Digging deeper.

If you are planning a family reunion and don't know much about your family history, you will probably need to launch a search first. Even if you do know much family history, relatives will always enjoy learning more, and reunions are optimum times to gather more information, record family trees and take oral histories from older relatives. Although tracing African American stories presents its own challenges, many books, Internet sources and professional genealogists have sprung up to help you in your search.

The following is an excerpt from Roots Recovered! The How to Guide for Tracing African-American and West Indian Roots Back to Africa and Going There--For Free or on a Shoestring Budget by James E. White, Esq. and Jean-Gontran Quenum, MBA, Booklocker.com, January 2004, $14.95, ISBN 1-591-13465-X. Used by permission of James E. White.

In Search of Roots

It has been almost 30 years since the miniseries Roots graced the TV screens across the United States and roused an interest in genealogy for people of African descent in North America and the Caribbean.

However, the search for the roots of African Americans and West Indians is not as easy as the search for the roots of people of European descent. This is because the vast majority of African Americans and West Indians are the descendants of the African slaves brought to the "New World," so tracing their roots is very difficult. It is difficult because slaves had no legal rights, thus they are not found in many of the traditional record sources for that period. Do not let this impediment stop your quest for your roots. It is not insurmountable. If Alex Haley did it, so can you.

Nevertheless, the record sources for West Indians may be easier to find because of the geographical limits of the islands and availability of the slave owner's records and other public records concerning slaves. Furthermore, a lot of islands managed to retain some African traditions that can be traced back to Africa....

Trace Your Family Tree Back to 1870

Eighteen-seventy is a very important year for African American genealogy research because the majority of African Americans living in the United States prior to the Civil War were enslaved, and the 1870 census is the first one to list all African Americans by name. Take your ancestors back to that date. To do that you should research your ancestors in the standard genealogical records.

Identify the Last Slave Owner

Before you take for granted that your ancestors were slaves prior to the Civil War, remember that one in every 10 African Americans were free when the Civil War commenced in 1861. If you are not sure, then go to the U.S. Free Population Schedules of the 1860 census.

Family Sources

If you are certain that your ancestors were slaves at that time, you should identify their last slave owner. Generally, the slaves took on the name of their former owners when the Emancipation Proclamation freed them but many did not and chose to name themselves. You must delve deeply in the records to prove the name of the last slave owner before you can continue your research. Records include but are not limited to county histories, records of the Freedman's Savings and Trust Bureau, the Freedman's Bureau, slave narratives, the Southern Claims Commission and Military Records, especially those specific to "Colored Troops."

Research the Slave Owner and Slavery

Since slaves were property, once you find the slave owner, search the records to find out what he did with his property. Research wills, probate records, plantation records, bills of sale, land deeds and runaway slave information in old newspapers....

Back to the Motherland

The majority of African Americans came from a definable section of West Africa. Records of slave sales and auctions, slave advertisements, ship manifests and logs may give you clues where your slave ancestor was from in Africa. Learn everything about how, when and why the slaves were transported to the state in which you found your last slave owner. Also, learn the history of the Underground Railroad as it pertains to your family, if possible. Trace the Underground Railroad backwards to where your slave ancestor embarked.

From the Caribbean

At the end of World War II, a large number of West Indians emigrated from the Caribbean to the United States. If you discover that your ancestors are from the Caribbean, you must trace them back to their Caribbean island, and then if possible back to Africa....

Also, once you identify your Caribbean roots, go to your island and critically examine the traditions and festivals of that particular island and compare them with specific ethnic groups and geographical regions in West Africa ...

Oral History 

... Foreign sounding words used by your family to describe everyday activities like eating, going to the bathroom or sometimes epithets used in anger may be a link to your African heritage. My family has slave stories in which I was able to easily identify the name of the last slaveholder on my maternal grandmother's side. Remember, there are a lot of people who knew former slaves. Talk to your oldest relatives about oral history, you may be surprised.

Roots Recovered! offers many other tips and more detailed information on searching African American genealogy through records in the United States, the Caribbean and Africa. It is also a comprehensive source of information on travel to Africa with guides to specific countries, ranging from Benin to Mauritania. It also lists additional books and Web resources for researching family histories and traveling to homelands. White is an American-born lawyer and Quenum is a businessman and native of Benin. They have traveled extensively throughout Africa.

See our Web site, www.bibookreview.com, for additional resources for researching African American genealogy.