Anderson, Jean Bradley. Piedmont Plantatin: The Bennehan-Cameron Family and Lands in North Carolina. Durham, N.C.: Historic Priservation Society of Durham, 1985.
Blackman, A.M. Cohabitation Records of Davie County, North Carolina, 1866. Clemmons, N.C.: Blackman, 1987. Call # fF262.D4B56 1987.
Braswell, Peggy Jo. “Halifax County Free Persons of Color.” North Carolina Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society Quarterly 5:2 (Summer 1990). Call # fE185.93.N6N67.
Bridges, Kathryn L. “Black Members of St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, Cabarrus County, North Carolina 1858-1859.” North Carolina Genealogical Society Journal 6:3 (August 1980). Call # F251.N67 (2nd floor open shelf).
Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands. Records of the Assistant Commissioner for North Carolina. Call # Microfilm 718. Reports of destitution including ration distribution receipts indication number of adults and children under name of head of household on reel 27. Lists of large groups of freedmen being transported to Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee on reel 28. Reel 31 contains a fairly extensive list of "Names of Negro Families Davidson County, N.C. formerly owned by Dr. W.R. Holt." inserted amidst court case reports. Labor contracts on reel 34, Robeson County is heavily represented. This is also the case for the indenture papers contained on reel 35.
Byrd, William L. North Carolina Slaves and Free Persons of Color : Hyde and Beaufort Counties. Bowie, Md. : Heritage Books, 2002.Call # F262.H9 B97 2002.
Cunningham, Glenn. “The Hidden Lives of Waverly Plantation.” JAAHGS 11:1&2 (Spring & Fall 1990). Call # CS1.A37 (2nd floor open shelf). Person County plantation records.
Davenport, David Paul. “The Record of a Sampson County Slave Family 1781-1836.” North Carolina Genealogical Society Journal 15:1 (February 1989). Call # F251.N67 (2nd floor open shelf). Slaves belonging to the Toole family.
Dowd, Lea Lewis. "Conflicting Information on Basse/Bass Heritage." North Carolina Genealogical Society Journal XXII:1 (February 1996). Call # F251.N67 (2nd floor open shelf). Response to Paul Heinegg's Free African Americans of North Carolina.
Fouts, Raymond Parker. Registration of Slaves to Work in the Great Dismal Swamp, Gates County, North Carolina, 1847-1861.Cocoa, FL: GenRec Books, c1995. Call # Folio F262.G3 F68 1995.
Franklin, John Hope. The Free Negro in North Carolina 1790-1860. New York: Russell & Russell, 1943. Call # 4A13789. A scholarly work with a useful bibliography. A “must read” for anyone with free black North Carolina ancestry. Brief appendices include lists of free blacks having property valued at more than $2,500 in 1860; also free black owners of slaves in 1790, 1830 and 1860.
Freedmen's Bureau Online: North Carolina(website). This site contains a number of indexes and transcriptions of documents from the Freedmen's Bureau records.
Freedmen’s Savings and Trust Deposit Ledger Indexes. Call # Microfilm 710. Reel 4 contains indexes for New Bern, Raleigh, and Wilmington.
Freedmen’s Savings and Trust Signature Books. Call # Microfilm 709. Reel 18 contains records for New Bern, Raleigh, and Wilmington. (Also se Tetterton below.) These records are indexed by Freedman's Bank Records. Call # CD-ROM E185.6 F844 2000. (Ask at Genealogy Desk for this item.)
Hairston, Peter W. The Cooleemee Plantation and its People. Lexington, N.C.: Davidson County Community College, 1986. Call# fF262.D4H37. A history of the Hairston plantation in Davie and Davidson Counties. Extensive slave records.
Heinegg, Paul. Free African Americans of North Carolina, Including the History of More than 80% of those Counted as “All Other Free Persons” in the 1790 and 1800 Census. Abqaiq, Saudi Arabia: Heinegg, 1992. (Third revised edition.) Call # fE185.96.H48 1992
-----. Slave Marriages in Northampton County, North Carolina and the Location of their Families in the 1870 and 1880 Census. Abqaiq, Saudi Arabia: Heinegg, 1988. Call # fF262.N7H45.
Henry, Phillip M. “Early Black Entrepeneurs and Entrepeneurship in Durham and Winston-Salam.” North Carolina Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society Quarterly 6:1 (Summer 1991). Call # fE185.93.N6N67.
Heritage of Blacks in North Carolina. Charlotte, N.C.: North Carolina African-American Heritage Foundation,, 1900. Call # fE185.93.N6H47 1990.
Johnston, Hugh Buckner (Jr.). “Some Bible and Other Family Records, Part 1.” North Carolina Genealogical Society Journal 7:4 (November 1981). Call # F251.N67 (2nd floor open shelf). Slave vital records in Bibles of the following families: Applewhite (Wilson County), Barnes (Nash County), Harris (Pitt County), and Pender (Edgcombe County).
