African American Resources for Louisiana



Introduction
A list of resources for researching African American ancestors who lived in Louisiana.

Online Resources

 * USGenWeb Project: African American Archives - links to transcriptions and indexes of various African American records in Louisiana
 * Louisiana, Freed Slave Records, 1719-1820
 * Louisiana, Slave Records, 1719-1820
 * — index and images
 * New Orleans, Louisiana, Slave Manifests, 1807-1860 Index and images ($)
 * Images Only.
 * Afro-Louisiana History and Genealogy 1719-1830 - This website provides a searchable database for African-Americans from the Louisiana area.
 * Discover Freedmen - this site searches all of the Freedmen's Bureau record collections on FamilySearch altogether (and redirects there)
 * Freedman's Bank Records, 1865-1874
 * United States, Freedmen's Bureau Marriages, 1861-1872
 * U.S., Freedmen’s Bureau Marriage Records, 1846-1867 ($)
 * U.S., Freedmen's Bureau Records of Field Offices, 1863-1878 ($) index and images
 * Slave and Free People of Color Baptismal Records (Archdiocese of New Orleans Office of Archives)
 * Louisiana. Parish Court (Orleans Parish), Index to Slave Emancipation Petitions, 1814-1843
 * A Partial Transcription of Inward Slave Manifests, Port of New Orleans (1818 to 1860), index
 * Louisiana Death Records 1911-1956
 * Louisiana African American Griot

History
See these websites to learn more about African Americans in Louisiana history:
 * Historic Pathways. Elizabeth Shown Mills. (An online archives of many peer-reviewed articles and papers relating to Louisiana's Creole history, particular Cane River and the Red River Valley.)
 * Louisiana National Register of Historic Places (Excellent resource with photos and history)
 * USGenWeb Project: History
 * Louisiana Slavery: An Introduction

See these books and articles to learn more about African Americans in Louisiana history:
 * Dunbar-Nelson, Alice. "People of Color in Louisiana: Part I". The Journal of Negro History vol. 1, no. 4 (October 1916): 361-376.
 * Perkins, A. E., ed. Who's Who in Colored Louisiana, 1930. Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Douglas Loan CO., 1930].
 * The Large Slaveholder of Louisiana 1860. Joseph Karl Menn. New Orleans: Pelican Publishing Co., 1964.
 * Bonham, Milledge L. Jr. "Reconstruction in Louisiana after 1868". The Mississippi Valley Historical Review Vol. 5, No. 3 (December 1918): 366-368.

Biographies

 * USGenWeb Project: Biography Records
 * Perkins, A.E.Who's Who in Colored Louisiana. Baton Rouge, La.: Douglas Loan Co., 1930.
 * Burkett, Randall K., Nancy Hall, Henry Louis Gates, Jr.. eds. Black Biographical Dictionaries. Alexandria, Virginia: Chadwyck-Healy, Inc., 198-.

Cemeteries

 * USGenWeb Project: Cemeteries
 * FindAGrave
 * Bossier Parish Cemeteries

Census Records

 * USGenWeb Project: Census Records

Church Records

 * USGenWeb Project: Church Records
 * Slave and Free People of Color Baptismal Records (Archdiocese of New Orleans Office of Archives)

Emancipation Records

 * Louisiana. Parish Court (Orleans Parish), Index to Slave Emancipation Petitions, 1814-1843

Plantation

 * Plantation Records (Caddo and Bossier Parishes)

Military Records

 * USGenWeb Project: Military Records

Newspapers

 * USGenWeb Project: News Records
 * Newspaper Webindex:The Louisiana Newspaper Project

Freedman’s Bank
An excellent source is the Freedman’s Savings and Trust Company (visit the African American Freedman's Savings and Trust Company Records page to learn more). This company was created to assist African American soldiers of the Civil War and freed slaves. Freedman’s Savings and Trust Company signature cards or registers from 3 March 1865 to 25 July 1874 may list the name of the depositor, date of entry, age, birthplace, residence, complexion, name of employer or occupation, wife or husband’s name, death information, children’s names, name of father and mother, brothers’ and sisters’ names, remarks, and signature. Early books sometimes contained the name of the former master or mistress and the name of the plantation. Copies of death certificates were sometimes attached to the entries. The collection is organized alphabetically by state, then city where the bank was located, then date the account was established, then account number.

