Crandall, Ralph. Shaking Your Family Tree: A Basic Guide to Tracing Your Family’s Genealogy. Dublin, New Hampshire: Yankee Publishing, 1986. Call # CS16.C77 1986 (2nd floor open shelf).
Doane, Gilbert H. and James B. Bell. Searching for Your Ancestors: The How and Why of Genealogy. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1980. Call # CS16..D6 1980 (2nd floor open shelf).
Eichholz, Alice (editor). Ancestry’s Red Book: American State, County & Town Sources. Revised edition. Salt Lake City, Utah: Ancestry, 1992. Call # CS49.A55 1992 (2nd floor open shelf).
Everton, George B. The Handy Book for Genealogists (8th edition). Logan, Utah: Everton Publishers, 1991. Call # CS47.E9 1991 (2nd floor open shelf).
Greenwood, Val D. The Researcher’s Guide to American Genealogy (2nd edition). Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1990. Call # CS47.G73 1990 (2nd floor open shelf).
Kemp, Thomas. The International Vital Records Handbook. Baltimore, Md.: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2000. Call # CS42.7 .K46 2000 (2nd floor open shelf).
Beasley, Donna. Family Pride: the Complete Guide to Tracing African-American Genealogy. New York: Macmillan USA, 1997. Call # E185.96.B36 1997
Black Studies: A Select Catalog of National Archives Microfilm Publications. Washington: National Archives, 1984. Call # Z1361.N39U63 1984 (2nd floor open shelf).
Blockson, Charles L. with Ron Fry. Black Genealogy. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1977. Call # CS21.B55 (2nd floor open shelf).
Burroughs, Tony. Black Roots: a Beginner's Guide to Tracing the African American Family Tree. New York: Fireside Book, c2001. Call # E185.96 .B94 2001 (2nd floor open shelf).
Byers, Paula K. (editor). African American Genealogical Sourcebook. New York: Gale Research, c1995. Call # E185.96.A444 1995 (2nd floor open shelf).
Cerny, Johni and Arlene Eakle. Ancestry’s Guide to Research: Case Studies in American Genealogy. Salt Lake City: Ancestry, 1985. Call # CS49.C46 1985 (2nd floor open shelf). One of the case studies is African American.
Guide to Genealogical Research in the National Archives. Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Service, 1982. Call # Z5313.U5.U54 1982 (2nd floor open shelf). Chapter 12 treats African American sources.
Lawson, Sandra M. Generations Past: A Selected List of Sources for Afro-American Genealogical Research. Washington: Library of Congress, 1988. Call # Z1361.N39L34 1988.
Rose, James and Alice Eichholz. Black Genesis. Detroit: Gale, 1978. Call # CS21.R57 (2nd floor open shelf). Extensive bibliography.
Streets, David H. Slave Genealogy: A Research Guide with Case Studies. Bowie, MD.: Heritage, 1986. Call # E185.96.S76 (2nd floor open shelf). Focuses on slave families on small farms in Kentucky.
Thackery, David T. and Dee Woodtor. Case Studies in Afro-American Genealogy. Chicago: The Newberry Library, 1989. Call # E185.96. T45 1989 (2nd floor open shelf).
Walker, James D. Black Genealogy: How to Begin. Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia, 1977. Call # CS21.W35 (2nd floor open shelf).
Walton-Raji, Angela Y. Black Indian Genealogy Research. Bowie, MD.: Heritage, 1993. Call # E185.96.W294 1993.
Woodtor, Dee. Finding a Place Called Home: A Guide to African-American Genealogy and Historical Identity. New York: Random House, c1999. Call # E185.96 .W69 1999 (2nd floor open shelf).
Young, Tommie Morton. Afro-American Genealogy Sourcebook. New York: Garland, 1987. Call # E185.96Y67 1987 (2nd floor open shelf).
Black Biography 1790-1950: A Cumulative Index. Alexandria, VA.: Chadwyk-Healey, 1991. 3 vols. Call # Z1361 .N39 B52 1990 (3rd floor open shelf.)
Foner, Eric. Freedom's Lawmakers: A Directory of Black Officeholders During Reconstruction. New York: Oxford University Press, c1993. Call # E185.96.F64 1993.
Hine, Darlene Clark (editor). Black Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia. Brooklyn, NY.: Carlson, 1993. 2 vols. Call # E185.86.B542 1993 (3rd floor open shelf).
Litwack, Leon and August Meier. Black Leaders of the Nineteenth Century. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1988. Call # E185.96.B535 1988.
