Slavery » General Resources

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.

Institute for the Study of Slavery - The University of Nottingham

Research on both historical and contemporary slavery and forced labour in all parts of the globe and through all periods.

International Slavery Museum

The International Slavery Museum highlights the international importance of slavery, both in a historic and contemporary context. Working in partnership with other museums with a focus on freedom and enslavement, the museum provides opportunities for greater awareness and understanding of the legacy of slavery today. It is located in Liverpool's Albert Dock, at the centre of a World Heritage site and only yards away from the dry docks where 18th century slave trading ships were repaired and fitted out.

Library of Congress - Voices Remembering Slavery: Freed People Tell Their Stories

The recordings of former slaves in Voices Remembering Slavery: Freed People Tell Their Stories took place between 1932 and 1975 in nine states. Twenty-two interviewees discuss how they felt about slavery, slaveholders, coercion of slaves, their families, and freedom.

Reclaiming Kin - Taking Back What Was Once Lost

Reclaiming is a genealogy teaching blog, over 10 years old, that focuses on growing genealogical skills for all genealogists and on the special challenges of researching the enslaved. Reclaiming Kin is all about: to document family history research in a way that teaches and engages the reader; to share discoveries, finds, approaches and tools that further research; to provide ways to make our research exciting for others by adding social history; to shine a light on resources, repositories, websites and other sources; and to highlight and discuss the many challenges of slavery and slave research.

Slave Biographies: The Atlantic Database Network

An open access data repository of information on the identities of enslaved people in the Atlantic World. It includes the names, ethnicities, skills, occupations, and illnesses of individual slaves.

The Beyond Kin Project

Donna Cox Baker and Frazine K. Taylor conceived the Beyond Kin Project in 2016 as a way to encourage and facilitate the documentation of enslaved populations, particularly by recruiting the resources and efforts of the descendants of slaveholders.

The Beyond Kin Project - Descendants of slaveowners, do we still hold a key?

Genealogists who descend from slaveholders (SHs) are uniquely positioned to revolutionize genealogy for their African American colleagues.

Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database - Voyages

A database that encompasses British, Dutch, French, Portuguese and Liverpool datasets into one data set. A corroborative effort by several well known universities funded with grants from many well known sources. This project has been ongoing since 1999. Outstanding contributors include Emory University, University of Hull, York University, University Federal Rio de Janerio. Records are collected from the archives of 18th century newspapers as well as collections in Rio de Janerio, Luanda, Bahia, Lisbon, Havana, Madrid, Sevilla, Amsterdam, Middelburg, Copenhagen and London.

Understanding Slavery Initiative

A national learning project which supports the teaching and learning of transatlantic slavery and its legacies using museum and heritage collections.