Presenter Sharon Leslie Morgan
TEACH basics of family research -- special focus on • African American research techniques DISCUSS how genealogy contributes to healing from • America’s legacy of slavery
Genealogy = record of your ancestors • when they were born • where they lived • who they married • who their children were • where you fit in your family tree • Terms “genealogy” & “family history” • are interchangeable Genealogists need to be historians as • well as genealogists!
HELPS understand who you are • TEACHES research skills & discipline • HELPS find & embrace lost family • BRINGS people to life by humanizing • them with names & faces ENHANCES self esteem • HELPS heal wounds of our past •
• Slavery = systematic exploitation of labor PRIMARY driver of American economic development "Throughout history, slavery and the slave trade PRIMARY source of American wealth have existed in diverse forms and in many societies. In view of its duration, scope, and consequences, the transatlantic slave trade is widely regarded as one of the most appalling tragedies in the history of humanity.” Koïchiro Matsuura Director-General, UNESCO International Day for the Commemoration Slavery ALL of America -- North & South complicit in building/sharing wealth generated by slavery
• 500,000 Africans transported via “Triangular Trade” • 250,000 African Americans “free” in 1860 • 4 million emancipated in 1865 after Civil War • 42+ million descendants alive today
Slaves defined as “chattel” = property not human beings • Slaves held against will from time of capture, purchase, or birth • Deprived of right to leave, refuse to work, or receive compensation for their labor • Enslavement was permanent • Children enslaved based on status of mother • Slavery dehumanized entire race of people based on color of their skin • Slavery severed & obscured family connections •
1860 -- 394,000 people held 4 million • people in bondage 1 in 70 were slaveholders • Average slaveholding was 10 people • Owners of 200+ slaves less than 1% of total • but held 20-30% of all slaves 80% of free adult males in South did • 49% of 55 delegates to not own slaves Constitutional Convention Most slaveholders were Scotch-Irish • owned slaves 12 of first 18 American presidents owned slaves
I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever.” ~ Thomas Jefferson
• Continued for 4 centuries (15 th -19 th ) • 12+ million people stolen from Africa • 3+ million perished in Middle Passage • 500,000+ enslaved in North America “Triangular trade” connected economies of four continents Europe, Africa, North and South America + islands in between
1.2 million enslaved people displaced from Atlantic states to deep South • due to westward expansion & explosion of cotton as cash crop Richmond VA = center of domestic slave trade (1830-1860) • To be “sold down the river” was a fate worse than death
Civil War recovery effort after Emancipation (1865-1877) Goal to redress political, social and economic inequities of slavery • Freedman’s Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands created • Black people allowed to vote & elected to political offices throughout the South • Schools like Tuskegee Institute established to address illiteracy & provide training • Serious discussions about reparations
• After Emancipation, former slaveholders divided plantations into plots suitable for single family farming • Former slaves worked subsistence farms on same land & for same “masters” who had enslaved them • In exchange for land, living quarters & supplies, sharecroppers raised cash crops (usually cotton) & gave half to their landlord • It was a new form of economic dependence & poverty
Racial segregation laws circumscribed lives & ambitions of African Americans for 100+ years
4,730 people lynched (1882-1951) • 3,437 Negroes • 1,293 whites • Men, women & children included • Anti-lynching crusade led by African • American organizations (1890s-1930s) Many instances of lynching recorded to • 1988… and beyond
1877-1940 countless black men, women & children victims of “debt slavery.”
1916-1930 7+ million African Americans migrated out of South > North, Midwest & West 1940-1970 Another 1.6 million people changed location from South > North ❖ Reverse migration in progress ❖ 300,000+ black people returned South from 2005-2010
Continued disparities EUROPE & AMERICA • in every indicator of social well being Enriched • Wealth of western world built on slavery • • Economics AFRICA • wealth gap • • unemployment Impoverished & devastated • • poverty Removal of able-bodied people 18-40 • Health • impaired ability to reproduce economically, • lifespan 5½ years shorter socially & culturally • infant mortality 146% higher Without slavery, 1850 population of Africa • • Education would have doubled • College degree+ 59% lower Today’s poorest African countries are those • • Incarceration from which most slaves were taken • 13% of population/65% of prisoners
GAVIN Bettie Owen Catherine Seborn HUGHES Tom LESLIE & Rhoda REEVES • Alsey born into slavery circa 1850 LESLIE Upon emancipation, Tom, Rhoda & • Tom her mother, Easter, departed plantation @ Lowndes County AL MORASS Harriet Moved to Opelika AL -- married in • 1871 & started a family NICHOLSON By 1890, living @ Montgomery AL, • Samuel where my father was born in 1914 Count Lucy Virgil OWEN Alsey REEVES Easter Rhoda WILLIAMS Jem Susie
Bettie sold as 9-year-old child GAVIN family arrived in America • • in 1695 as indentured servants Transported to MS • Migrated SC > MS • Had 17 children with nephew of • her owner Allen GAVIN = Descendants collectively enslaved • Robert GAVIN 125+ people @ AL & MS
Family trees grow exponentially • Numbers double in each generation • = 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64… After 10 generations, there should be • 1,024 great grandparents 10 generations LOST for • African Americans! Sharon Antonia Leslie (1951 – living)
• Family stories are essential • They always contain a grain of truth • Interview oldest relatives before they pass away
Recommended software Authoritative guide by America’s #1 African American genealogist
ONLINE OFFLINE • • FREE • State archives • • FamilySearch.org • County courthouses • SUBSCRIPTION • Libraries • Ancestry.com • Historical societies • Fold3.com
• US government census every 10 years • First census taken in 1790 • 1870 first census to record African Americans as PEOPLE with surnames • By 1880, many moved and/or changed surnames • Many African Americans did not participate in census, either because of rural locations or fear of being identified • 1940 most recent census released to public 1880 Census LESLIE family @ Opelika AL
• Slaves counted on US censuses from 1790 • 1850 & 1860 schedules most useful to African American researchers GAVIN family collectively owned 125+ people @ Noxubee in 1860
Local enumerations • conducted in Southern states in 1866 after Civil War Many states conduct • censuses in interim years between Federal counts Tom LESLIE & Easter REEVES @ Lowndes County AL
• BMD records kept at county level • Not required in most states until 1912 • Many people born before 1900 do not have birth certificates because they were born at home by midwife Arthur LESLIE - 1914 @ Montgomery AL
Tom & Rhoda LESLIE - 1871 @ Opelika AL
Tom LESLIE - 1939 @ Montgomery AL Rhoda LESLIE - 1954 @ Chicago IL
WWI Draft Registration – Robert LESLIE Sr. WWII Draft Registration – Robert LESLIE Jr.
African Americans must research slaveholder records! • Enslaved people bequeathed in wills, gifted to relatives, mortgaged & sold to satisfy debts • County courthouses maintain estate files that include annual “distribution reports” Thomas RIVES Estate Inventory Tom & Harriett - 1864 @ Dallas County AL
Newspapers • Family Bibles • Cemetery cards • Social Security files • Employment records • Southern Claims Commission • Freedmen’s Bureau • WPA slave narratives • Peonage files • City directories • Tax records • Insurance records • Criminal records • School records • Church records • Associations & clubs •
Not commonly available until 1850s • Luxury for poor people •
5 Civilized Tribes • Cherokee • Choctaw • Chickasaw • Creek • Seminole • Melungeons •
PROVE who you are related to & where your family originated • Y-DNA = father > son • mtDNA = mother > daughter • Autosomal DNA = both sides Makua Mandinka Scotsman West Africa East Africa Scotland
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