Overview
On this page, you will find general resources and resources by state about the history of enslavement in the National Capital Area.
General Resources
- National Park Service, “African American Heritage: Enslavement & Abolition”
- “Last Seen: Finding Family After Slavery”
- “Digital Library on American Slavery”
- “Slave Voyages”
- Library of Congress, “Slave Narratives from Slavery to the Great Depression”
- Library of Congress, “Voices Remembering Slavery: Freed People Tell Their Stories”
- Library of Congress, “Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers’ Project, 1936-1938″
- “Race and Slavery Petitions Project”
- “Freedom on the Move: Rediscovering the Stories of Self-Liberating People”
- National Archives, “Federal Records that Help Identify Former Slaves and Slave Owners”
- National Archives, “American Slavery, Civil Records”
- Learning for Justice, “Teaching Tolerance”
Resources by State
Maryland
- Legacy of Slavery in Maryland
- Researching African American Families at the Maryland State Archives booklet
- Maryland Room, Frederick County Public Libraries – many collections and materials on Frederick County African American history.
- Frederick Roots: African American History of Frederick County, Maryland
- University Libraries, University of Maryland, “Maryland Room Guide to Slavery & Freedom in Maryland”
- University Libraries, University of Maryland, “Maryland Manuscripts Collection” – a manuscript collection including many entries from Frederick County that relate to African American history.
- University Libraries, University of Maryland, Bibliography on slavery in Maryland
- Maryland State Archives, “Resources for African American History”
- Maryland State Archives, A Guide to the History of Slavery in Maryland
- Maryland State Archives, “Descriptions of African American Records”
Virginia
- Library of Virginia, “Slavery in Virginia: A Selected Bibliography”
- Library of Virginia, “African Americans”
- Library of Virginia, “Unknown No Longer”
- Virginia Historical Society, “Guide to African American Manuscripts”
- Alexandria Library, “African American Resources”
- Michael Plunkett, ed. “African-American Sources in Virginia – A Guide to Manuscripts”
- Family Search, “African American Resources for Virginia”
- Library of Congress, Map, “Map of Virginia: Showing the Distribution of its Slave Population from the Census of 1860”
- “The Geography of Slavery in Virginia” – the Geography of Slavery in Virginia is a digital collection of advertisements for runaway and captured slaves and servants in 18th- and 19th-century Virginia newspapers. Building on the rich descriptions of individual slaves and servants in the ads, the project offers a personal, geographical, and documentary context for the study of slavery in Virginia, from colonial times to the Civil War.
Washington, DC
- DC Public Library, “DC Public Library’s Special Collections”
- Matthew B. Gilmore, “Slavery and Emancipation in Washington, D.C. – Updated Bibliography”
- Family Search, “African American Resources for District of Columbia”
- Genealogy Trails, “Researchers and Family Historians Guide to Documents Reflecting African Americas in Slavery and Freedom in the District of Columbia”
- National Archives, “Slavery and Emancipation in the Nation’s Capital”
- “Map of Slave Sales, Washington, D.C., 1836”
- “Christine’s African American Genealogy Website”
- District of Columbia, “Archives”
West Virginia
- Family Search, “African American Resources for West Virginia”