Journey Into Your Past:
African American Genealogy at the Library of Congress
Journey into the lives of your ancestors through the published records and online resources at the Library of Congress. Learn strategies to overcome roadblocks in the historical record. Explore the untold stories of generations past by searching digitized oral histories, newspapers, maps, and photographs documenting African American lives in America. Below is a brief selection of the resources available to assist the researcher in recreating the stories that define and shape a family tree.
The African-American Experience in Ohio: Selections from the
Ohio Historical Society, 1850-1920
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/award97/ohshtml/aaeohome.html
Texts and images describing the history of black Ohio from 1850 to 1920, a
story of slavery and freedom, segregation and integration, religion and
politics, migrations and restrictions, harmony and discord, and struggles and
successes.
Example: Black Brigade of Cincinnati (muster roll) - http://dbs.ohiohistory.org/africanam/page.cfm?ID=2487&Current=P23
African American Sheet Music, 1850-1920
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/sheetmusic/brown/
Civil War period music includes songs about African-American soldiers and
the plight of the newly emancipated slave. Post-Civil War music reflects the
problems of Reconstruction and the beginnings of urbanization and the northern
migration of African Americans.
An American Time Capsule: Three Centuries of Broadsides and
Other Printed Ephemera
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/rbpehtml/
Proclamations, advertisements, programs, clippings, and other printed material
of everyday activities of ordinary people from the growth of the nation from
the American Revolution through the Industrial Revolution up to present
day. Examples include:
Advertisement for Trust Sale at Front Royal - http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.rbc/rbpe.18603800
Plan for Improving the Condition of Free Blacks, 1789 - http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.rbc/rbpe.14701100
The Church in the Southern Black Community, 1780-1925
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/award99/ncuhtml/csbchome.html
Texts documenting how the black community adapted evangelical Christianity,
making it a metaphor for freedom, community, and personal survival.
America From the Great Depression to World
War II, 1935-1945
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/fsowhome.html
Photographs documenting rural life and the negative impact of the Great
Depression, farm mechanization, the Dust Bowl, and the mobilization effort for
World War II.
Experiencing War: Stories from the Veterans History Project
http://www.loc.gov/vets/stories/ex-war-disabledvets.html
Photographs, letters, and first person accounts from people who have served in
America’s conflicts at home and abroad.
Built in America: Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic
American Engineering Record, 1933-Present
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/habs_haer/
Images documenting architecture, engineering, and design in the United States
and its territories including examples of plantation homes, slave quarters, and
home styles in towns and cities nationwide.
Map Collections, 1500-2004
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/gmdhtml/gmdhome.html
Maps grouped in seven categories: Cities & Towns, Conservation and
Environment, Cultural Landscapes, Discovery & Exploration, General,
Military Battles & Campaigns, and Transportation & Communication.
Maps of Liberia, 1830-1870
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/gmdhtml/libhtml/libhome.html
Twenty maps from the American Colonization Society,
organized in 1817 to resettle free black Americans in West Africa.
African American Mosaic
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/african/intro.html
An online exhibition covering colonization,
abolition, and migrations.
Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the
Federal Writers’ Project, 1936-1938
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/snhtml/snhome.html
Photographs of former slaves and sound recordings of first-person accounts of
slavery.
First-Person Narratives of the American South, 1860-1920
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/award97/ncuhtml/fpnashome.html
Diaries, autobiographies, memoirs, travel accounts, and ex-slave narratives of
not only prominent individuals, but also of relatively inaccessible
populations: women, African Americans, enlisted men, laborers, and Native
Americans.
Voices From the Days of Slavery: Former
Slaves Tell Their Stories
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/voices/
Recorded interviews from twenty-three individuals in nine Southern States who
recount their lives and experiences.
African American Families and Related Works at the Library of
Congress
http://www.loc.gov/rr/genealogy/bib_guid/aframer/
183 genealogies and handbooks on topics ranging from abolitionists, American
Loyalists, and revolutionaries to masters and slaves, freedmen, Civil War
soldiers, and Cherokee Indians.
African American Sites in the Digital Collections
http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/afam/afam-home.html
Chronological listing of resources on the Library of Congress Web site related
to African American history and culture in the United States.
Afro-American Genealogical Research
http://www.loc.gov/rr/genealogy/bib_guid/afro.html
Basic guide to conducting genealogical research.
Other Internet Sources on Local History and Genealogy
http://www.loc.gov/rr/genealogy/other.html
Slavery Resource Guide
http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/slavery/
Links to slavery resources throughout the Library of Congress Web site,
links to external Web sites focusing on slavery, and a bibliography containing
selections for both general and younger readers.