African Americans have a distinguished history of serving in the U.S. Armed Forces. More than 350,000 Black servicemen and women fought in WWI and 20 years later, two and a half million registered and over one million served in WWII.
Your journey into the past starts here.
Your journey
into the past starts here.
Get to the root of your African American ancestry with our family
history tools, guided walkthroughs, and essential
record collections.
Get to the root of your African American ancestry with our family history tools, guided walkthroughs, and essential record collections.
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Here’s what you may discover.
Here’s what you
may discover.
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Get started!
The first step is to create a family tree. Once you've added all relatives you know of, you can search for more family members using the 1950 U.S. Federal Census.
Black history is American history.
Black history is American history.
Find out how your ancestors helped to shape this nation.
The Great Migration was a mass movement of approximately six million Southern Black people to the North and West between 1910 and 1970. This migration fueled the economic growth of the auto industry, the uptick in manufacturing jobs, and the expansion of American railroads.
The U.S. census has been taken every ten years from 1790 to today, and these records can hold significant details about your ancestors’ lives. You may find personal information like names of household members, birthplaces, occupations, and more.
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Go deeper.
The Freedman's Bureau records are one of the most important collections of Black family history. Check out the collection here.
amazing stories
A Dream Delivered:
A Dream Delivered:
The Lost Letters of Hawkins Wilson
The Lost Letters of Hawkins Wilson
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AncestryDNA® provides a detailed view of your African American roots.
AncestryDNA® provides a detailed view of your African American roots.
Discover your origins from over 2300 regions around the world—including 15 distinct regions across Africa and over 400 African American and Afro-Caribbean communities. By connecting you to the places your ancestors once lived, AncestryDNA® can help you grow your family tree and provide a more complete picture of your past.