1: Get Started
2: Record Sources
3: Library and Other Resources
4: Slavery Resources
5: Break through Barriers
6: Get Help
Translation Tips
Music
Goal 4: Explore slavery resources for your African American ancestors.
Choices
Vault
ALearn about the basic records that document slaves.
- Research: Learn about researching enslaved ancestors.
FS—Researching Formerly Enslaved African Americans - 2019
BYU—Researching Your Enslaved Ancestors - 2017—46:40
- Watch these videos to learn about tracing slaves and slave owners.
AAC—Researching Slave Ancestors—11:15
AAC—Identifying the Slave Owner—13:10 - Slave Schedules: Learn about the 1860 and 1850 Slave Schedules.
FS—Wiki: U.S. Census Slave Schedules
AR—Slave Schedules Require a Strategy - 2013 - 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 - Slave Registers: Learn about Ancestry resources for British Colonies Slave Registers.
Slave Voyage Database and Slave Registers for British Colonies - 2017 - 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 - 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
- Learn about tracing surnames in enslaved ancestor lines.
Tracing Your Roots: Is My Ancestor’s Surname From Slavery or Marriage? - 2017 - 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
- Biographies: Explore slave biographies in the
Atlantic Database Network slave record collection. - Databases: Learn about databases that document genealogy of slaves.
TH—Great Databases for Slave Genealogy - 2019 - Explore the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database on the SlaveVoyages.org site.
- Explore the AfriGeneas slave record collection.
- Census: Learn about using census records to track slave parentage.
Who Were My Enslaved Ancestor's Parents? - 2016
Census Transcriptions - Church: Learn about church records kept during the slavery era.
Slavery, the Church, and their Record-keeping - 2021 - Insurance: Learn about insurance records for slaves.
RT—Slaves + Insurance = Rich Records - 2019 - Runaways: Explore runaway ads for slaves on the Freedom on the Move site.
- Misc. Records: Explore a variety of records in the Race and Slavery Petitions Project.
- Explore miscellaneous records and will transcriptions on Christine's African American Genealogy Website.
10 Million Names Project
- 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
- Visit the 10 Million Names website.
QUIKLinks
BLearn about the Freedmen's Bank and Freedmen's Bureau.
- 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 - Learn more about the Freedmen's Bureau.
FS—Freedmen's Bureau Records
FS—Getting Started with the Freedmen's Bureau—3:41 - 2016
- 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
- Learn about Mapping the Freedmen's Bureau site, which has links to Bureau locations and corresponding records.
FTM—Mapping the Freedmen's Bureau Website - 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 - Marriage: Learn about Freedmen's Bureau marriage records.
AR—Freedmen's Bureau Marriage Records - 2005 - Freedman's Bank: Watch this video for an overview of Freedman's Bank Records.
AAC—Freedman's Bank Records—2:13 - Learn about the Freedman's Savings and Trust Company.
AC Wiki—Freedman's Savings and Trust Company - 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.
- Indexing: Participate in the Freedman's Bureau indexing project for African American freed slaves.
Record Search Practice |
Abraham Lincoln of Tuskegee, Macon Alabama is mentioned in medical records from the Freedmen's Bureau. Use the "FS: Freedmen's Bureau Hospital/Medical, 1865-1872" QUIKLink below to answer these questions:
- What is Abraham's estimated birth year?
- What was his medical problem?
- Click the QUIKLink mentioned above.
- In the search screen, enter "Abraham" as the first name and "Lincoln" as the last name. Also enter the place as Tuskegee, Macon, Alabama.
- In the search results screen, click View Record for Abraham Lincoln.
- Read the information in the center column.
- Click the Original Document to see the illness.
- Abraham was born about 1859.
- His medical condition was listed as febris intermittens (intermittent fevers).
(Contributed by Brent Bunker )
QUIKLinks
CLearn about the National Underground Railroad.
- Background: Watch this video for background information on the Underground Railroad.
FS—The Underground Railroad—2:26 - 2008
- 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
- Research: Learn how to trace ancestors from the Underground Railroad.
AR—Tracing Your Ancestors From The Underground Railroad - 2010 - Freedom Center: Explore the Freedom Center site for the National Underground Railroad.
Exercises
- * Good: Using the articles and videos in this Choice, write down key learnings for slavery resources. Then use the learnings for searches for an ancestor.
- * Proficient: Same as above, for two or more ancestors.