African American genealogy

[2] In the twenty-first century, the internet has made the resources uniquely necessary to African American genealogy available to the public and the individual's personal ability to research, create, and maintain their own family tree has dramatically increased.

[3] DNA testing can help African Americans trace their ancestry to general regions in Africa.

Genealogists use a number of resources – including, but not limited to, census records, death certificates, family trees, and oral histories – to document ancestral relationships and lines.

African American genealogy can be challenging; tracking lost ancestors requires creativity and extensive research.

Slavery, racial prejudice, and Jim Crow laws mean that many records are inaccessible, unavailable, or incomplete.

Slaveholders’ records can provide hints or other clues about African Americans’ ancestry or their enslaved ancestors’ movements and life.

[10] Property deeds will often include information about when one person is transferring the ownership of their slave to the new buyer.

Many newly freed slaves would choose the name of a popular person whom they admired, or considered influential and important.

Some examples include changing their name out of admiration for a black or white abolitionist, or even to the surname of a U.S. president.

Other freed slaves changed their names for reasons such as occupation, skills that they held, or a place where they had lived.

It supervised relief efforts to help millions of African Americans transition from slavery to freedom and citizenship; moreover, the Bureau also supported impoverished whites with aid and provided general assistance in the postwar Southern states.

This list does not satisfy particular standards for completeness; nevertheless, they can guide African Americans in their search for finding their ancestors.

[3] Companies such as 23andMe, Ancestry.com, and MyHeritage all offer DNA test kits that allow people to trace their heritage back to approximate geographic locations.

[4] For African Americans in the United States, who are often unsure of exactly where their ancestors were taken from as slaves, these results can be emotionally liberating.

There is also a medico-ethical criticism often raised against using DNA testing to assist with building genograms specifically to help with identity development.