African-American » Slavery » General Resources

10 Million Names. Recover. Restore. Remember.

10 Million Names is dedicated to recovering the names of the estimated ten million men, women, and children of African descent who were enslaved in pre- and post-colonial America (specifically, the territory that would become the United States) between the 1500s and 1865. 10 Million Names is engaging a collaborative network of expert genealogists, cultural organizations, and community-based family historians.

About 1798 Federal Direct Tax of Slaveowners - Enduring Connections - Nabb Research Center

This source was extracted from The 1798 Federal Direct Tax of Somerset County, Maryland, which documented the description of the land, commercial buildings, number of slave owners, and a description of each dwelling-house exceeding the value of $100. This is a compilation of records pertaining to enslaved people that were extracted from Schedule C, Particular List of Slaves. These data is organized by Hundreds in Somerset County, Maryland, name of slave owners, number of enslaved people, number of enslaved people exempted from taxation or disabled, the number of taxable enslaved people above the age of 12 and under the aged of 50. These data were abstracted and edited by Tom Reedy from the Microfilm MSA M 3477 Maryland State Papers, Special Collections MS 807.

AfriGeneas - Slave Data Collection (Internet Archive)

Enslaved ancestors in public and private records. Clues and keys to the last slaveholder.

After Slavery: Race, Labor, and Politics in the Post-Emancipation Carolinas

Ancestry.com - U.S., Confederate Army Payrolls for Enslaved Labor, 1840-1883 $

Original source: Confederate Slave Payrolls, 1874 - 1899. NAID: 7194477. War Department Collection of Confederate Records, 1825 - 1927, Record Group 109. The National Archives at Washington, D.C. Ancestry.com has searchable indexes; database results and some digitized images are available with a fee-based subscription. Free articles and helpful research materials.

Ancestry.com - U.S., Interviews with Formerly Enslaved People, 1936-1938 $

Original source: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves, 1936–1938. Vol. 1-17. Federal Writers’ Project of the Works Progress Administration microfilm publication SCM 000 320, SCM 000 321, SCM 000 322, SCM 000 323, SCM 000 325, 5 rolls. Library of Congress, Washington D.C. Ancestry.com has searchable indexes; database results and some digitized images are available with a fee-based subscription. Free articles and helpful research materials.

Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1938

More than 2,300 first-person accounts of slavery and 500 black-and-white photographs of former slaves from the Library of Congress.

Digital History - Slavery

From the University of Houston

Digital Library on American Slavery

The Digital Library on American Slavery (DLAS) is an expanding resource compiling independent collections focused upon race and slavery in the American South, made searchable through a single, simple interface. DLAS houses tens of thousands of records relating to all 15 slave states and Washington, D.C. as well as a number of northern states. DLAS contains detailed personal information about over 100 thousand individuals, including enslaved people, enslavers, free people of color, and more.

Digital Library on American Slavery

The Digital Library on American Slavery (DLAS) is an expanding resource compiling independent collections focused upon race and slavery in the American South, made searchable through a single, simple interface. DLAS houses tens of thousands of records relating to all 15 slave states and Washington, D.C. as well as a number of northern states. DLAS contains detailed personal information about over 100 thousand individuals, including enslaved people, enslavers, free people of color, and more.

Digital Library on American Slavery - People Not Property: Slave Deeds

A collaborative endeavor between the UNCG University Libraries, North Carolina Division of Archives and Records, and North Carolina Registers of Deeds among others. Working as an addition to and evolution of the Digital Library on American Slavery, the project is leading towards a unique, centralized database of bills of sales indexing the names of enslaved people from across North Carolina and the South.

Digital Library on American Slavery - UNCG University Libraries

Race and Slavery Petitions Project, NC Runaway Slave Advertisements, Voyages: The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database, Slave Deeds of North Carolina, Slavery Era Insurance Registries.

Documenting the American South: North American Slave Narratives

These are first first person narratives of slave experiences given in vivid detail. Records the mental and emotional reflections as well as physical realities.

Documenting the Enslaved in Your Family Tree | Ancestry (YouTube)

By Crista Cowan.

Enslaved - Peoples of the Historical Slave Trade

Explore or reconstruct the lives of individuals who were enslaved, owned slaves, or participated in the historical trade.

FamilySearch Wiki - African American Slavery and Bondage

Federal Records that Help Identify Former Enslaved People and Slave Holders

By Claire Kluskens, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, DC

Fold3 - African American Records $

Fold3 is an online repository for original historical documents, combined with the ability for users to make comments, annotations, and upload their own documents. The focus of Fold3 is to be a comprehensive collection of U.S. Military records. Some areas of Fold3 are free to use, while others can be freely searched and then viewed with a paid subscription.

Freedmen and Southern Society Project

No event in American history matches the drama of emancipation. In the United States, emancipation accompanied the defeat of the world's most powerful slaveholding class, freed a larger number of slaves than did the end of slavery in all other New World societies combined, and accomplished a profound social revolution. The Freedmen and Southern Society Project was established in 1976 to capture the essence of that revolution in the words of its participants: liberated slaves and defeated slaveholders, soldiers and civilians, common folk and the elite, Northerners and Southerners.

From Slave Women to Free Women: The National Archives and Black Women's History in the Civil War Era

Article by Noralee Frankel for Prologue: Special Issue on Federal Records and African American History.