ROOTS: DISCOVERING YOUR AFRICAN ORIGINS, PT. VI

X. Bibliography

Bergman, Peter. Chronological History of the Negro in America (1969). HG-Ref 326

Cooke, Jacob E., ed. Encyclopedia of the North American Colonies (1993), vol. II. HG-Ref 940.03

Davidson, Basil. Africa in History: Themes and Outlines (1991). HG-Ref 960.03

Miller, Randall M., ed. Dictionary of Afro-American Slavery (1988). HG-Ref 305.567

Morrison, Donald G. Black Africa: a Comparative Handbook (1972). ST-Circ 309.167

Murdock, George P. Africa: Its Peoples and Their Cultural History (1959). ST-Circ 572.96

Oliver, Roland, ed. Cambridge Encyclopedia of Africa (1981), pp.78-86, 145-155. HG-Ref 960.03

Compiled by Thomas A. Pearson
Reference Librarian
Special Collections Department
St. Louis Public Library


Other SLPL indexes and bibliographies

Copyright © 2004-2009 by St. Louis Public Library. All rights reserved.

ROOTS: DISCOVERING YOUR AFRICAN ORIGINS, PT. V

VIII. STATISTICALLY MOST LIKELY AFRICAN TRIBES OF ORIGIN OF MODERN-DAY BLACK AMERICANS

Tribe names are in bold face type.

1. Yoruba: (Benin, Nigeria)
2. Hausa: (Niger, Nigeria)
3. Ovimbundu: (Angola)
4. Malinke: (The Gambia, Guineau, Ivory Coast, Mali, Senegal, Sierra Leone)
5. Wolof: (The Gambia, Senegal)
6. Ashanti: (Ghana)
7. Ewe: (Ghana, Togo)
8. Fante: (Ghana)
9. Mende: (Sierra Leone)
10. Dyola: (The Gambia, Senegal)

Note: As stated previously, likelihood of a current-day black American being descended from a particular African tribe depends on several different factors, which include but are not limited to:

1) sheer numbers of that tribe in slave trading times;
2) the popularity of that tribe's home region with slave traders and American buyers;
3) the area in the United States/British North America to which the black American’s ancestors were originally transported.

IX. STATISTICALLY MOST LIKELY AFRICAN COUNTRIES OF ORIGIN OF MODERN-DAY BLACK AMERICANS

1. Nigeria
2. Angola
3. Ghana
4. The Gambia
5. Senegal
6. Sierra Leone

Note: These countries are, given a number of factors that include but are not limited to:

1) tribes indigenous to the area, numbers of those tribes in slave-trading days and in the present day;
2) the popularity of the slave-trading region in which that country is located with United States slave states and with British possessions in the Western Hemisphere;

the most likely present-day African countries of origin of present-day black Americans. No conclusions about a particular individual’s ancestry can validly be drawn from this list or the other lists in this report, however, by persons who have not yet done their personal genealogical homework (possibly including genetic testing).

Compiled by Thomas A. Pearson, Reference Librarian
Special Collections Department
St. Louis Public Library
http://www.slpl.org/

Copyright © 2004-2009 by St. Louis Public Library. All rights reserved.

ROOTS: DISCOVERING YOUR AFRICAN ORIGINS, PT. IV

VI. SOME U.S. SLAVE STATES AND THE MAJOR SLAVE-TRADING REGIONS OF AFRICA FAVORED BY THOSE STATES

State names are in bold face type.

1. Louisiana: Senegambia
2. Maryland: Bight of Biafra, Gold Coast, Windward Coast
3. South Carolina: Senegambia, Windward Coast, Angola (over 40% of U.S. slaves arrived at South Carolina ports: 80% of these were from Senegambia and the Windward Coast)
4. Virginia: Bight of Biafra, Gold Coast, Windward Coast
5. Missouri: see Louisiana & Virginia above (many Missouri slaves were either brought up the river from New Orleans or came here with their Virginia masters)

Note: Slaveholders in certain states were partial to certain slave-trading regions because the climate and topography of that region resembled to some extent that of the American state. Slaves from that region as a result were often familiar with the cultivation of certain crops such as rice and indigo, and resistant to many of the diseases prevalent in southern states such as malaria and yellow fever.

VII. MAJOR AFRICAN TRIBES INVOLVED IN THE BRITISH NORTH AMERICA / UNITED STATES SLAVE TRADE AND THE MODERN-DAY AFRICAN COUNTRIES THEY INHABIT

Tribe names are in bold face type.

