Since the emancipation of African Americans from slavery, many African Americans have been trying for years to trace their ancestors. With websites such as ancestry.com, many people have tried to find where their ancestors came from but have come unsuccessful. Now there is a new website that can help African Americans find where they truly come from.
According to Good Black News, there is a website that will help African Americans trace their ancestors to as far back as Africa with the help of handwritten records. These records are from Freedman’s Bureau, an administrative body created by Congress in 1865 to assist slaves in 15 states and the District of Columbia transition into free citizenship. Many people hit a brick wall looking for their ancestors prior to 1870 because slaves were not counted and were only known as property.
The website, discoverfreedmen.org will digitize 1.5 million handwritten records from Freeman’s Bureau that will feature four million names and will have full online access. The records will hit the web in 2016. This is a good time for these records to be revealed because that is the same time the opening of the new Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture on the National Mall in Washington.
Will people take advantage and trace their ancestors?
– Ballah-moni Kollie (@Gottadream87)
photo credit: CNN.com
