Black Genealogy

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Binding: Paperback Dewey Decimal Number: 929.108996073 EAN: 9780933121539 ISBN: 0933121539 Label: Black Classic Press Manufacturer: Black Classic Press Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 112 Publication Date: 1996-11-22 Publisher: Black Classic Press Studio: Black Classic Press
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Editorial Reviews: first published in 1977, black genealogy remains a unique guide guide among standard genealogical references. author charles blockson, a noted genealogist and african american historian, traced his own family roots back through the 18th century. along his journey, he discovered obstacles and advantages that make searching for black family history a rewarding experience.
Spotlight customer reviews: Customer Rating: Summary: Angry Polemics Mar Book Comment: Unfortunately, I cannotnt recommend Charles L. Blockson, Black Genealogy because so much of what he writes is either misleading or unhelpful. Blockson's treatment of Black genealogical records for the post-slavery era (after 1865) is somewhat adequate but pedestrian. There are several other commonly-available books that address these records much better. It is in his treatment of records from the slavery period that Blockson does his readers the greatest disservice. His experience with records of slavery seems to be limited to records of Pennsylvania - which might account for his woefully inadequate treatment of Southern legal records where most genealogists in search of slave ancestors may need to look. Some of the most significant of such records are probate records, deeds, conveyances, and lawsuits - but the reader would never know it from reading this book. Blockson devotes a total of only THREE SENTENCES to "wills, estate inventories, and tax records" (p.71). According to the single sentence devoted to tax records, their value is merely to "prove that slaves were valuable assets to ironmasters in the latter part of the eighteenth century." In his discussion of Federal Census records (p.45), he says, "Slave schedules were made for every state. . . with slaves listed under their owners' names." He fails to explain that slaves are not named in these censuses, but only listed by age and gender. There is no discussion of the uses and shortfalls of the slave censuses. Rather than discuss these most fruitful and likely sources, Blockson urges readers to seek records of slave "breeding sessions" (p.72), to browse museum collections for "slave collars" with names on them (p.75), to search for "branding records" in county courthouses and branding irons in museum collections (p.75)! These bizarre recommendations are urged in spite of the fact that the author does not offer a single example of such things (he admits that it is "difficult to find any [courthouse branding] records today"!). Furthermore, if museums have relics such as branding irons, the author fails to show how finding them would help a researcher trace his or her ancestors. On p.77, Blockson addresses the relative difficulty of finding records of slave paternity compared to slave maternity, but adds, "You may run into problems tracing your DIRECT family line (father to father)." One has to wonder why Blockson believes that tracing maternal ancestry is less "direct" (and by implication, less satisfactory) than tracing paternal ancestry. Blockson's book is punctuated with lengthy, angry polemics against slavery and racism, which will probably be unhelpful to most genealogical searches. The main objective of Blockson's book seems to be to arouse his readers' indignation at racism and the "inhuman system of slavery," rather than to lead researchers to records of their ancestors. More Reviews