Ancestry.com has created a free portal (for the month of February) called the African American Research Center. This new portal helps celebrate Black History Month in the US. The portal provides "free access to this vast collection of historical records detailing the lives of hundreds of thousands of African Americans."
The African American Research Center provides free access to several of Ancestry.com's databases, including:
- 1870 US Federal Census
- Afro-Louisiana History and Genealogy, 1718-1820 (Free)
- Afro-Louisiana History and Genealogy, 1718-1820 (Slave)
- Charleston, Charleston County, South Carolina Black Deaths 1871-89
- Civil War Service Records
- Family and Local Histories
- Freedman's Bank Records, 1865-1874
- Slave Schedules, 1850 and 1860
- WWI Draft Registration Cards
You must register in order to search these databases. However, registration is available free of charge for the month of February 2006.
You can access African American Research Center at http://www.ancestry.com/aahistory
