
   
   AC—Freedmen's Bureau Records & Freedman's Bank Records


2. Learn more about the Freedmen's Bureau.
   
   FS—Freedmen's Bureau Records
   FS—Getting Started with the Freedmen's Bureau—3:41 - 2016
   
   
   


3. Records: Learn about Freedmen's Bureau records online.
   
   FS—Freedmen's Bureau Records Online—2:47 - 2011
   
   
   FS—Freedmen's Bureau Records—42:57 - 2017


4. Learn about Mapping the Freedmen's Bureau site, which has links to Bureau locations and corresponding records.
   
   FTM—Mapping the Freedmen's Bureau Website


5. Freedmen.org: Explore the DiscoverFreedmen.org site. Learn more about it in this article.
   
   Tracing Your Roots: Finding Emancipated Black Ancestors Just Got Easier - 2017


6. Marriage: Learn about Freedmen's Bureau marriage records.
   
   AR—Freedmen's Bureau Marriage Records - 2005


7. Freedman's Bank: Watch this video for an overview of Freedman's Bank Records.
   
   AAC—Freedman's Bank Records—2:13


8. Learn about the Freedman's Savings and Trust Company.
   
   AC Wiki—Freedman's Savings and Trust Company


9. Search: Go to the Search Records page on FamilySearch and enter "Freedmen's" in the Find a Collection search box to access various Freedmen's Bureau record collections.
10. Indexing: Participate in the Freedman's Bureau indexing project for African American freed slaves.

  Record Search Practice  |   Hints  |   Answers

QUIKLinks

• AC: U.S., Freedmen's Bureau Records, 1865-1878
• FS: Freedmen's Bank Records, 1865-1874
• FS: Freedmen's Bureau Hospital/Medical, 1865-1872
• AC: North Carolina, Freedmen's Bureau Assistant Commissioner Records, 1862-1870

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1. Background: Watch this video for background information on the Underground Railroad.
   
   FS—The Underground Railroad—2:26 - 2008
   
   
   


2. Ancestry: This video from Ancestry describes how researchers have found genealogy information for those who worked on the Underground Railroad.
   
   AC—Railroad Ties—23:50 - 2019
   
   
   


3. Research: Learn how to trace ancestors from the Underground Railroad.
   
   AR—Tracing Your Ancestors From The Underground Railroad - 2010


4. Freedom Center: Explore the Freedom Center site for the National Underground Railroad.

Exercises