African American Resources for Tennessee

United States   Tennessee    African Americans

The Tennessee State Library and Archives in Nashville offers several free online research guides for tracing Tennessee African Americans in their collection:


 * African American Collections of Note at TSLA
 * African American Genealogical Resources @ TSLA
 * Guide to African American Genealogy-Related Documents Prior to 1865 in the Collections of the Tennessee State Library and Archives
 * Selected Bibliography of African American Genealogical Resources in the Tennessee State Library and Archives

Another great starting point is Afrigeneas's "African Ancestry in Tennessee."

Maps
Charles A. Reeves Jr. has created a detailed map, based on the 1860 U.S. Federal Census, illustrating the distribution of slaves throughout Tennessee. It may be purchased for a small fee thorugh his website:


 * Tennessee Slave Population As Reported in the 1860 Census

Records

 * Brogden, John V. and Willie L. Robinson. Tennessee Colored Pension Applications for CSA Service [Civil War], available online.

History

 * "Negros in Tennessee" chapter 10 of the online book Tennessee: A Guide to the State. Compiled and Written by the Federal Writers' Project of the Work Projects Administration for the State of Tennessee. American Guide Series. (No Place: New Deal Network, 1996) Original published: Tennessee: State of Tennessee. Department of Conservation, Division of Information, 1939. This chapter provides a concise introduction to African Americans in Tennessee.
 * Patterson, C. Perry. The Negro in Tennessee, 1790-1865. Austin, Texas: The University of Texas, 1922. Free digitized copy. Written in 1922, this book can be viewed as treating slavery without a degree of compassion and understanding, but it is valuable for its information about the slavery system and laws in Tennessee.
 * Profiles of African Americans in Tennessee, Editors Bobby L.Lovett and Linda T. Winn. Nashville, Tennessee: Annual Local Conference on Afro-American Culture and History, 1996. This online publication contains short biographies of 70 members of the Tennessee General Assembly between 1873-1995.
 * Works Projects Administration. Slave Narratives - A Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves.Washington, 1941. Free digital copy.