1. Ashanti: 1.5 million (Ghana)
2. Bakongo: 400,000 (Republic of the Congo)
3. Dyola: 24,000 (The Gambia); 330,000 (Senegal)
4. Ewe: 1,058,000 (Ghana); 362,000 (Togo)
5. Fante: 400,000 (Ghana)
6. Ga: 285,000 (Ghana)
7. Gola: 88,000 (Liberia)
8. Hausa: 12 million (Nigeria)
9. Kru: 87,000 (Liberia)
10. Lobi: 291,000 (Burkina-Faso); 236,000 (Ivory Coast)
11. Luba: 1,960,00 (Zaire)
12. Lunda: 311,000 (Zambia)
13. Malinke: 1.5 million (The Gambia, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Mali, Senegal, Sierra Leone)
14. Mende: 1 million (Liberia)
15. Ovimbundu: 1.7 million (Angola) Note: this tribe is also known as the Mbundu.
16. Teke: 170,00 (Republic of the Congo)
17. Temne: 731,000 (Sierra Leone)
18. Wolof: 1.5 million (The Gambia, Senegal)
19. Yoruba: 12 million (Benin, Nigeria)

Compiled by Thomas A. Pearson, Reference Librarian
Special Collections Department
St. Louis Public Library
http://www.slpl.org/

Copyright © 2004-2009 by St. Louis Public Library. All rights reserved.

ROOTS: DISCOVERING YOUR AFRICAN ORIGINS, PT. III

PART III

IV. MAJOR SLAVE-TRADING REGIONS OF AFRICA AND THE MAJOR TRIBES OF THOSE REGIONS

Major slave-trading regions are in bold face type.

1. Angola: Bakongo, Luba, Lunda, & Ovimbundu
2. Bight of Benin: Ewe, Yoruba
3. Bight of Biafra: Hausa, Yorba
4. Congo: Bakongo, Malinke, Teke
5. Gold Coast: Ashanti, Fante, Ga, Lobi
6. Senegambia: Dyola, Wolof
7. Sierra Leone: Malinke, Temne
8. Windward Coast: Gola, Kru, Mende

V. MAJOR SLAVE-TRADING REGIONS OF AFRICA RANKED IN TERMS OF OVERALL NUMBERS OF SLAVES FURNISHED TO THE BRITISH NORTH AMERICA / UNITED STATES MARKET

Major slave-trading regions are in bold face type.

1. Angola
2. Senegambia
3. Bight of Biafra
4. Gold Coast
5. Windward Coast
6. Sierra Leone
7. Bight of Benin
8. Congo
9. Madagascar-Mozambique (some slaves were brought from here to New Netherlands in early 18th century)

Note: These can only be rough estimates based on tribal size numbers and relative popularity of an African slave trading region: no exact numbers are available, nor are they ever likely to be.

Compiled by Thomas A. Pearson, Reference Librarian
Special Collections Department
St. Louis Public Library
http://www.slpl.org/

Copyright © 2004-2009 by St. Louis Public Library. All rights reserved.

ROOTS: DISCOVERING YOUR AFRICAN ORIGINS, PT. II

II. IMPORT OF AFRICAN SLAVES INTO BRITISH NORTH AMERICA / UNITED STATES, 1620-1860

Number of slaves imported during the periods specified.

1620-1700- 1,700-20,500 *
1701-1760- 188,600
1761-1770- 62,668
1771-1790- 55,750
1791-1800- 79,041
1801-1810- 114,090
1811-1870- 51,000
1761-1810- 10,200 (figures for Louisiana only, which was a French or Spanish possession for most of this period)

Total- 581,751 slaves legally imported into the United States and British North America.

Note: (Numerous slaves were illegally imported into the United States after the 1808 ban on such activity: for obvious reasons, however, no definitive statistics are available. Also, it must be remembered that the above figures include slaves imported to all British possessions in the Western Hemisphere, not merely slaves brought to the United States.)

III. MAJOR SLAVE-TRADING REGIONS OF AFRICA AND THE MODERN-DAY COUNTRIES THEY REPRESENT

Major slave-trading regions are in bold face type.

1. Angola: Angola, Zaire, Zambia
2. Bight of Benin: Benin, Togo
3. Bight of Biafra: Nigeria
4. Congo: Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Republic of the Congo
5. Gold Coast: Burkina-Faso, Ghana, Ivory Coast
6. Senegambia: The Gambia, Senegal
7. Sierra Leone: Guinea, Guineau-Bissau, Mali, Sierra Leone
8. Windward Coast: Liberia

Note: "Bight" refers to a bend or curve in a shoreline.

