Personalized African American

African American Research

African American research can be very challenging. Most families are sitting on a wealth of information and don’t even realize it. Reunions are something most African American families are passionate about. Every two years most families unite, take pictures and share many stories related to their family. Some families make a book with this information.

Information gathered at these reunions can be a great starting point to do an individual’s family history. Families tended to live near each other and assist each other where needed. Tracking the families via the census can help document their families from 1930 to the 1870 census. Previous to the 1870 census, only the free black and their families were listed on the 1860 and 1850 census, etc. But, even tracing to the 1870’s, where some ancestors births are recorded in the late 1790’s, can be a great find!

A great website for African American research is http://www.afrigeneas.com. AfriGeneas is a site devoted to African American genealogy, to researching African Ancestry in the Americas in particular and to genealogical research and resources in general. It is also an African Ancestry research community featuring the AfriGeneas mail list, the AfriGeneas message boards and daily and weekly genealogy chats.

Many descendants of slave owners are realizing the importance of slave records in helping African American’s doing their own family research. These descendants are sharing documentation to the public and posting on the internet the slavery records that show families and other important genealogical information. Race barriers are more quickly broken in the genealogy research as we all desire to help each other. We tend to understand the importance of learning our family heritage and respect all cultures.

One of the most important helps an individual can do is sharing their finds. See if there is a county website for Your Family’s residence and send them a copy of your family records (leaving off personal notes and information on the living). Donate your records to the local library and post to the internet. As a side note, ALWAYS remember to document your sources. Sources are where you found your facts, whether positive or negative. This will save you endless time in reviewing information.

These are the records that you should look for among all family members:

• Family Bibles

• Birth, Marriage and Death Certificates

• Divorce Records

• Wills

• Deeds to Property

• Old Letters

• Photographs

• Plaques, Awards, Honors and other Memorabilia

• School Certificates

• Insurance Papers

• Funeral Programs

• Obituaries

• Funeral Programs

• Membership Cards

• Anniversary Programs for Organizations and Churches

• School and College Yearbooks

• Military Discharge Papers

• Any other sources with names and dates

These sources, if they exist, will help you to complete your first charts and guide you to finding additional records. Make sure you make copies of everything that you find, including photographs. As African American families do their genealogy and share with their descendants, this knowledge will be handed down to future generations. This will give an added knowledge and strength as they learn about their ancestor’s struggles and accomplishments.

About the Author

Check out more articles from Tina Sansone at
Genealogy@Bellaonline.com

1913... what does it mean?

Ok, so I used to make those personalized license plates for the front of cars, and I always had african american people come in and request a plate that simply read " 1913 ". I see this plate ALL OVER Durham, NC, but never ona white person's car. I have always wondered what it meant and even asked 2 of my customers and one said, "Nothing. It's just a black person thing." and another lied and said it was a fraternity thing... I wikidepia'd it and all I can tell that happened that year was harriet tubman died of pnemonia on march 10th... that can't be it!! What does that plate MEAN!? I don't know why it drives me crazy not to know!

1913 in a critical number in Black American history because it represents the perfect white American lie.

It serves as a "never forget, never forgive" silent reminder.

The year 1913 was the 50th anniversary of the Emancipation proclamation (never forget). It was also the year President Woodrow Wilson began government wide segregation of work places, restrooms, and lunch rooms. (Never forgive)

This Presidential sanction to segregate, which the southern white society was to happy to implement, split our 20th century nation into two classes in such a way that they would NEVER be united again.

1913=Never forget, never forgive

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