African American Genealogy – Page 2

Archives

“In the way that all slaves were married”: The Legal Legacy of Unjust Laws

To what lengths would you go to prove your identity if you had no documentation? One formerly enslaved woman was able to do so 150…

Tracy HarterAugust 11, 2021

Archives Digital Projects The Stacks

Virginia Untold Hires Grant-Funded Project Manager

Hi, I’m Lydia, the new Project Manager for Virginia Untold. I’m using this blog post to introduce myself and my interest in this project. Going…

Lydia NeurothJune 30, 2021

Digital Projects

“She was, before her marriage, an accomplished teacher.”

Sometimes after a long day of looking at archival documents on my computer screen, I go home and relax by looking at archival documents on…

Jessi BennettMarch 24, 2021

Archives

Chancery Causes for Lynchburg and More!

The Library of Virginia is pleased to announce the addition of the city of Lynchburg Chancery Causes, 1805-1827, to the Chancery Records Index. The collection…

Greg CrawfordOctober 9, 2019

Archives

Virginia Untold: Lancaster County Fiduciary Records 1657-1872

CONTENT WARNING: Materials in the Library of Virginia’s collections contain historical terms, phrases, and images that are offensive to modern readers. These include demeaning and…

Greg CrawfordAugust 29, 2019

Archives Digital Projects The Stacks

Library of Virginia and Virginia Museum of History & Culture Merge Databases of Records of Enslaved Virginians

The Virginia Museum of History & Culture (VMHC) and the Library of Virginia are cooperating to provide greater access to African American history and genealogy…

Greg CrawfordFebruary 21, 2019

Newspapers

Reading Obituaries as Historical Texts

On February 19, 1887, the Afro-American Churchman published an obituary for Reverend Samuel V. Berry. From this entry, we learn how Rev. Berry received his…

Kim BowmanSeptember 5, 2018

Newspapers

Researching African American Newspapers

The Virginia Newspaper Project loves promoting the Virginia Chronicle newspaper database, but if you need to expand your research from Virginia to other U.S. states,…

Errol SomayFebruary 22, 2017

Archives Conservation The Stacks

Westmoreland County Cohabitation Registers Now Online

Last summer, the Westmoreland County Circuit Court Clerk Gwynne Chatham contacted the Library of Virginia concerning old marriage records that staff discovered in her office.…

Greg CrawfordJanuary 4, 2017

Newspapers

The Planet and Beyond: an update on African American Newspapers at the Library of Virginia

A single extant issue of the Reformer, an African American newspaper published in Richmond from 1895-1931, was recently added to Virginia Chronicle, the Library’s free and searchable…

Kelley EwingMay 17, 2016

Archives Digital Projects

Virginia Untold: The African American Narrative Digital Collection

In 1820, Rachel Findley won freedom for herself and more than 35 of her descendants in a Powhatan County court in a law suit dating…

Greg CrawfordFebruary 3, 2016

Archives Digital Projects

Virginia Untold: Freedom Suits

This is the first in a series of blog posts on the record types found in the forthcoming Library of Virginia research database: Virginia Untold: The…

Chris SmithJanuary 6, 2016

Archives Digital Projects

Sometimes You DO Find a Needle in a Haystack: The Augusta Co. Cohabitation Register

Cohabitation registers are among the most important genealogical resources for African-Americans attempting to connect their family lines back through the murky past to their enslaved…

Sarah NerneyJuly 29, 2015

Archives Conservation Digital Projects

Henry County Cohabitation Register Update

The conservation of the original pages of the Henry County Cohabitation Register has recently been completed. Previously, only a poorly and confusingly microfilmed version of this…

Sarah NerneyFebruary 25, 2015

Archives

Montgomery County’s African American History

The varied experience of the African American residents of Montgomery County, Virginia, reveals itself in many documentary sources, but perhaps none as unexpected to some…

Sarah NerneyJuly 2, 2014