African American Genealogy [View all]
So, I've been doing genealogy for years and have traced my husband's and my line back to the late 1700's. It was pretty easy because we are both Caucasian. None of my three daughters have ever really cared so much about it, but I have hope that maybe one of my grandsons will. One of them is 1 year old now and both his mother and his father are Caucasian.
My my newest grandson is of mixed race. His father is African American. He got me all the information that they knew about his parents/grandparents. As I've been tracing his line, it's (for obvious reasons) been difficult. A couple of the families I got back to the Civil War, but I can't find them (or I can only guess) who the slaveowners were based on the ages. Add that to the fact that he came from a small place in the middle of nowhere (I'm not kidding... look up Fitzgerald, GA), very little health care, shortened life spans and it's been difficult to trace.
Those of you who are African American or who have researched African American genealogy - can you give me some websites/places to look? I've already found a couple (Afrigeneas.com, Cyndi's list, and the Freedman's Bureau site), but was wondering if I'm going about this the wrong way or something.
So - is it just a matter of "stick to it" or is there an easier way of going about this?
P.S. the treatment of African Americans in Southern GA after emancipation and into the early 20th century is heartbreaking. So many stillbirths from lack of health care, etc. I found a death certificate for a 22 year old African American who died in 1925 from "falling out of a truck and breaking his neck". I find that suspicious.