Work with care. Records of enslavement are traumatic and incomplete—combine sources and cite everything.
Suggested order
Home sources & oral history
1870+ census clusters
Freedmen’s Bureau / labor / military (USCT)
Church, burial societies, schools
Plantation/probate context for pre-1865 (when available)
Key free portals
/guides/african-american
https://lowcountryafricana.com/
https://archives.ncdcr.gov/
FamilySearch wiki — African American Resources for NC
/directory (Avery Research Center, libraries, societies)
High-priority counties to open first
Wake · New Hanover · Craven · Halifax · Warren · Mecklenburg — plus parents/neighbors on each hub. Coastal and Piedmont corridors often hold plantation and free-Black paper trails.