Karchaske, S. Janelle. Mecklenburg County, North Carolina Cemetery Records. Charlotte: Family History Researchers and Publishers, 1995. Call # Folio F262.M4 K37 1995.
Kent, Harriette Thorne. Swampers: Free Blacks and the Great Dismal Swamp. Author, 1991. Call # f232.D7K45 1991. Law mandated the registration of free blacks working in the Great Dismal, together with a physical description. These records come from the counties Camden, Chowan, Gates, Halifax and Pasquotank.
Koonts, Russell Scott. "Black North Carolina Confederate Pensioners." North Carolina Genealogical Society Journal XXI:4 (November 1995). Call # F251.N67 (2nd floor open shelf). Vast majority body servants and conscripted labor.
Linn, Jo White. “Accounts of Slaves in the Estate of John Pool.” Rowan County Register 5:3 (August 1990). Call # F262.R868.
“Rowan County Marriage Registesr 1851-1868.” Rowan County Register 2:2 (May 1897). Call # F262.R868. Includes freedmen cohabitation bonds.
McLain, Geraldine. The Iredell Marriage Records (1851-1885). Statesville, N.C.: Genealogical Society of Iredell County, 1987. Call # fF262.I7M35 1987. Includes freedmen cohabitation bonds (1866) and black marriage records 1867-1882.
“Melchor Slave Record (1821-1864).” North Carolina Genealogical Society Quarterly 13:4 (November 1987). Call # F251.N67 (2nd floor open shelf). Slaves of Christopher Mechor, Cabarrus County.
Mobley, Joe A. James City: A Black Community in North Carolina 1863-1900. Raleigh, N.C.: N.C. Division of Archives and History, 1981. Call # F264.J35M63. History of a freemen community in the vicinity of New Bern.
North Carolina Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Quarterly. Call # fF232.C7K45 1991. (Incomplete run.)
North Carolina Division of Archives and History. An Index to Marriage Bonds Filed in North Carolina State Archives. Call # Microfiche 296. Covers period 1741-1868. Contains references to a few freedmen and antebellum free black marrieages.
The following county records are also on North Carolina Division of Archives and History microfilm:
Bertie County “Cohabitaion Records, 1866.” Call # Microfilm 880.
Catawba County “Freedmen’s Marriage Record 1866.” Call # Microfilm 877.
Catawba County marriage register “Black 1867-1872.” Call # Microfilm 882.
Duplin County marriage register “Colored Male and Female 1952-1962; Marriage of Freed People 1866.” Call # Microfilm 883.
Forsyth County “Acknowledgement of Cohabitation 1820-1866.” Call # Microfilm 884.
Granville County “Marriages of Freed People 1866”; “Marriage Register 1867-1924.” Call # Microfilm 885.
Mecklenburg County “Marriage Records (Colored) 1850-1867.” Call # Microfilm 880.
Pasqutank County “Account Book, Cohabitation of Negroes 1856-1867.” Call # Microfilm 880.
Pequimans County “Record of Marriages by Freedmen 1866-1867.” Call # Microfilm 879.
North Carolina Mortality Schedules 1850. Call # Microfilm 902.
North Carolina Mortality Schedules 1860. Call # Microfilm 916.
North Carolina Mortality Schedules 1870. Call # Microfilm 915.
North Carolina Mortality Schedules 1880. Call # Microfilm 914.
North Carolina Mortality Schedules 1850. Call # Microfilm 902.
Perry, Matthew Leary. “The Negro in Fayetteville” in The Story of Fayetteville by John A. Oates (Oates, 1950). Call # F86528.641.
Pritchford, Shirley. “Thomas J. Pritchford Slave List.” North Carolina Genealogical and Historical Society Quarterly 5:2 (Summer 1990). Call # fE185.93.N6N67. Bible record of Thomas Pritchford of Wake County.
Rackley, Timothy W. Nash County North Carolina: Division of Estate Slaves 1829-1861. Kernersville, N.C.: Rackley, 1995. Call # fF262.N2R32 1995.
Redford, Doroth Spruill. Somerset Homecoming. Recovering a Lost Heritage. New York: Doubleday, 1988. Call # E185.96.R42 1988. Slave families in area of Great Dismal Swamp.
“Registration of Marriage of Persons, Lately Slaves, 1866, Randolph County, North Carolina.” North Carolina Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society Quarterly 6:1 (Spring 1991). Call # fE185.93.N6N67.
Roulhac, Roy L. "Civil War Military and Pension Records: The Roulhacs." JAAHGS 14:3/4 (1995). Call # CS.A37 (2nd floor open shelf).
