African American Research in Virginia

Virginia’s African American documentary record is deep and uneven: colonial inventories, free Black communities, 1850–1860 slave schedules, Freedmen’s Bureau, cohabitation and vital registers, schools, churches, and rich urban collections in Richmond*, Norfolk*, Petersburg*, and other cities. Success usually means combining plantation/neighbor context with post-emancipation civil records—and matching city* vs. county series by year.

Core approaches

• Identify the enslaver cluster via deeds, estates, and neighbors—not only a single surname guess.
• Use 1870 as a bridge year; work both directions.
• Search Freedmen’s Bureau, Southern Claims, and military service (USCT).
• Church and burial societies often outlast courthouse files.

• FamilySearch — AA Resources for Virginia
• Library of Virginia
• Virginia Memory