History

What records about the Black Experience can be found at the National Archives (NARA) in History?

There are a great deal of records at the Archives where you can find primary source information from different time periods in American History where African Americans played major and significant roles, including:

• American Slavery
• the Civil War
• Reconstruction
• Great Depression
• New Deal
• Interwar Years
• Cold War

This section of the Black History Guide is broken up chronologically by key historic time periods and guides users to records at NARA that relate to African Americans. Choose a time period to get started:

Slavery (Coming Soon)		The Civil War (Coming Soon)		Reconstruction (Coming Soon)
Great Depression & New Deal (Coming Soon)		Interwar Years (Coming Soon)		Cold War (Coming Soon)

Featured Documents

Below are commonly requested and researched documents from American History relating to the Black Experience:

Constitution of the United States, 9/17/1787 National Archives Identifier 16617751

Emancipation Proclamation, 1/1/1863 National Archives Identifier 299998

Portrait of Frederick Douglass, ca. 1879 National Archives Identifier 558770

Judgement in the Dred Scott Supreme Court Case, 3/6/1857 National Archives Identifier 301674

Executive Order 9981 - Harry S. Truman Bans Segregation in the Armed Forces, 07/26/1948 National Archives Identifier 300009

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. Can I trace my ancestors back through slavery at the Archives?
   
   Possibly! NARA retains the records of the Census Bureau (Record Group 29). The first census was taken in 1790, and basic population statistics have been recorded ever since, inclusive of enslaved and freed people.