African American Genealogy online research is much more difficult due to the scant nature of record keeping for African American’s prior to the Civil War. This is the reason for creating a separate section for African Americans much like we have for Native Americans who’s research can also be hampered by the available records. The links below provide an accurate reflection of what is available to be searched for African American genealogy.
Conducting successful African American genealogical research can be a challenging adventure. In recent years, the challenge has been lessened and the adventure heightened by the growing body of publications relating to this ethnic group. Special-interest groups and genealogical societies nationwide are publishing key guides, new bibliographies, and important how-to books. Before delving into published sources, however, it is always important to pause long enough to organize one’s own personal papers and review standard research methodology.
Searching for African American families involves two distinct research approaches. These approaches correspond to the distinct change in the legal status of African Americans in the United States before and after the Civil War. Genealogical techniques used to track slave families before the war are necessarily quite different than those used for white or free African Americans; however, research conducted on African Americans after the war usually involves the same types of records as those used for whites.
- National Archives
- Archives
- Societies
- Biography
- African Americans and South Carolina (hosted at South Carolina’s Information Highway)
- Documenting the American South: The Church in the Southern Black Community (hosted at University of NC at Chapel Hill)
- Free Biography Resources (hosted at AccessGenealogy)
- A B Bi C Ch Cr D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
- South Carolina African American Cemeteries
- Hosted at Ancestry.com
- Access Genealogy’s Cemetery Records
The most complete coverage of Cemetery records available on the web. They are broken down by county. We do know know if there are African Americans in these cemeteries, so you should browse them for ancestors also.
- South Carolina African American Census Records
- Hosted at Ancestry.com
- Abbeville County
- City of Charleston
- 1820 Federal Census, Free Persons of Color (hosted at Afrigeneas)
- Clarendon County
- 1790 South Carolina Federal Census (graphic images) (hosted at Clarendon County SCGenWeb)
- Hampton County
- Lebanon Cemetery, Slave Section (hosted at Hampton County SCGenWeb)
- Marlboro County
- Orangeburg County
- Sumter County
- 1870 Federal Census, Slave Schedule (hosted at Kia’s Potpourri)
- Union County
- 1870 Federal Census, African-Americans (hosted at Afrigeneas)
- 1880 Federal Census, African-Americans (hosted at Afrigeneas)
- 1920 Federal Census, African American Households (hosted at African Diaspora Library)
- Access Genealogy’s Census Records
Providing the most complete coverage of census records available on the web. We’ve broken the list down by county, and take a careful look at the index page where we explain which records are missing from the census data and may never be recovered.
- Church Records
- Hosted at Ancestry.com
- Historic Liberty Hill A. M. E. (hosted at African Americans in the South Carolina Room)
- Hosted at Allendale County SCGenWeb
- Court Records
- Hosted at Ancestry.com
- Hosted at African Americans in the South Carolina Room
- Marion County Wills, Slave Records (hosted at Marion County SCGenWeb)
- History
- Ancestry.com Slave Narratives $$
Perhaps no other resource approaches the range of human experience found in Ancestry.com’s Slave Narratives. This collection of interviews stands in contrast to other slave narratives that appear in most literature anthologies which were written by the rare few who, against staggering odds, had become literate. This database provides a more poignant picture of what it was to live as a slave in the American South. Taken from The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography, this collection is the most complete available picture of the African-American slavery experience. There is simply no other historical document quite like it. The collection contains over 20,000 pages of type-scripted interviews with more than 3,500 former slaves collected over a ten year period. (Requires Ancestry.com Membership) Get 14 Days Free Access!!! - Hosted at Slaveholders and African Americans 1860-1870
- Slaveholders
- Hosted at Ancestry.com
- 1860 Abbeville Co, SC Slave Schedule (hosted at Abbeville-Sonia Walker’s site)
- SC Mortgages of Negroes (hosted at African Americans in the South Carolina Room)
- Buying and Selling Human Beings (hosted at SCIway)
- Richland County, Former Slaves (hosted at Richland County SCGenWeb)
- Freedman Contracts Sumter District 1865 & 1866 (hosted at Sumter County SCGenWeb)
- Ancestry.com Slave Narratives $$
- Mailing Lists
- Military Records
- Military Records (hosted at AccessGenealogy)
- World War I Records
- Hosted at Ancestry.com
- World War II Records
- South Carolina World War II Army – Air Corps Casualty List
- South Carolina World War II Navy – Marines Casualty List
- African Americans in World War II (hosted at World War 2)
- Hosted at Ancestry.com
- African-American Civil War Soldiers & Sailors (hosted at Solders and Sailors System)
- Bureau of Colored Troops – Established May 22, 1863 (hosted at Our Documents)
- African-American Confederate Pensioners (hosted at Lee County South Carolina SCGenWeb)
- Military Records (hosted at AccessGenealogy)
- Miscellaneous
- Surnames
- African-American Surnames Database (hosted at Afrigeneas)
- Vital Records
- South Carolina Vital Records (hosted at AccessGenealogy)