Logan, Rayford W. and Michael R. Winston. Dictionary of American Negro Biography. New York: W.W. Norton, 1982. Call # :oE185.96.L6 1982 (3rd floor open shelf).
Mott, A. Biographical Sketches and Interesting Anecdotes of Persons of Color. New York: 1839. Call # H5832.6.
Simmons, William J. Men of Mark: Eminent, Progressive and Rising. Cleveland, OH: G.M. Rewell & Co., 1887. Call # Microfilm 642. Microfilm copy of 1138 page biographical compendium of prominent African Americans living in the United States in the late nineteenth century.
Who’s Who of the Colored Race: A General Biographical Dictionary of Men and Women of African Descent: Volume One- 1915. Detroit: Gale, 1976 (reprint). Call # F8396.9737.
1. General
National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1959-. Call # fZ6620.U5N3 (3rd floor open shelf). A valuable aid in determining the location of plantation or other records of slave owning families. Rendered easier for consultation by the publication of the two volume Index to Personal Names… 1959-1984. Call # Z6620.U5153 1988 (3rd floor open shelf).
Stampp, Kenneth M. (editor). Records of Ante-Bellum Southern Plantations from the Revolution through the Civil War. Frederick, Md.: University Publications of America, 1985-1987. Call # Microfilm 708. Consult the series/reel guides: HD1471.U5R43 (2nd floor open shelf). Includes many slave records. Call slips should indicate both series and reel numbers, e.g."Series B, Reel 4.” Selected entries from this series are also found under state headings in this booklet.
2. Guides to Individual Collections
Cain, Barbara T. Guide to Private Manuscript Collections in the North Carolina State Archives. 3rd revised edition. Raleigh, N.C.: N.C. Division of Archives and History, 1981. Call # CD3424.C34 1981.
Cook, D. Louise. Guide to the Manuscript Collections of the Atlanta Historical Society. Atlanta, Ga.: The Society, 1976. Call # CD3189.A7A8.
Cox, Richard J. and Larry E. Sullivan. Guide to the Research Collections of the Maryland Historical Society. Baltimore, Md.: The Society, 1981. Call # Z1293.M37.
Guide to the Manuscript Collections in the Duke University Library. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-Clio, 1980. Call # fZ6621.D87D84 1980.
Guide to the Manuscript Collections of the Virginia Historical Society. Richmond, Va.: The Society, 1985. Call # Z1345.V564 1985.
Guide to the Microfilmed Manuscript Holdings of the Tennessee State Library and Archives. Nashville, Tenn.: The Library and Archives, 1983. Call # fZ6621.T327T47. 1983.
Plunkett, Michael. Afro-American Sources in Virginia : a Guide to Manuscripts. Charlottesville, Va: U. of Va., 1990. Call # Z1361.N39 P496 1990 (2nd floor open shelf.)
-----. A Guide to the Collections Relating to Afro-American History, Literature & Culture in the Manuscripts Department of the University of Virginia Library. Charlottesville, Va: U. of Va., 1984. Call # Z1361.N39 P53 1984.
Stokes, Allen H. (Jr.) A Guide to the Manuscript Collection of the South Caroliniana Library. Columbia, S.C. : South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina, 1982. . Call # Z6621.S58S6.
Trimble, Jeanne Slater. Guide to Selected Manuscripts Housed in the Division of Special Collections and Archives, Margaret I. King Library, University of Kentucky. Louisville, Ky.: U of Ky., 1987. Call # fZ1287.T75 1987.
3. Employment Records
Pullman porter employment records. These are located in Special Collections, specific files can be pulled upon request. It is advisable that anyone interested in seeing the employment record of a particular porter contact Special Collections before coming to the Library.
Illinois Public Records Survey. Directory of Negro Baptist Churches in United States. Chicago: Illinois Public Records Survey, 1942. Call # D6071.4. Lists Negro Baptist Churches in the United States and their ministers in 1942.
Tanner, Benjamin T. An Apology for African Methodism. Baltimore: 1867. Call # D657.863. Contains relatively extensive biographical sketches of church leaders.
Walls, William, J. The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church: Reality of the Black Church. Charlotte, N.C.: A.M.E. Zion, 1974. Call # BX8457.W34.
Wayman, Alexander W. Cyclopaedia of African Methodism. Baltimore: Methodist Episcopal Book Depository, 1882. Call # D657.961. Contains brief biographical sketches of preachers, deacons and lay leaders throughout the United States.
Journal of the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society. Call# CS1.A37 (2nd floor open shelf). Many of the more substantial pieces from this journal are listed in this bibliography under the appropriate headings. Also see: Walker, Barbara. Index to the Journal of the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society: Issues of 1980-1990. Bowie, Maryland: Heritage, 1991. Call # CS1.A37 Index (2nd floor open shelf).
