Books

African American Genealogical Sourcebook edited by Pamela K. Byers (Gale)
African American Genealogy: A Bibliography and Guide to Sources by Curt Bryan Witcher (Round Tower Books)
• Black Roots by Tony Burroughs (Touchstone)
• Black Genealogy by Charles L. Blockson and Ron Fry (Black Classic Press)
• Black Genesis: A Resource Book for African-American Genealogy by James M. Rose and Alice Eichholz (Genealogical Publishing Co.)
• Courthouse Research for Family Historians by Christine Rose (CR Publications)
• Finding a Place Called Home: A Guide to African-American Genealogy and Historical Identity by Dee Parmer Woodtor (Random House Reference)
• Genealogy at a Glance: African American History by Michael Hait (Genealogical Publishing Co.)
• A Legal History of Slavery in the United States by Robert B. Shaw (Northern Press)
• Slave Genealogy by David H. Streets (Heritage Books)
• Southern Slavery and the Law, 1619-1860 by Thomas D. Morris (University of North Carolina Press)
American Slavery, American Freedom by Edmund S. Morgan (W.W. Norton & Co.)

Black Roots: A Beginners Guide To Tracing The African-American Family Tree by Tony Burroughs (Fireside)

Cane River by Lalita Tademy (Grand Central Publishing)

Courthouse Research for Family Historians: Your Guide to Genealogical Treasures by Christine Rose (CR Publications,)

Diary of a Contraband: The Civil War Passage of a Black Sailor by William B. Gould IV (Stanford University Press)

Finding a Place Called Home: A Guide to African-American Genealogy and Historical Identity, Revised and Expanded by Dee Parmer Woodtor (Random House)

Finding Your African-American Ancestors: A Beginner’s Guide by David T. Thackery (Ancestry)

A Genealogist’s Guide to Discovering Your African-American Ancestors by Emily Anne Croom and Franklin Carter Smith (Genealogical Publishing Co.)

How To Trace Your African-American Roots: Discovering Your Unique History by Barbara Howell (Citadel)

Many Thousands Gone: The First Two Centuries of Slavery in North America by Ira Berlin (Belknap Press)

Slave Ancestral Research: It’s Something Else by Mary L. Jackson Fears (Heritage Books)

Slave Genealogy: A Research Guide with Case Studies by David H. Streets (Heritage Books)

Slaves in the Family by Edward Ball (Ballantine Books)

The First Emancipator: Slavery, Religion, and the Quiet Revolution of Robert Carter by Andrew Levy (Random House)

Within the Plantation Household: Black and White Women of the Old South by Elizabeth Fox-Genovese (The University of North Carolina Press)

Your Guide to the Federal Census by Kathleen W. Hinckley (Betterway Books)

Organizations

• Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society, Box 73067, Washington, DC 20056
• International Society of Sons and Daughters of Slave Ancestry, Box 436937, Chicago, IL 60643
• Moorland Spingarn Research Center, Howard University, Washington, DC 20059, (202) 806-7240,
• The Rhode Island Black Heritage Society, 65 Weybosset St. at the Arcade, Suite 29, Providence, RI 02903,
• (401) 751-3490

Websites

• AfriGeneas
• Afro-Louisiana History and Genealogy 1719-1820
• AfriQuest
• Ancestry.com African-American Collection
• An Index to the Freedom Records of Prince George’s County Maryland, 1808-1869
• Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writer’s Project, 1936-1938
• Christine’s Genealogy Web Site
• Documenting the American South: North American Slave Narratives
• Fold3.com Black History Collection
• Free African Americans of Virginia,  North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland and Delaware
• Freedmen Research Mailing List
• The Geography of Slavery in Virginia
• Index to Parish Court Slave Emancipation Petitions, 1814-1843, Orleans Parish, Louisiana
• Lowcountry Africana
• Slave-owner Research Mailing List
• Texas Slavery Project
• Unknown No Longer: A Database of Virginia Slave Names
• USF Africana Heritage Project
• Digital Library on American Slavery
• The Freedmen’s Bureau Online

Books and CD-ROMs

? African American Genealogical Research: How to Trace Your Family History by Paul R. Begley, Alexia J. Helsley and Steven D. Tuttle (South Carolina Department of Archives and History)

? African-American Genealogical Sourcebook edited by Paula K. Byers (Gale Group)

? African American Genealogy: A Bibliography and Guide to Sources by Curt Witcher (Round Tower Books) Available only through publisher, (219) 637-7098.