Compiled by Thomas A. Pearson, Reference Librarian
Special Collections Department
St. Louis Public Library
http://www.slpl.org/

Copyright © 2004-2009 by St. Louis Public Library. All rights reserved.

ROOTS: DISCOVERING YOUR AFRICAN ORIGINS, PT. I

ROOTS: DISCOVERING YOUR AFRICAN ORIGINS is intended as an introduction for St. Louisans who are attempting to discover more detailed information about their African roots, and for persons who assist others in such research.

Likelihood of a current-day black American being descended from a particular African tribe depends on a number of factors, which include but are not limited to:

1) sheer numbers of that tribe in slave trading times;
2) the popularity of that tribe's home region with slave traders and American slaveholders; and
3) the area in the United States/British North America to which the black American’s ancestors were originally transported.

Note: No firm conclusions about personal African ancestry can validly be drawn using only the information in this report-- you've still got to do your genealogical homework (and hope for more than just a bit of luck). You also may derive some benefit from genetic testing, which can sometimes help to determine a likely geographic region of ultimate origin.

Need help starting your genealogical research? Call us at 314-539-0385, or e-mail us at cmillar@slpl.org.

I. Chronology of Persons of African Descent in British North America and the United States, 1619-1870

1619- Approximately 20 blacks are sold as bound servants at Jamestown, Virginia.

1624- Slavery is introduced in New Netherlands (which included parts of what are now Connecticut, Delaware, New York, and New Jersey).

1641- Massachusetts becomes first colony to authorize slavery by statute.

1661- Lifetime slavery legally sanctioned in Virginia.

1682- Lifetime slavery legally sanctioned in South Carolina.

1705- Virginia defines slaves by statute as real property subject to the same laws of inheritance as real estate.

1712- Slave revolt in New York.

1749- Georgia repeals prohibition on import of slaves.

1775-1783- American Revolution. In December 1775, General George Washington allows recruitment of free blacks into the Continental Army.

1777- Vermont abolishes slavery.

1790- U.S. population includes 750,000 blacks- 60,000 are free persons.

1793- First Fugitive Slave Law requires law enforcement officials in all states and territories to aid in the return of fugitive slaves to their owners. Penalties are not stiff enough to ensure obedience to its mandates, however.

1800- Slave revolt led by Gabriel Prosser in VA.

1807- Congress passed law prohibiting import of slaves as of January 1, 1808.

1812-1815- War of 1812.

1822- Denmark Vesey's slave rebellion plot discovered in Charleston, S.C.

1829- Slavery abolished in Mexico.

1830- U.S. population includes 2,000,000 blacks-- 319,000 of these are free persons.

1833- Nat Turner leads slave rebellion in VA.

1834- Slavery abolished in British Empire.

1846- Mexican-American War.

1850- Second Fugitive Slave Law is passed which imposes stiff penalties for failure to aid in the return of fugitive slaves to their rightful owners.

1854- Kansas-Nebraska Act allows territories to decide to be free or slave according to popular vote.

1857- Dred Scott decision is handed down by U.S. Supreme Court. Blacks are found to not be citizens, and therefore have no standing in federal court. Supreme Court further rules that slaves are property, and that slaveholders cannot be denied the right to take slaves into the territories.

1859- John Brown leads assault on U.S. Arsenal at Harper's Ferry, VA (now W. VA). He is captured by troops commanded by Col. Robert E. Lee, and is hanged after trial. John Wilkes Booth is a spectator at the hanging.

1860- U.S. population includes 4,441,830 blacks; 500,000 of these are free persons.

1861-1865- The American Civil War.

1863- The Emancipation Proclamation issued by President Lincoln frees slaves in those areas of the U.S. currently rebelling against the United States.

1865- The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is ratified. It abolishes slavery and involuntary servitude, except for those convicted of crimes.

1868- The 14th Amendment is ratified. It declares all persons born or naturalized in the U.S. to be U.S. citizens who cannot be denied by the states any rights due a citizen of that state.

1870- The 15th Amendment is ratified. It states that the right to vote cannot be denied due to race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

Compiled by Thomas A. Pearson, Reference Librarian
Special Collections Department
St. Louis Public Library
http://www.slpl.org/

You will find our other bibliographies and indexes here.

Copyright © 2004 by St. Louis Public Library. All rights reserved.