Subject Guides

African-American Genealogy Resources

Post-Civil War (1870-current) | Reconstruction (1866-1874) | Civil War (1860-1865) | Pre-Civil War (before 1860)

Post-Civil War (1870-current)

1870-1930 United States Federal Census

Selected states on microfilm, all states included in the Ancestry Library Edition database

The Federal Census is the best starting point for any U.S. genealogical research. The Census provides names of family members, their ages at the time of the census, their place of birth, their parent's birthplaces, year of immigration, marriage status and years of marriage, occupation, value of their home and personal belongings.

Cemetery Records

Cemetery records are an excellent resource for finding information about your ancestors. The Library has records for the following local black cemeteries:

Old City Cemetery (a.k.a. Old Duval Colored Cemetery), Parson’s Family Cemetery (a.k.a. Piney Grove), Westview Cemetery (a.k.a. Old Pickett Cemetery, Yukon Cemetery), Palm Springs Cemetery, Mt. Zion AME Cemetery, Jerusalem Baptist Church Cemetery, and Eubank Memorial Cemtery (a.k.a. Bowles or Dees Landing). Each of these cemetery records will be located in the GEN 929.375912 area.

Reconstruction (1866-1874)

Freedmen Records

Created by the War Department in 1865, the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands supervised all relief and educational activities relating to refugees and freedmen, including issuing rations, clothing and medicine.

Index to Freedman’s Bank Records
CD-ROM

Indexes to Deposit Ledgers in Branches of the Freedman's Savings & Trust, 1865-1874.
Microfilm

Registers of Signatures of Depositors in Branches of the Freedman's Savings & Trust, 1865-1874.
Microfilm

Field Office Records (Florida only).
Microfilm

Freedmen’s Bureau Online
– http://freedmensbureau.com/

Southern Claims Commission

The Southern Claims Commission was established in 1871 to review the claims of Southerners who had "furnished stores and supplies for the use of U.S. Army" during the Civil War. Testimonies include a wealth of personal data including names and ages of former slaves, their places of residence, names of slave owners, plantation conditions, wills and probate matters, slave manumissions, slave ownership of property, slave and free black entrepreneurship, conditions of free blacks, and a great deal more on what it was like to live as an African American during slavery and the post-slavery period.

Southern Loyalists in the Civil War: the Southern Claims Commission
GEN 929.375 M657s

Civil War Claims in the South: an Index of Civil War Damage Claims Filed Before the Southern Claims Commission, 1871-1880
GEN 929.375 M657c

Civil War (1860-1865)

Many African Americans fought in the Civil War. The following resources can be used to locate ancestors during the Civil War:

United States Colored Troops, 1863-1867
GEN 973.7415 G543u

The Roster of Union Soldiers, 1861-1865 (volumes 4 & 5)
GEN 973.741 R839

1890 Vets & Widows Census
Microfilm

Civil War Slave Compensation Claims In Compiled Military Service Records of U.S. Colored Troops (USCT)
– http://www.slcl.org/branches/hq/sc/jkh/slaveclaims/index-links.htm

“Census” Department of the South, November 1864, for Jacksonville, Fernandina and St. Augustine, FL
GEN 929.375912 F 636c

This is a census ordered by the United States Federal military authorities, possibly motivated by an effort to register voters under Lincoln’s “10%” reconstruction plan. The enumeration of African Americans would have been of use to the Union military looking for new recruits into the Colored Troops regiments.

Pre-Civil War (before 1860)

1850 & 1860 Slave Census Schedules
Microfilm

This resource can more accurately be described as a census of slave owners. Entries include owner’s name and a listing of slaves by age and gender. Slave names are not included.

Duval County Court Records
Microfilm

Probate records include wills and inventories. Local county records such as wills and inventories often include the slave’s name, age, gender, skills and value.

The County Courthouse Book
GEN 347.7302025 B477c

If you seek records from outside of Duval County, this resource is helpful. It provides addresses and fees for obtaining land, naturalization, probate and vital records throughout the 50 states and U.S. territories.

List of Free Black Heads of Families in the First Census of the United States, 1790
GEN 929.373 N552l

This list provides the head of household’s name, number of persons in the household and county of residence.

District of Columbia Free Negro Registers, 1821-1861
GEN 929.3753 P969d

This set features abstracts from the registers and includes a surname index.

The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography. Volume 17, Florida Narrative
GEN 305.5670973 A512 v.17

This invaluable resource contains transcriptions of interviews conducted by the WPA with former slaves and relatives. The Library also owns the volume for Alabama.

Slave Narratives
Available on Ancestry Library Edition

This database contains over 20,000 pages of type-scripted interviews with more than 3,500 former slaves, collected over a ten-year period by the WPA, Federal Writer’s Project.