How to Look for History on Slaves on Southern Plantations
- 1). Choose a specific geographical area to research. Do not try to start your search for slave history across the entire South. You will have more success if you start in one specific area and work your way through the public and private collections there. For instance, use census records to direct you to one or two plantation owners in Louisiana or Mississippi, and then start tracking down the history of the slaves they owned.
- 2). Search census records. The U.S. government has taken a census every 10 years since 1790. Census records prior to 1870 included plantation slaves, but not by name. They are listed by name of the owner, age, sex and color. Go to any branch of the National Archives or a Family History Library to view these documents. Some local libraries have a limited selection, usually pertaining to their own county or state.
- 3). Search estate records. Many people inherited slaves after plantation owners died. The executors filed documents pertaining to a person's estate such as wills, inventories and guardianships through civil courts. These records are open to the public and you can view them by going to a county courthouse.
- 4). Search property records. Since slaves were the property of their owner, their names appear on property transfers when there was a change in ownership. For instance, plantation owners would sometimes give slaves to their children before they died. Records of this sort are also found in county courts.
- 5). Search private records. Slave owners kept private records on their slaves in the form of ledgers, contracts and birth and death records. Some families even keep private collections that include this type of information. Some of these records end up in archives or manuscript collections such as the ones found at Duke University. There also guidebooks available for archive collections, such as "Guide to Private Manuscript Collections in the North Carolina State Archives" by Barbara T. Cain.
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