1. Tracing Your Roots: Using Archives of HBCU’s and Other Research Sources to Trace Family History

2. WHERE TO START?

3. The central organizing principle of the discipline of genealogy is the
interpretation and analysis
of kinship.
Carolyn Earle Billingsley, Ph.D.

4. PRIMARY SOURCE
One which had its origins with someone directly involved with the event being reported near the time of the event

5. BIRTH CERTIFICATES . 1

6. DEATH CERTIFICATES 2

7. MARRIAGE CERTIFICATES3

8. CENSUS RETURNS 4
Census Bureau 1940

9. SECONDARY SOURCE
Everything else that is not included on the list for primary sources

10. OBITUARIES 5

11. TOMBSTONES

12. WHERE TO START
START WITH YOURSELF

13. GATHERING INFORMATION
ORAL HISTORIES
HOME-BASE RESEARCH
CHURCH RECORDS
TOWN/CITIES

14. GATHERING INFORMATION cont’d
LIBRARY/ARCHIVES
STATE, NATIONAL AND FEDERAL AGENCIES
STATE AND NATIONAL ARCHIVES

15. WHEN THE SEARCH BECOMES DIFFERENT
PRIOR TO 1870
WHITE FAMILY RECORDS
MANUMISSIONS
FREEDMEN BUREAU RECORDS .

16. COMPUTERS AND YOUR FAMILY HISTORY
Technology Aid
Searching for Ancestors on-line

17. Some Useful Web Sites Alabama Department of Archives and History
Family Search: Uniting Families
Ancestry.com

18. Genealogical Resources Located At HBCUs
Founders’ Day Programs
Manuscripts Collections
Thesis & Dissertations
Yearbooks
School Catalogues
Oral Histories
Slave Narratives

19. Alabama State University
Bishop State
Delaware State University
Florida Memorial University
Clarke/Atlanta University
Southern University at New Orleans
Jackson State University