? African Americans in the 1870 Census: Family Archive CD 165 (Genealogy.com) CD-ROM containing an alphabetical index of approximately 660,000 African-Americans who were enumerated in the 1870 federal census.

? Afro-Americana, 1553-1906 (Historical Society of Pennsylvania, out of print)

? Bibliographic Checklist of African-American Newspapers by Barbara K. Henritze (Genealogical Publishing Co., out of print)

? Black Genealogy by Charles L. Blockson and Ron Fry (Black Classic Press)

? Black Names in America: Origins and Usage by Newbell Niles Puckett (G. K. Hall, out of print)

? Black Roots: A Beginner’s Guide to Tracing the African American Family Tree by Tony Burroughs (Simon & Schuster), available in February

? A Comprehensive Name Index for the American Slave by Howard E. Potts (Greenwood Press)

? Database for the Study of Afro-Louisiana History and Genealogy 1699-7860 edited by Gwendolyn Midlo Hall (Louisiana State University Press) CD-ROM containing searchable database of individual records for 100,000 slaves.

? Family Pride: The Complete Guide to Tracing African-American Genealogy by Donna Beasley (IDG Books Worldwide)

? Finding a Place Called Home: A Guide to African-American Genealogy and Historical Identity by Dee Parmer Woodtor (Random House)

? Free African Americans of North Carolina and Virginia by Paul Heinegg (Genealogical Publishing Co., out of print but available online at www.freeafricanamericans.com)

? From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African Americans by John Hope Franklin and Alfred A. Moss Jr. (Knopf)

? A Genealogist’s Guide to Discovering Your immigrant & Ethnic Ancestors by Sharon DeBartolo Carmack (Betterway Books)

? Generations Past: A Selected List of Sources for Afro-American Genealogical Research by Sandra M. Lawson (Library of Congress, out of print)

? In Black and White edited by Mary Mace Spradling (Gale Croup, out of print) References 21,000 African-American individuals and groups appearing in publications.

? Slave Genealogy: A Research Guide with Case Studies by David H. Streets (Heritage Books)

? Slave Narratives CD-ROM (Ancestry) Firsthand accounts of more than 2,300 slaves narrated to researchers in 26 states. Compiled by the Works Progress Administration from 1936-1938.

? A Student’s Guide to African American Genealogy by Anne Johnson (Oryx Press)

? The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade: A Database on CD-ROM by David Eltis, David Richardson, Herbert S. Klein and Stephen D. Behrendt (Cambridge University Press) Contains records of 25,000 trans-Atlantic slave-ship voyages made between 1595 and 1866 from all over Europe.

Organizations

? African-American Genealogy Group

Box 1798 Philadelphia, PA 19105 (215) 572-6063 www.libertynet.org/aagg/

? Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society

Box 73086 Washington, DC 20056 www.rootsweb.com/~mdaahgs/

? International Society of Sons and Daughters of Slave Ancestry

Box 436937 Chicago, IL 60643 www.rootsweb.com/~ilissdsa/

? National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center

Box 578 Wilberforce, OH 45384 (800) 752-2603 www.ohiohistory.org/places/afroam/

? The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

515 Malcolm X Blvd. New York, NY 10037 (212) 491-2200 www.nypl.org/research/sc/sc.html
  

Find it on the Web

? African American Cemeteries Online

www.prairiebluff.com/aacemetery: Online database of African-American cemeteries, categorized by state. Many include transcribed tombstones.

? The African-American Genealogy Ring

: More than 90 connected sites for researching African-American roots.

? The African-American Mosaic

: Selections from the Library of Congress’ resource guide for the study of black history and culture, covering colonization, abolition, migrations and the 1930s Works Progress Administration.

? African Ancestry

: Information and updates about a DNA-based test developed by Howard University researchers to help African-Americans trace their African ancestry.

? African Voices

www.mnh.si.edu/africanvoices: A lavishly designed, deep and interactive online exhibit by the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Weave through the extensive set of streaming timelines (made possible by Macromedia’s Flash 4, absolutely ecessary to fully enjoy this site), tour historical sites, meet individuals and see their works.

? AfriGeneas

www.afrigeneas.com: Finding data on African-Americans prior to the 1870 census (“The Wall,” as researchers call it) can be difficult, but this site proves it’s not impossible. Information within tax records, diaries, plantation records and data on runaway slaves that may be helpful is indexed by last name, state and year.

From the February 2001 issue of Family Tree Magazine

A version of this article appeared in the January/February 2015 issue of Family Tree Magazine.