Genealogy of Enslaved People
Within this amazing BPN community, perhaps someone has info to answer this question:
Through the magic of AncestryDNA, I have discovered that not only were some of my forbears tobacco farmers in the antebellum South who owned enslaved Black people, I also have West African DNA myself. This was a surprise, as I have always identified as Irish-American.
We have a few data that shed light on these matters: an 1850 list of Kentucky slave-owners, including my second great grandfather;.a "runaway slave" newspaper ad posted by.him; and the names of enslaved women and their children ,written in the family Bible.
I recently heard that a new digital data base has gone live, that helps descendants trace ancestors though the process of slave sales, the Middle Passage, and African countries of origin.
Does anyone have information on this? Thank you.
Parent Replies
Try looking through this resource compiled by the National Archives: chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.archives.gov/files/calendar/genealogy-fair/2018/2-kluskens-…
It's good to remember that not all records are digitized, and if you are searching for something from a specific region, you may need to consult the archives in person. Sometimes archives has a list of local researchers who will conduct research for you for a fee.
Best of luck
These resources from an organization called Reparations Generation are focused on genealogy of enslaved persons, but they might be aware of other relevant databases: Restorative Genealogy with guests Lotte Lieb Dula, founder of Reparations4slavery.com, and Kellie Farrish, RepGen Board Member and Professional Genealogist. They will be presenting a discussion at a virtual meeting of Reparations Generation on July 30.
Ancestry.com very(!) recently released a database Records of Enslaved People. A short bit about it from NPR: https://www.npr.org/2024/06/18/nx-s1-5002241/this-database-could-help-descendants-of-enslaved-people-learn-about-their-ancestry
National Geographic also had an article a few years ago A new tool hopes to uncover the lost ancestry of enslaved African Americans about Enslaved.org, another research tool