Southern Workman and Hampton Record (1872-1939). Call # Microfilm 319. The Hampton Normal School played an important role in African American education, one aspect being the training of black educators who were to find teaching positions throughout the country. A genealogist researching a Hampton School graduate should find this publication of interest and may wish to look at appropriate issues for alumnus marriage and death announcements. This periodical regularly featured news of its graduates, although, aside from news of death and marriages, it would be difficult to tell which issue would likely contain information on a given graduate’s residence, employment, etc.
Brown, Robert T. Immigrants to Liberia 1843 to 1904: An Alphabetical Listing. Philadelphia: Institute for Liberian Studies, 1980. Call # fCS1727.B76. Age and state of origin among the data listed. Some of these emigrants returned to the Unites States.
Murdza, Peter J. (Jr.). Immigrants to Liberia 1865 to 1904: An Alphabetical Listing. Newark, Delaware: Liberian Studies Association, 1975. Call# fCS1727.M87. Age, family relationships and United State residence among the data listed. Some of these emigrants returned to the United States.
Schick, Tom W. Emigrants to Liberia, 1820-1843: An Alphabetical Listing. Newark, Delaware: Liberian Studies Association, 1971. Call # fCS1728.A1S54. Age and state of origin among the data provided. Some of these emigrants returned to the United States.
Serial Set 28th Congress 2nd Session (Senate), Volume 9. Contains 1843 Liberian census, as well as roll of emigrants to September 1843. (Serial set designation acts as call #.)
Stewart, Roma Jones. Liberia Genealogical Research. Chicago: Homeland Publications, 1991. Call # C1722.S73 1991.
1. Compendia
Blassingame, John W. (editor). Slave Testimony: Two Centuries of Letters, Speeches, Interviews, and Autobiographies. Baton Rouge, La.: Louisiana State University Press, 1977. Call # E444.S57 (2nd floor open shelf).
Foster, Frances Smith. Witnessing Slavery: the Development of Ante-Bellum Slave Narratives. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 1994. Call # PS366.A35 F6 1994.
Potts, Howard E. A Comprehensive Name Index for The American Slave. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1997. Call #E444.A45 1972, Suppl. 4. (2nd floor open shelf).
Rawick, George P. (editor) The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood, 1979. Call # E444.A45 (2nd floor open shelf). 42 volumes. Oral family history and folklore gathered in the thirties. Indexing by informant.
Slave Narratives [computer file]. Orem, UT: MyFamily.com: Ancestry.com, 2000. This is a digital, full-text searchable version of the WPA slave narratives, previously published as The American Slave (Call # E444.A45 1972 2nd floor open shelf). Call# CD-ROM E444.S565 2000 (ask at Genealogy Desk for this item).
2. Selected Monographs
Addington, Thomas. Jim Baker. A Thrilling Episode of Ante-Bellum Days. A True Story of the Oppressed Among Friends and Foes. Winchester, Indiana: A.C. Beeson & Sons, 1898. Call # H5832.065.
Anderson, John. The Story of the Life of John Anderson, the Fugitive Slave. Edited by Harper Twelvetrees. London: Wm. Tweedie, 1863. Call# H5832.04.
Anecdotes and Memoirs of William Boen, A Coloured Man, Who Lived and Died near Mount Holly, New Jersey, to Which Is Added, The Testimony of Friends of Mount Holly Monthly Meeting Concerning Him. Philadelphia: John Richards, 1834. Call # H5832.093.
Aunt Sally; or, The Cross the way of Freedom. A Narrative of the Slave-life and Purchase of the Mother of Rev. Isaac Williams, of Detroit, Michigan. Cincinnati: American Reform Tract and Book Society, 1858. Call # H5832.965.
[Ball, Charles.] Fifty Years in Chains; or, the Life of an American Slave. New York: H. Dayton, 1860. Call # H5832.068. (Several editions—consult card catalog.)
Berlin, Ira, Marc Favreau, and Steven F. Miller, eds. Remembering Slavery: African Americans Talk about their Personal Experiences of Slavery and Freedom. New York: The New Press, 1998. Call # E443.R46 1988.
Bibb, Henry. Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Henry Bibb, an American Slave. New York: Author, 1849. Call # H5832.09. A Kentucky narrative.
Brown, John. Slave Life in Georgia: A Narrative of the Life, Sufferings and Escape of John Brown, A Fugitive Slave…. London: 1855. Call # H5832.12.
