African American Resources for South Carolina

United States   South Carolina    African Americans

This Wiki page describes research strategies, and major sources of information about African American families from South Carolina. As you read this Wiki page, also study the African American Research Wiki pages, which will help you understand more strategies, and the contents and uses of other African American genealogical records.

Many resources exist that document the lives of African-Americans, however, few people know about them. Visit this page often to learn about proven stategies and records which will help document African-American progenitors who lived in South Carolina.

Resources

 * African-American Funeral Homes
 * African-American Historical Places
 * Militia Enrollments, 1869
 * Newspapers

Vital Records

 * Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Marriage Records 1885-1951
 * Social Security Death Index
 * Voter's Records
 * WWI Draft Registrations (1917-1918)
 * Obituary Index/Death Records

Census

 * Heinegg, Paul. "'Other Free' Heads of Household in the 1790 South Carolina Census, by County," Free African Americans.com. Extracts from census arranged by enumeration districts.
 * Heinegg, Paul. "'Other Free' Heads of Household in the 1800 South Carolina Census, by County/District," Free African Americans.com. Extracts from census arranged by enumeration districts.
 * Heinegg, Paul. "'Other Free' Heads of Household on the 1810 South Carolina Census, by Family Name," Free African Americans.com.Extracts from census arranged by enumeration districts.

Plantation Records

 * Records of southern plantations from emancipation to the great migration. Series C, Selections from the South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina; Ira Berlin; Ariel W Simmons; South Caroliniana Library;  Bethesda, MD : LexisNexis, ©2004
 * A genealogical index to the guides of the microfilm edition of Records of Ante-bellum Southern Plantations from the Revolution through the Civil War / compiled by Jean L. Cooper; [Bloomington, Ind.] : 1stBooks, ©2003.
 * History of the American Negro
 * Cemeteries
 * City Directories

Reconstruction

 * Hurrah for Hampton!: Black Red Shirts in South Carolina during Reconstruction By Edmund L. Drago (Google Books)
 * The Miscellaneous Documents of the Senateof the United States...‎1877 (Google Books)
 * Congressional serial set By United States. Government Printing Office (Google Books) See also Angela McComas, Congress and My Family History (12 minute online video) FamilySearch Research Classes Online, and Mid-Continent Public Library Midwest Genealogy Center, 2010.
 * Evidence taken by the Committee of Investigation of the Third Congressional...(Google Books)

Genealogy

 * Paul Heinegg, Free African Americans of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland and Delaware] at http://freeafricanamericans.com/ (accessed 22 October 2010). About 2,000 pages of family histories based on colonial court order and minute books 1790-1810 census records, tax lists, wills, deeds, free Negro registers, marriage bonds, parish registers, and Revolutionary War pension files.

History
South Carolina African American History and Resources has timelines and lessons on topics like slavery, the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the Twentieth Century.

Online Resources

 * Inventory of SC Church Archives 1937-1939
 * Census of the city of Charleston, South Carolina: for the year 1861 By Charleston (S.C.). City Council
 * 1850-1880 US Agricultural Schedule for Abbeville-York Counties
 * The Andrea Files
 * South Carolina Department of Archives and History Online Records Index (SCDAH)
 * Search the holdings at SCDAH Search for these specific records: Freedmen's, freeholders, negro, manumissions, arrest warrants, marriage licenses,
 * South Carolina Deaths 1915-1943
 * South Carolina Deaths 1944-1955
 * South Caroliniana Library: Manuscript Division
 * South Carolina Slave Trader's List
 * Newberry Library Resources: South Carolina
 * In My Father's House Are Many Mansions: Family and Community in Edgefield, South Carolina.
 * South Carolina Statewide Indexes and Collections
 * South Carolina Historical Background
 * South Carolina Resources at AfriGeneas

Family History Library 1771-1868 Bills of Sale of Slaves and Manumissions: South Carolina.