African American Resources at FamilySearch
FamilySearch offers a number of free resources for researching African American families and history. Users must register for a free login. Click here to begin your journey.
Be sure to check out the on-line, video-based learning available for free from RootsTech, a component of FamilySearch. RootsTech is held annually, and video presentations from beginner to advanced topics can be viewed for several months after the event. Click here to browse the current catalogue. A free FamilySearch login is required.
We highly recommend you spend time scouring all FamilySearch options including the Wiki, Historical Records, Books (whole volumes, many viewable free), and Catalogue. The unindexed records may be vital to your research, so be sure to scan the list. Keep up with announcements of new record collections on the FamilySearch Blog. Click here to visit.
Don’t forget to search for your ancestors in the Memories section and the Family Tree.
The list below is a sample of suggestions, in no particular order but loosely grouped by topic.
- African American Resources for Tennessee
- Tennessee, Freedmen’s Bureau Field Office Records
- US Federal Non-Population Census Schedules for Tennessee
- Tennessee Non-Population Schedules
- Tennessee Censuses Existing and Lost
- North Carolina Probate Records, 1740-1860
- Quick Guide to African American Records
- African American Online Genealogy Records
- African American Digital Bookshelf
- African American Genealogy
- African American Court Records
- African American Migration
- United States Migration Timeline 1784 to 1839
- African American Vital Records
- African Americans, Identifying the Final Slave Owner
- Southern States Slavery and Bondage Collections
- Beginning United States Civil War Research
- Civil War and Reconstruction 1859-1875
- Freedmen’s Bureau, Records of the Commissioner
- Freedmen’s Bureau, Records of the Assistant Commissioner
- Freedmen’s Bureau, Records of the Superintendent of Education and of the Division of Education
- Freedmen’s Bureau, Land and Property Records
- Freedmen’s Bureau Marriages
- Freedmen’s Branch Records
- National Archives at Atlanta (Freedman’s Bureau and other regional records)
- US Census Slave Schedules
- US Census 1860
- US Census, Slave Schedule, 1850
- US Census Slave Schedule, 1860
- US Census Records Nonpopulation Census Schedules-1820, 1850-1880
- African Americans in the U.S. Federal Census, 1870-1890