Clarke, Lewis Garrard. Narrative of the Sufferings of Lewis Clarke, During a Captivity of More than Twenty-five Years, Among the Algerines of Kentucky…. Boston: David H. Ela, 1845. Call # H5832.169.
[Griffiths, Mattie.] Autobiography of a Female Slave. New York: Redfield, 1857. Call # H5832.373.
Hughes, Louis. Thirty Years a Slave. From Bondage to Freedom. The Institution of Slavery as Seen on the Plantation and in the Home of the Planter. Milwaukee: South Side Printing Co., 1897. Call # H5832.424.
Mars, James. Life of James Mars, A Slave Born and Sold in Connecticut. Hartford: Case, Lockwood & Co., 1865. Call # H5832.553.
Northup, Solomon. Twelve Years a Slave. A Narrative of Solomon Northup, a Citizen of New York, Kidnapped in Washington City in 1841 and Rescued in 1853, from a Cotton Plantation near the Red River in Louisiana. Buffalo: Derby, Orton and Mulligan, 1853. Call # H5832.63.
Smith, Harry [“of Osceola County, Michigan”]. Fifty Years of Slavery in the United States of America. Grand Rapids, Michigan: W. Michigan Printing Co., 1891. Call # H5832.823. A Kentucky narrative.
Smith, James L. Autobiography of James L. Smith…. Norwich, Conn.: Bulletin Co., 1881. Call # H5832.825.
Steward, Austin. Twenty-two Years a Slave, and Forty Years a Freeman…. Rochester, N.Y.: Wm. Alling, 1857. Call # H5832.837. A Virginia and New York narrative.
Thompson, John. The Life of John Thompson, A Fugitive Slave. Worcester, Mass.: Author, 1866. Call # H5832.875.
Watson, Henry. Narrative of Henry Watson, a Fugitive Slave. Boston: Bela Marsh, 1848. Call # H5832.95.
Webb, William. The History of William Webb. Detroit: Egbert Hoekstra, 1873. Call # H5832.96. Kentucky narrative.
Webster, Delia A. Kentucky Jurisprudence. A History of the Trial of Miss Delia A. Webster at Lexington, Kentucky Dec’r 17-21, 1844…on a Charge of Aiding Slaves to Escape…. Vergennes: E.W. Blaisdell, 1845. Call # H5832.093.
Williams, James. Narrative of James Williams, an American Slave, Who was for Several Years a Driver on a Cotton Plantation in Alabama. New York: American Anti-Slavery Society, 1838. Call # H5832.9642.
Abajian, James de T. Blacks in Selected Newspapers, Censusus, and Other Sources: An Index to Names and Subjects. Boston: G.K. Hall, 1977. 3 volumes. Also First Supplement. Boston: G.K. Hall, 1985. 2 volumes. Call # E185.96.A2 (3rd floor open shelf).
African-Americans in the 1870 U.S. Federal Census [computer file]. Eugene, OR: Sierra On-Line, Inc., 2001. A nationwide index of adults classified as "black" or "mulatto" in the 1870 U.S. census, the CD also contains several scholarly articles about researching African-American family history. Call # CD-ROM E185.96 A54 2001. (Ask at Genealogy Desk for this item).
Berlin, Ira and Leslie S. Rowland, eds. Families and Freedom: a Documentary History of African-American kinship in the Civil War Era. New York: New Press, 1997. Call# E185.2.F27 1997.
Blackman, Courtney N. "Searching for Bajan Roots." JAAHGS 18:1 (Spring 1999) Call # CS1.A37 (2nd floor open shelf).
DeMarce, Virginia Easley. “’Verry Slitly Mixt’: Tri-Racial Isolate Families of the Upper South—A Genealogical Study.” National Genealogical Society Quarterly 80:1 (March 1992). Call # CS42.N4 (2nd floor open shelf).
Freedman's Bank Records [computer file]. Salt Lake City, UT: Intellectual Reserve, Inc.: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, 2000. This CD-ROM indexes the records of the Freedman's Bank. Call # CD-ROM E185.6 F844 2000. Ask at Genealogy Desk for this item.
Freedmen's Bureau Online (website). This site contains a number of indexes and transcriptions of documents from the Freedmen's Bureau records. Some of these indices are also listed in the state pages of this bibliography.
