African American Migration



A record of major migrations of African Americans and precipitating events.

Emigration to Canada

 * Benjamin Drew. A north-side view of slavery : the refugee, or, The narratives of fugitive slaves in Canada related by themselves, with an account of the history and condition of the colored population of Upper Canada. Boston: John P. Jewett and Company, 1856. Digital Book
 * George Hendrick. Black refugees in Canada : accounts of escape during the era of slavery. Jefferson, McFarland & Co., 2010. FHL 971 H6h
 * S.G. Howe. The Refugees from Slavery in Canada West. Report to the Freedmen's Inquiry Commission. Boston: Wright & Potter, printers, 1864.
 * Freedmen's Inquiry Commission

American Revolution
American slaves migrated to Canada in search of freedom after the American Revolution See: Africans in Canada

Underground Railroad

 * Underground Railroad National Historical Park - Selected Routes of the Underground Railroad. NAID 33754822 - National Archives
 * National Scenic Byway- Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad (Maryland) NAID 68886418 - National Archives
 * Freedom on the Move. A database of fugitives from American Slavery. Cornell University
 * William Still.The underground rail road : a record of facts, authentic narratives, letters, &c., narrating the hardships, hair-breadth escapes, and death struggles of the slaves in their efforts for freedom, as related by themselves and others or witnessed by the author : together with sketches of some of the largest stockholders and most liberal aiders and advisers of the road. Philadelphia: Porter & Coates, 1872.

Nework to Freedom - National Park Service

 * Network to Freedom - Index
 * Underground Timeline
 * Underground Railroad Map
 * People,Places,Stories
 * Underground Railroad Terminology


 * Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad - National Historical Park Maryland

 Reference Sources 
 * J. Blaine Hudson. Encyclopedia of the underground railroad Jefferson, North Carolina : McFarland & Co., 2006. FHL 973 H26hj
 * Larry Gara. The liberty line : the legend of the Underground Railroad.Lexington, Kentucky : University of Kentucky Press, 1961. FHL973 F2ag
 * William Still. The Underground railroad reprint of 1871 ed. New York, New York : Arno Press, 1968. FHL 973 F2asL
 * Wilbur H. Siebert. The Underground railroad from slavery to freedom. reprint of 1898 ed.North Stratford, New Hampshire : Ayer Pub. Co., 2000. FHL 973 F2siw
 * Peter hinks and John McKivigan, eds., R. Owen Williams, assistant Ed.,  Encyclopedia of Antislavery and Abolition. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2007. FHL 326.803 H593e vols. 1-2

 State and Local Sources Publications


 * Jerry M. Hynson. District of Columbia D.C. Department of Corrections runaway slave book, 1848-1863 : U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia fugitive slave cases, 1862-1863.Westminster, Maryland : Willow Bend Books,1999. FHL975.3 F2hj
 * Glennette Tilley Turnr. " The Underground Railroad in Illinois." Glen Ellyn, Illinois: Newman Educational Pub., 2001. FHL 977.3 H2tg
 * Owen W. Muelder. " The Underground Railroad in western Illinois." Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Co., 2008. FHL 977.3 H2mo
 * J. Blaine Hudson. " Fugitive Slaves and the underground railroad in the Kentucky borderland." Jefferson,North Carolina: McFarland & Co., 2002. FHL 976.9 F2h
 * Emma Marie Trusty. "The Underground railroad: ties that bound unveiled ; a history of the underground railroad in southern New Jersey from 1770 to 1861."Philadelphia, Pennsylvania : Amed Literary Inc, 1999. FHL 974.9 F2te
 * William J. Switala. "Underground Railroad in Pennsylvania." Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania: Stackpole Books, 2001. FHL 974.8 F2sw
 * R.C. Smedley. " HIstory of the Underground Railroad: in Chester and the neighboring counties of Pennsylvania." reprint. Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania: Stackpole Books, 2005.
 * Wilbur Henry Siebert. "Vermont's anti-slavery and underground railroad record, with a map and illustrations." reprint. (New York, 1969) FHL 974.3 H2si

 Archives and Libraries 

Ohio Historical Society
 * Wilbur H. Siebert Collection MSS 116 AV

 Historical Society of Pennsylvania
 * Uncovering William Still's Underground Railroad - Digital History Project

 Harvard Library 
 * Wilbur Henry Siebert collection relating to the Underground Railroad and fugitive slaves. Collection Identifier MS AM 2420

Indiana Department of Natural Resources 
 * Wilbur Siebert Underground Railroad Index

 Additional Sources 
 * Harriett Tubman was a woman of remarkable skill, determination, and dedication. She was a "conductor" for the Underground Railroad where she assisted runaway slaves to find freedom not only in the northern U.S. but all the way to Canada.
 * Dorothy Sterling.  Freedom train : the story of Harriet Tubman.Garden City, New York : Doubleday, 1954. FHL 921.73 T79s

There was a notable community in Nova Scotia. Some of the newly free slaves would intermingle with Canadian Indians, as they often did in the U.S. Don't ignore Canada when looking for your African American ancestors! Check out this site about Harriet Tubman

For more, see: Canada First Nations Genealogy Research Community


 * See routes to freedom taken by runaway slaves: Many Rivers to Cross, the African Canadian Experience

Fugitive Slave Laws

 *  Fugitive Slave Act of 1783
 *  Fugitive Slave Act of 1850


 * Fugitive Slaves in the United States


 * Stanley W. Campbell. The slave catchers : enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Law, 1850-1860. Chapel Hill,North Carolina:University of North Carolina Press, 970. FHL 973 F2acm
 * Judicial Cases

