The Remonds of Salem: African American Abolitionists (part 1)
Introduction: In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry begins telling the history and genealogy of the Remonds family, African American abolitionists in Salem, Massachusetts. Melissa is a genealogist...
View ArticleGenealogy Tips: Surprising Finds in Runaway Ads
Introduction: In this article, Katie Rebecca Merkley explores a genealogy resource often overlooked: runaway ads for indentured servants and slaves. Katie specializes in U.S. research for family...
View ArticleLancaster County Quaker Abolitionists & the Underground Railroad (part 2)
Introduction: In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry writes more about some of the prominent abolitionist families who for many years acted as “conductors” on the Underground Railroad in Lancaster...
View ArticleLancaster County Quaker Abolitionists & the Underground Railroad (part 1)
Introduction: In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry writes about some of the prominent abolitionist families who for many years acted as “conductors” on the Underground Railroad in Lancaster County,...
View ArticleBrave Abolitionists on New England’s Underground Railroad, Part II
Introduction: In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry continues her story about two brothers, William and Francis Jackson, who helped fugitive slaves on the Underground Railroad in Massachusetts....
View ArticleBrave Abolitionists on New England’s Underground Railroad
Introduction: In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry searches old newspapers to learn about two brothers, William and Francis Jackson, who helped fugitive slaves on the Underground Railroad in...
View ArticleMinnesota Gained Statehood at a Troubled Time
It was a proud moment for residents of the eastern half of Minnesota Territory when Minnesota was admitted into the Union as the 32nd state on 11 May 1858. However, the country they entered was in the...
View ArticleAnti-Slavery Kansas Pioneers Thank Preacher for Bibles – and Guns
The Connecticut Kansas Colony, an anti-slavery group led by Charles B. Lines in New Haven, Connecticut, was gathering supplies and funds in 1855 for their immigration to the Kansas Territory. The group...
View ArticleOn This Day: Maine Enters Union as Part of Slavery Compromise
The state of Maine is rugged country, with its rocky North Atlantic shoreline, mountainous, heavily-forested interior, and demanding winters. Its people are hardy, as they have to be in coping with its...
View ArticleAfrican American Genealogy Tip: Information Wanted Ads
Introduction: In this article – in honor of February being Black History Month – Gena Philibert-Ortega gives tips for using “Information Wanted” newspaper ads for African American genealogy. Gena is a...
View ArticleBlack History Month: Searching for Sojourner Truth
Introduction: In this article, to help celebrate Black History Month, Jane Hampton Cook searches old newspapers to learn more about Sojourner Truth, including her meeting with Abraham Lincoln in...
View ArticleJuneteenth: Texas Slaves Freed at Last
Juneteenth, a uniquely American holiday, celebrates the declaration by Union Army General Gordon Granger on 19 June 1865 in Galveston, Texas, that “all slaves are free” – the last remaining slaves of...
View ArticleDred Scott Decision: Supreme Court Denied Citizenship to Blacks
In one of the most controversial decisions in the nation’s judicial history, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its Dred Scott v. Sandford decision on 6 March 1857, ruling that Blacks could not be citizens...
View ArticleBorn in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers’ Project, 1936-1938
Introduction: In this article, Gena Philibert-Ortega writes about an important resource for African American history and genealogy: slave narratives recorded by the Federal Writers’ Project. Gena is a...
View ArticleOn This Day: U.S. House Promises No Interference with Slavery
February 1861 was a time of great stress and conflict in the United States. On February 1 Texas became the seventh state to secede from the Union. On February 4 the first six seceding states (in...
View ArticleResources to Trace African American Slave Ancestry
FamilySearch recently announced it is working with the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, the Afro-American Historical & Genealogical Society and the California...
View ArticleGenealogy 101: Using Records from the Freedmen’s Bureau
Introduction: In this article – part of an ongoing “Introduction to Genealogy” series – Gena Philibert-Ortega gives tips for using the records of the Freedmen’s Bureau, 1865-1872. Gena is a genealogist...
View ArticleGenealogy Discoveries: A Look into John Brown Russwurm’s Life
Introduction: In this article – to help celebrate February being Black History Month – Mary Harrell-Sesniak searches old newspapers to learn more about publisher, journalist and abolitionist John Brown...
View ArticleFormer Slave’s Story: ‘I Bought My Freedom’
Do you know me? My name is Lewis Hathaway (1824-1897), I was born 194 years ago in Kentucky, on 5 January 1824. I was born into slavery and was sold to Judge J.R. Peters. I worked out an agreement to...
View ArticleSlaves’ Lives: Biographical Sketches from America’s Newspapers
We are fortunate that the pages of America’s newspapers have recorded over 2 billion stories of Americans from the last three centuries. GenealogyBank’s Historical Newspaper Archives contain these...
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