Online collections of Freedman's Bank records:
 * United States, Freedman's Bank Records, 1865-1874
 * U.S., Freedman's Bank Records, 1865-1871 ($)

Freedmen's Bureau
The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands was created by the US government in 1865 until 1872 to assist former slaves in the southern United States. The Bureau created a wide variety of records extremely valuable to genealogists. Such documents include censuses, marriage records, and medical records. These records often include full names, former masters and plantations, and current residences. For 1865 and 1866, the section on abandoned and confiscated lands includes the names of the owners of the plantations or homes that were abandoned, confiscated, or leased. It gives the county and location, a description of the house, the number of acres owned, and the number of cabins of former slaves. These films do not appear to contain the names of former slaves.

To find Freedmen's Bureau records:

Other FamilySearch collections not included:
 * DiscoverFreedmen - the search on this site will utilize all of the Freedmen's Bureau records on FamilySearch, including:
 * Images Only.
 * Images only. These reports primarily contain statistical and historical information.
 * More collections are available in the FamilySearch Catalog. Search for "FREEDMEN - INDIANA" in the Subjects search bar to find.
 * Images only. These reports primarily contain statistical and historical information.
 * More collections are available in the FamilySearch Catalog. Search for "FREEDMEN - INDIANA" in the Subjects search bar to find.

Visit the African American Freedmen's Bureau Records page to learn more about utilizing these records.

School Records

 * USGenWeb Project: School Records

Slavery Records

 * USGenWeb Project: Slavery Records
 * Records Relating to Slavery, Free People of Color, and Freedmen
 * Index to Slave Emancipation Petitions, 1814-1843 (Orleans Parish Court)
 * Bossier Parish, Louisiana 1860 Slaveholder and 1870 African-Americans
 * A Partial Transcription of Inward Slave Manifests
 * Louisiana, Freed Slave Records, 1719-1820
 * Louisiana, Slave Records, 1719-1820
 * New Orleans, Louisiana, Slave Manifests, 1807-1860 Index and images ($)
 * Claire Prechtel-Kluskens. New Orleans Slave Manifests, 1807-60 NGS Magazine 34 #4 (October-December 2008): 41-45.
 * Slave and Free People of Color Baptismal Records (Archdiocese of New Orleans Office of Archives)

Vital Records

 * Alphabetical Birth Indexes for Orleans Parish 1796-1900 by USGenWeb

Marriage

 * USGenWeb Project: Vital Records
 * Marriage Records for Caddo and Bossier Parishes (A-F)

The Freedmen's Bureau (1865-1872) was created by the US government to assist former slaves in the southern United States. One of their responsibilities was to record the marriages (past and present) of the former slaves. These records can be found in the collections below and include the lists of marriages that occurred previously, marriage certificates, and marriage licenses. The information contained on the records may include the name of the husband and wife/groom and bride, age, occupation, residence, year or date of marriage, by whom, number of children, and remarks.
 * United States, Freedmen's Bureau Marriages, 1861-1872
 * U.S., Freedmen’s Bureau Marriage Records, 1846-1867

Death

 * Louisiana Deaths, 1850-1875, 1894-1960 - information may include name, death date and place, gender, age, race, birthplace, parents and their birthplaces, cause of death, and burial date and place
 * USGenWeb Project: Obituaries
 * Louisiana Death Records 1911-1956

Archives and Libraries
The Amistad Research Center Tulane University Tilton Hall 6823 St. Charles Avenue New Orleans, LA 70118 Phone: (504) 862-3222

The Amistad Research Center is the nation's oldest, largest and most comprehensive independent archive specializing in the history of African Americans and other ethnic groups.

New Orleans Public Library 219 Loyola Avenue New Orleans, LA 70112 Phone: (504) 596-2560

The New Orleans Public Library has a large African American collection. See African-American Genealogy Sources for more information.

River Road African American Museum 406 Charles Street Donaldsonville, LA 70346 Phone: (225) 474-5553 Email: kathe@aamuseum.org

Tangipahoa African American Heritage Museum & Veterans Archives 1600 Phoenix Square Hammond, LA 70403 Phone: 985-542-4259

Louisiana Digital Archives

Societies

 * Forgotten People: Cane River's Creoles of Color - a Facebook page providing resources about a community in Natchitoches (northwestern Louisiana) founded during colonial days by a Creole family.
 * Louisiana Lineage Legacies - a blog dedicated to sharing and exchanging genealogical information concerning Louisiana research