National Archives Catalog - US District & Circuit Courts records of Fugitive Slaves Cases


 * Stovall v. Archy, a Slave. US Circuit Court for the Northern District of California. NAID 295961
 * Fugitive Slave Case Files, 1851-1863. US District Court for the District of Columbia. NAID 4306299
 * Fugitive Slave Case Files, 1850-1860. US District Court for the District of Maryland. NAID 278775
 * Fugitive Slave Record Book, 1850-1860. US District Court for the District of Maryland. NAID 278889
 * Law Case Files,1837-1911. U.S. Circuit Court for the Southern (Detroit) Division of the Eastern District of Michigan. NAID 2814290
 * Records Relating to Fugitive Slaves, 10.17.1837-4.30.1860. U.S. Circuit Court for the Southern District of New York. NAID 278341
 * Fugitive Slave Case Files, 1850-1860. US Circuit Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. NAID 279005

 National Archives
 * Fugitive Slave Case: Stephen Pembrook. National Archives at New York City

FamilySearch Wiki Coverage Table
 * Fugitive Slave Law Court Records - Maryland - National Archives Catalog
 * Fugitive Slave Law Court Records - New York and Pennsylvania - National Archives Catalog

 FamilySearch Catalog
 * Helen Honor Tunnicliff Catterall. Judicial cases concerning American slavery and the Negro. 5 volumes. Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1926 reprint. New York, New York : Negro Universities Press, 1968. FHL Digital Books

Emigration to Liberia
Liberia History
 * Recommended Website: 'African-Americans to Liberia, 1820-1904,' by Michael Hait, African American Genealogy Examiner.
 * Liberia,Monrovia,Census, 1843 FamilySearch Historical Records

 American Colonization Society Sources  Library of Congress 
 * Wikipedia. American Colonization Society
 * Library of Congress. American Colonization Society
 * American Colonization Society Records
 * Finding Aid: Collection Summary

 State Sources 
 * Maryland Historical Society. American Colonization Society/Liberia Collection
 * Maryland Historical Society. Maryland State Colonization Society Papers, 1827-1871. MS 571
 * New York State Colonization Society Records, 1849-1968. New York Public Library - Archives & Manuscripts

 National Archives  Publications
 * Letters Received Relating to African Colonization, 1/5/1819 - 3/10/1841. National Archives Catalog. NAID 1786936
 * Letters Sent Relating to African Colonization, 1/17/1820 - 1858, National Archives Catalog. NAID 1768603
 * Early Lee Fox. The American Colonization Society, 1817-1840. 1919 reprint.New York, New York : AMS Press, 1971
 * Tom W. Shick. Emigrants to Liberia, 1820 to 1843, an alphabetical listing.Newark, Delaware : University of Delaware Department of Anthropology & Liberian Studies Association in America, 1971. FHL 966.62 W2e
 * Tom W. Shick. Behold the promised land : a history of Afro-American settler society in nineteenth-century Liberia. Baltimore, Maryland : Johns Hopkins University Press, 1980. FHL 966.62 H2s
 * Eric Burin. Slavery and the peculiar solution : a history of the American Colonization Society. Gainesville, Florida : University Press of Florida, 2005. FHL 973 C4be
 * Richard L. Hall.  "On Africa's Shore." A History of Maryland in Liberia, 1834-1857. Baltimore, Maryland: Maryland Historical Society, 2003. FHL 966.62 H2d
 * Penelope Campbell. Maryland in Africa: the Maryland Colonization Society,1831-1857.Urbana, Illinois : University of Illinois Press, 1971. FHL 966.6 H2c
 * Maryland. Report of the Select Committee, to Whom was Referred the Subject of the Removal of the Free Colored Population from Charles County.

Migration within the United States
Slave Populations before the Civil War

By 1790, nearly all Africans to be imported to the United States had already arrived. They lived in primarily four states.


 * Virginia—293,000
 * South Carolina—107,000
 * Maryland—103,000
 * North Carolina—101,000
 * No other state had more than 30,000 enslaved people.

Between 1820 and 1860, huge increases in slave population occurred across the South. Slave populations in 1860 are listed below:


 * Virginia—491,000
 * Georgia—462,000
 * Mississippi—437,000
 * Alabama—435,000
 * South Carolina—402,000
 * Louisiana—332,000
 * North Carolina—331,000
 * Tennessee—275,000
 * Kentucky—225,000
 * Texas—183,000
 * Missouri—115,000
 * Arkansas—111,000

Migration after the Civil War Between 1790 and 1900, 90% of African Americans lived in the South. By 1960, 50% of African Americans lived in the South.


 * 100,000 African Americans moved to Kansas in late 1870's, early 1880's
 * 500,000 African Americans left the south during WWI (1916-1919)
 * 90,000 to Pennsylvania
 * 73,000 to Illinois
 * 43,000 to Michigan


 * 1 million African Americans left the South in the 1920's
 * 5 million African Americans left the South between 1940-1960
 * During 1970's, African Americans started returning to the South, especially to larger, urban cities.
 * By 1990, 84% of African Americans lived in urban areas.
 * See Field to Factory: Afro-American Migration 1915-1940by Spencer Crew.

Enslaved in the North By 1800, approximately 37,000 northern blacks were still reported in bondage. By 1830, most northern states had required freeing of slaves although 3,600 people remained in bondage, mostly in New Jersey.

Free Blacks In 1860, there were 488,000 free blacks or about 10% of total African Americans in the U.S.


 * 46% of free blacks (226,000) lived in North and West
 * 46% lived in upper South (KY, MD, MO, TN, VA, NC, DC)
 * 8% lived in deep South