Rowe, Carolyn Corpening. "Index of Catawba County, North Carolina African American Marriages, 1867-1907." JAAHGS 14: 1&2 (1995). Call # CS1.A37 (2nd floor open shelf).
-----. "Sales of Slaves in Burke County, North Carolina, 1791-1851." JAAHGS 13:1/2 (spring/fall 1994). Call # oCS1.A37 (2nd floor open shelf).
Smith, Gloria L. The Route Taken. The Migration of One Group of African-American Settlers from North Carolina to Texas after the Civil War. Tucson, Arizona: Trailstones, 1990. Call # fE185.2S557 1990.
Stampp, Kenneth (editor). Records of Ante-Bellum Southern Plantation Records. North Carolina Mortality Schedules 1850. Call # Microfilm 708. See the entry for this title on page six. Entries below list families whose records contain significant slave data, followed by county of residence and reel number.
| Name | County | Reel Number |
| Clark | Edgecombe | F.3.1 |
| Davidson | Iredell, Mecklenberg | F.3.17 |
| Downey | Granville | F.3.4 |
| Gee | Halifax | F.1.22 |
| Glen | Surry | F.3.15 |
| Jarratt | Surry, Yadkin | F.3.11 |
| Jones | Granville | F.3.2 |
| McLaurin | Richmond | F.1.5 |
| Puryear | Surry, Yadkin | F.3.11 |
| Thomas | Iredell | F.3.19 |
Stewart, Roma Jones. “Research in Progress: Free Blacks in Antebellum America.” Origins (Newberry Library) 4:1 (December 1987). Call # E171.073. See also same author under Michigan.
Taylor, Anne Hatcher. Black Cemetery Records, Reunions and Personality Sketches, Hertford and Gates Counties 1850-1988. Winton, N.C.: Hatcher-Taylor, 1988. Call # fF262.H5T39.
Taylor, Margaret Smith. "Smith/Buckland Cemetery and Robert Smith Cemetery, Gates (Gates County), North Carolina." JAAHGS 14: 1&2 (1995). Call # CS1.A37 (2nd floor open shelf).
Tetterton, Beverly (editor). North Carolina Freedman’s Savings and Trust Records. Abstracted by Bill Reaves. Raleigh, N.C.: North Carolina Genealogical Society, 1992. Call # F253.N64 1992 (2nd floor open shelf).
Turner, Grace. "Slaves Hired by the North Carolina Rail Road 1862 and 1864." North Carolina Genealogical Society Journal 25:1 (February 1999). Call # F251.N67 (2nd floor open shelf).
Watson, C.H. Colored Charlotte. Published in Connection with the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Freedom of the Negro in the County of Mecklenberg and the City of Charlotte, North Carolina. Charlotte, N.C.: A.M.E.Zion Job Print, 195. Call # Microfiche 913.
White, Barnetta McGhee. Enslaved Ancestors Abstracted from Deed Books: Granville County, North Carolina. Durham, N.C.: 1993. Call # fF262.G85W48 1993.
-----. In Search of Kith and Kin: The History of a Southern Black Family. Baltimore: Gateway, 1986. Call # fCS71.M14418 1986. A genealogy of the McGhees of Granville County.
-----. Somebody Knows My Name: Marriages of Freed People in North Carolina, County by County. Athens, GA: Iberian Publishing Co., 1995. Call #E185.96 W53 1995.
Williams, Margo Lee. "The Division of Lands of Miles Lassiter." JAAHGS 14: 1&2 (1995). Call # CS1.A37 (2nd floor open shelf). Randolph County.
Willis, Eulis A. Navassa: The Town and its People 1735-1991. Navassa, N.C.: Willis, c1993. Call # fF264.N39W56 1993.
Wynne, Frances Holloway. “Confederate Tax Assessments for Rowan County, North Carolina, 1863.” JAAHGS beginning 7:2 (Summer 1986). Call # CS1.A37 (2nd floor open shelf).
-----. “Free Black Inhabitants of Wake County, North Carolina.” JAAHGS 1:2 (2nd floor open shelf).
-----. North Carolina Extant Voter Registrations of 1867. Bowie, Md.: Heritage, 1992. Call # F253.W96 1992 (2nd floor open shelf). Although the voter registration records for many counties have not survived, these records can be especially significant for African American genealogical research, given their midway point between emancipation and the 1870 census.
Reseach Note: North Carolina has seen a great surge in the publication of abstracted and transcribed county records in recent years. Many of these records, such as probate records and deed, can be important for African American genealogists. Fortunately, many of these recent publications include the names of slaves mentioned in the documents and in addition provide a separate index for them. Although researchers in all states should do so, the researcher concerned with African American genealogy in North Carolina is urged to consult the Library’s computer catalog under the appropriate county subject heading.