African American Resources for Florida

United States Florida  African Americans

A list of resources for researching African American ancestors in Florida.

Internet Sites

 * Lowcountry Africana(@LCAfricana) is dedicated to documenting the family and cultural heritage of African Americans in the historic rice-growing areas of South Carolina, Georgia and extreme northeastern Florida.
 * Florida African American Heritage
 * Access Genealogy: Florida African American Genealogy
 * Genealogy Center, African American Gateway: Florida, has links to societies, transcriptions of manuscripts, and a good bibliography of Florida books concerning African Americans.
 * Florida African American Griots has links to military, cemeteries, censuses, vital records, etc.
 * The Black Experience (African-American Resources in the Florida State Archives)

Cemeteries

 * Access Genealogy. Florida African American Cemeteries. This is a list of African American cemeteries in many of the counties in Florida. Some have links to transcripts of the tombstones in the cemetery. (accessed 6 July 2012)


 * Mel Fisher Maritime Heritage Society. Key West African Cemetery. (accessed 6 July 2012).


 * This report details the evidence of an African cemetery at Higgs Beach in Key West, Florida, and describes how it was located. Includes facsimiles of historical records, maps, and photos. In 1860, the U.S. Navy intercepted three American-owned slave ships taking Africans to Cuba. Now refugees, the Africans were taken to Key West before being sent to Liberia. Many died and were buried at Higgs Beach.

Slave Narratives

 * Access Genealogy. Florida Slave Narratives. (accessed 6 July 2012). Interviews with former slaves done during the 1930s,

Books

 * Brown, Canter, Jr. Florida's Black Public Officials, 1867-1924, (Tuscaloosa, Alabama:University of Alabama Press, c1998).


 * Florida Memory, The Black Experience: A Guide to African American Resources in the State Library and Archives of Florida (accessed 6 April 2012).


 * McGriff, Delbra D. The Black Experience: a Guide to Afro-American Resources in the Florida State Archives, (Tallahassee, Florida: Florida Department of State Division of Library and Information Services, 1991). Revised 2002 digitized version.


 * Richardson, Joe Martin. African Americans in the reconstruction of Florida, 1865-1877. ( Tuscaloosa : University of Alabama Press, [2008]). Find at a library near you.

Records on Film

 * Documents Relating to the Military and Naval Service of Blacks Awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor from the Civil War to the Spanish-American War, (Washington [District of Columbia]:The National Archives, 1973), on 4 microfilm reels.


 * Freedman's Savings and Trust Company (Tallahassee, Florida), Registers of Signatures of Depositors, 1866-1872, (Washington [District of Columbia]: National Archives. Central Plains Region, 1969)..

Archives and Libraries

 * The Black Archives Research Center at the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU). The majority of the archival holdings are records about the history of Africans and African Americans, especially their institutions and organizations, with an impressive holding of manuscripts, rare books, journals, magazines, maps, newspapers, and photographs.


 * Africana Heritage Project at the University of South Florida (USF). Their mission "is to rediscover precious records that document the names and lives of former slaves, freed persons and their descendants, and share those records on this free Internet site."


 * African-American Research Library and Cultural Centerhas branches in various locations. They have resources with information on local history and books from Africa, the Caribbean and North and South America.


 * Florida African American Heritage Preservation Network (FAAHPN) "Its mission is to promote the preservation of African American landmarks and legacies...". It has a directory of Florida African-American museums with links to their web sites.


 * Carol E. Mundy African American Cultural and Diasporic Research Center at the University of Central Florida promotes the study of African American history and research the history that pertains to the central Florida area.


 * State Archives of Florida is the central repository for the state government. It collects historically significant records, including private manuscripts.


 * Florida Memory: Digital Collections at the State Archives of Florida has a section on THE BLACK EXPERIENCE: A Guide to African American Resources in the State Library and Archives of Florida.

Societies

 * Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society, Central Florida Chapter


 * Lee County Black History Society, has the Williams Academy Black History Museum.