|
Genealogy
Discovering
Your Own Roots
Getting Started
Recommended Resource Sites
Recommended Resource Publications
“For all of us today to know who we are.”
-Alex Haley, father of the popular genealogy
movement
Record numbers of people today are researching their family
origins. This popular interest in genealogy – the
recording of ancestors from some descendant – is attributed
to the late author Alex Haley, whose Pulitzer Prize-winning
family saga, Roots, spurred a genealogy research
movement, earning him recognition as the “father of
popular genealogy."
Haley’s self-acknowledged obsession with verifying
his genealogy back to its African origins presented an incredible
challenge and opportunity:
A challenge…because, as an African American,
Haley’s early ancestors were enslaved, and slaves
were not identified by name on early Census counts. Moreover,
to find any information at all about slaves, you need to
identify the owners. Most records that may exist were kept
by the individual owners. Some owners kept better records
than others. Some records survive – many do not. Furthermore,
America’s slavery system sought to obliterate a slave’s
“personhood,” particularly any memory link to
an African homeland: native language, religion, and culture
were either erased or went underground. Indeed, Haley was
fortunate that his grandmother and her ancestors preserved
a strong oral tradition with references to people and places.
An opportunity…because Haley’s 1976
best-selling book Roots and 1977 Emmy award-winning
Roots television mini-series galvanized many African
Americans to seek out and celebrate their own origins –
and to re-visit a troublesome slavery past and their connection
to Africa. More importantly, Haley’s work resonated
with people of all ethnic backgrounds, motivating millions
o explore their own roots. That exploration continues today
– as evidenced by the growing number of websites and
books about genealogy, and the increased efforts of Americans
to preserve and restore their past history.
back
to top
Recommended
Resource Sites
Whether you are just beginning to research some of the branches
on your family tree, or whether you have been doing family
research for years, we recommend the following on-line web
sites as some of the best free resource tools available
for conducting your search.
Finding Tools
Cyndi’s List of
Genealogy Sites on the Internet
Google
Databases: General
Civil War Soldiers
and Sailors
Ellis Island On-Line
FamilySearch
Interment Cemetery Transcription
Library
Internet
Sources for Transcribed Passenger Records & Indexes
Roots Web
The USGenWeb Project
Databases: Ethnic
African
American Cemeteries Online
African Americans: Free
AfriGeneas African American
Ancestored Genealogy
Afro-Louisiana
History and Genealogy
CaribbeanGenWeb
Family
History in India
Firstmom’s
Native American Genealogy Resources
The Freedmen's Bureau
Online
Genealogy
and Poland
German Genealogy
GedBas
Irish Origins
Portuguese Ancestry
(Portugal, Cape Verde, Azores)
How To
Beginner's
Guide to Family History Research
Family
Tree Magazine Free Downloadable Forms
Helpful
Hints for Successful Searching
Slave
Ancestry Research, IFs, ANDs and BUTs
Trace
Your Slave Ancestors
back
to top
|