Gutman, Herbert G. The Black Family in Slavery and Freedom, 1750-1925. New York: Pantheon, 1976. Call # E185.86.G77 1976. A classic study of the African American family, this scholarly monograph could provide the family historian with important contextual information on slave family structure. In addition, it contains lengthy transcriptions and family reconstructions from the following plantation slave communities: the Dulles Good Hope Plantation, Orangeburg, South Carolina; Stirling Plantation, Nansemond County, Virginia (see also Kenneth Stampp’s Records of Ante-Bellum Southern Plantations, series E, Part 1); the Bennehan-Cameron Plantation, Orange County, North Carolina, (see also Jean B. Anderson’s Piedmont Plantation: the Bennehan-Cameron Family and Lands in North Carolina listed in the North Carolina section of this bibliography); and the Henry Watson Plantation, Greene County, Alabama.
Haley, Alex. Roots. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1976. Call # E7.H13823. See also Elizabeth Mills entry below.
Hamilton, Kenneth Marvin. Black Towns and Profit: Promotion and Development in the Trans-Appalachian West, 1877-1915. Chicago: University of Illinois, 1991. Call # Ayer E185.925.H36 1991 (Special Collections). Covers Nicodemus, Kansas; Mound Bayou, Mississippi; Langston City, Oklahoma; Boley, Oklahoma; Allensworth, California.
King, Wilma. Stolen Childhood: Slave Youth in Nineteenth-Century America. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1995. Call # E441.K59 1995.
Lawson, Jaqueline A. An Index of African Americans Identified in Selected Records of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands. Bowie, MD: Heritage Books, 1995. Call# E185.2 .L35 1995.
McDowell, Audrey M. "Proven Techniques for Locating and Documenting Your Ancestors During the Reconstruction Era." JAAHGS 18:1 (Spring 1999) Call # CS1.A37 (2nd floor open shelf).
Miller, Randall M. and John David Smith. Dictionary of Afro-American Slavery. New York: Greenwood Press, 1988. Call # E441.D53 1988 (3rd floor open shelf).
Mills, Elizabeth Shown and Gary B. “The Genealogist's Assessment of Alex Haley’s Roots.” National Genealogical Society Quarterly 72:1 (March 1984). Call # CS422.N4 (2nd floor open shelf).
Mills, Gary. “Tracing Free People of Color in the Antebellum South: Methods, Sources and Perspectives.” National Genealogical Society Quarterly 78:4 (December 1990). Call # CS42.N4 (2nd floor open shelf).
Mills, Gary B. (compiler). Southern Loyalists in the Civil War: The Southern Claims Commission: A Composite Directory of Case Files Created by the U.S. Commissioner of Claims, 1871-1880.... Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1994. Call# E480.5 .M55 1994 (2nd floor open shelf). Indexes a seldom explored record group. Mills notes in his introduction, "The documents frequently reflect upon politics during the Civil War and Reconstruction, and there is considerable treatment of African-American life and welfare. New material appears concerning slave housing, slave ownership of property, and slave relations with white or black masters. Freedmen testified not only for and against their former owners but also in their own suits for reimbursement of property they had accumulated prior to the federal invasion. Quite a few of the claimants were free Negroes in the antebellum era, and their files are a rich source of data that seldom has been analyzed." (p. xiii)
Newman, Deborah L. List of Free Black Heads of Families in the First Census of the United States 1790. Washington: National Archives, 1973. Call # H283.62.
Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the Field Offices of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Service, 1973. 3 volumes. Call # E185.2U56 1973 (2nd floor open shelf). See also under state headings for specific Freedmen’s Bureau records.
Putney, Martha S. Black Sailors : Afro-American Merchant Seamen and Whalemen Prior to the Civil War. New York : Greenwood Press, 1987. Call #:VK23 .P87 1987
Singhal, Cheryl H. "1860 Census of the United States Slave Schedules." JAAHGS 15:2 (Fall 1996) Call # CS1.A37 (2nd floor open shelf).
Thackery, David T. "Records of the Freedmen's Bureau." Origins (Newberry Library) XI:1 (Spring 1995). Call# E171.O73. Brief overview of the types of materials contained in the Commissioner's and Assistant Commissioner's records, particularly as reflected in the Newberry's holdings.
Washington, Reginald. "In Search of the African American Family: Records of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands." JAAHGS 18:1 (Spring 1999) Call # CS1.A37 (2nd floor open shelf).
Wilson, Cynthia A. "Searching for Ancestral Grandmothers." JAAHGS 17:2 (Fall 1998) Call # CS1.A37 (2nd floor open shelf).
Windley, Lathan A. Runaway Slave Advertisements: A Documentary History from the 1730s to 1790. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1983. Call # E445.W73 1983 (2nd floor open shelf). Four volume set of advertisements from Virginia, North Carolina, Maryland, South Carolina and Georgia.
Woodson, Carter G. Free Negro Heads of Families in the United States in 1830. Washington, D.C.: The Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, 1925. Call # H58370.98.