African-American Family History Research

African-American Heritage Database
This deep web resource is exclusively devoted to African-American family history research.  Search essential historical records for African-Americans, including federal census, marriage and cohabitation records, military draft and service records, registers of slaves and free(d) persons of color, Freedman’s Bank and more. It provides users a dedicated resource that not only brings together records critical to African-American family research, but also connects them to a community of research experts, whose mentoring and assistance frequently can lead to research success. Note: This database may only be accessed on-site at the Rudisill Regional Library.  

Aboard the Underground Railroad  
Introduces travelers, researchers, historians, preservationists and anyone interested in African-American history to the fascinating people and places associated with the Underground Railroad. The itinerary currently provides descriptions and photographs on 60 historic places listed in the National Park Service's National Register of Historic Places, America's official list of places important in our history and worthy of preservation. It also includes a map of the most common directions of escape taken on the Underground Railroad and maps of individual states that mark the location of the historic properties.

African-American Civil War Memorial 
The mission of the African-American Civil War Museum is to preserve and tell the stories of the United States Colored Troops and African-American involvement in the American Civil War.  This site utilizes a rich collection of primary resources, educational programming and technology to create a meaningful learning experience focused on this pivotal time in American history.  

The African-American Mosaic
A Library of Congress resource guide for the study of African-American history and culture, this website covers nearly 500 years of the Black experience in the Western hemisphere and surveys the library's collection, including books, periodicals, prints, photographs, music, film and recorded sound. 

African-American Odyssey 
This site showcases the incomparable African-American collections of the Library of Congress. Displaying more than 240 items, including books, government documents, manuscripts, maps, musical scores, plays, films and recordings, this is the largest black history exhibit ever held at the library, and the first exhibition of any kind to feature presentations in all three of the Library of Congress' buildings.

African-American Sheet Music, 1850-1920: Selected from the Collections of Brown University
The sheet music in this digital collection has been selected from the Sheet Music Collection at the John Hay Library at Brown University. The full collection consists of approximately 500,000 items, of which perhaps 250,000 are currently available for use. It is one of the largest collections of sheet music in any library in the United States. The sheet music, primarily vocal music of American imprint, dates from the 18th century to the present day, with the largest concentration of titles in the period 1840-1950.

American Slave Narratives: An Online Anthology  
These narratives capture the very voices of American slavery, revealing the texture of life as it was experienced and remembered. Each narrative taken alone offers a fragmentary, microcosmic representation of slave life. Read together, they offer a sweeping composite view of slavery in North America, allowing us to explore some of the most compelling themes of 19th century slavery, including labor, resistance and flight, family life, relations with masters and religious belief.

"I will be heard! Abolitionism in America
From Cornell University, Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, this well-organized, content-rich site offers a wide range of authoritative information including profiles of prominent abolitionists, slave narratives, background on the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th Amendment, critical resources on Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" and much more.

National Underground Railroad Freedom Center  
The exhibitions and programs of the Freedom Center celebrate freedom's heroes, those brave men and women who came together to create a secret network through which the enslaved could escape to freedom. From their example of courage, cooperation and perseverance, we relate this uniquely American history to contemporary issues, inspiring everyone to take steps for freedom today.

negrospirituals.com
This site presents a brief narrative of the development of spirituals sung by blacks in the United States along with information about singers, songs and composers. It includes a searchable list of songs with lyrics and related links.  

River Road African-American Museum 
The River Road African-American Museum is dedicated to collecting, preserving, exhibiting and interpreting art, artifacts and buildings for the purpose of educating visitors about the history and culture of African-Americans in the rural communities between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, La.