![]() ![]() It’s all the more reason that you should get to know your story a little better and perhaps encourage others to do the same. Rather than the census, you’ll have to look in ledgers for receipts – yes, it’s heartbreaking, but it’s also important. It’s possible your ancestor was not considered a person because of the slave trade. There are also many factors that will make your search a little difficult. It’s important to recognize that freedom was hard-won and the legacy of slavery still affects us today. However, be prepared for a lot of pain and rage. If you are interested in learning more about your origins, then your surname is a great place to start your genealogy search. There were those who, after emancipation, took on the same name of their plantation or kept the name given to them by their captors for identification purposes, so they could find other family members from whom were separated against their will. Heartbreakingly, some African-Americans still wear their enslaved past in their name. In 2011, Washington was even called the blackest name in the country in several op-eds citing the U.S. The most common last names were English ones, like Johnson, Williams, Jackson, Brown, Jones, Smith, Richardson, and others. ![]() Many also gave themselves new names and chose names like James and Martin. Some self-identified free men took on French names, perhaps to emulate the vibrant Creole culture in Louisiana where black people enjoyed more freedom than other places in the south. Somewhere along her family line, someone likely changed the spelling. In her article for the Chicago Tribune, Lolly Bowean writes about how her name may be a bastardization of Bowen. There was a rush of people self-identifying after fighting so long for freedom many of them picked biblical names like James or names they recognized like Washington.Īfter emancipation, more and more Black Americans started self-identifying, choosing their own surnames, and changing up the last names they were given to make them their own. ![]() It was only after the Civil War that many enslaved people in the South were able to choose what to call themselves. We don’t realize what it means to be given a name against your will and have to be called by a name that was assigned to you by a captor. Self-identification is a freedom we often take for granted, but being able to have a name you are proud of is a privilege that many white Americans overlook. The Three-Fifths compromise in the 1787 constitution counted them as less than their white counterparts. census, they will have been listed as little more than half a person. If you are looking for your forebears in the U.S. ![]() census, which separated the races into black, white, or mulatto (a derogatory term for mixed race.) During this era, slaves were listed under their masters in the U.S. The best places to find the names of African-Americans were on receipts of sale. Records were not well kept and even when they are, they are hard to read. They might even be given separate names, further complicating any genealogy research you might be attempting. Young children were taken from parents and sold separately. In addition to the horror of being taken from your home and given a new name like Smith or Williams, many families were forcibly torn apart and their names changed – making studying your heritage even harder. This is the reason that years later, in the 20th century, noted civil rights leader Malcolm X renounced his “slave name” and took on X to represent the name he should have had had his ancestors not been taken by colonizers. Many enslaved people taken from Africa were renamed in the Americas and even given the last name of their captors. ![]()
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