Arkansas African American Genealogy online research is much more difficult due to the scant nature of record keeping for African American’s prior to the Civil War. This is the reason for creating a separate section for African Americans much like we have for Native Americans who’s research can also be hampered by the available records. The links below provide an accurate reflection of what is available to be searched for African American genealogy.
- National Archives
- Archives
- Societies
- Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society
- Arkansas Afro American Historical and Genealogical Society
- Family Search – African American Research Guide
- Biography
- Free Biography Resources (hosted at AccessGenealogy)
- A B Bi C Ch Cr D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
- Arkansas Slave Narratives
- Free Biography Resources (hosted at AccessGenealogy)
- African American Cemeteries
- Calhoun County
- Pleasant Grove Cemetery (hosted at African American Cemeteries online)
- Crawford County
- Hosted at Arkansas Freedman
- Nevada County
- Sebastian County
- Cherokee African American Cemetery (hosted at Interment.net)
- Access Genealogy’s Arkansas Cemetery Records
The most complete coverage of Cemetery records available on the web. They are broken down by county. We do know know if there are African Americans in these cemeteries, so you should browse them for ancestors also. - Homemakers’ Survey of Nevada County Arkansas Cemeteries
- Calhoun County
- African American Census Records
- Hosted at Ancestry.com
- Access Genealogy’s Arkansas Census Records
Providing the most complete coverage of census records available on the web. We’ve broken the list down by county, and take a careful look at the index page where we explain which records are missing from the census data and may never be recovered. - Greene County
- Marion County
- Pike County
- Hosted at Pike County Archives and History Society
- Ft. Smith
- Washington County
- Church Records
- Hosted at Ancestry.com
- Court Records
- Hosted at Ancestry.com
- Ft. Smith Black Marriages By Groom (hosted at Freedman of the Frontier)
- Ft. Smith Black Marriages By Bride (hosted at Freedman of the Frontier)
- Hosted at Freedman’s Bureau
- History
- Ancestry.com Slave Narratives $$
Perhaps no other resource approaches the range of human experience found in Ancestry.com’s Slave Narratives. This collection of interviews stands in contrast to other slave narratives that appear in most literature anthologies which were written by the rare few who, against staggering odds, had become literate. This database provides a more poignant picture of what it was to live as a slave in the American South. Taken from The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography, this collection is the most complete available picture of the African-American slavery experience. There is simply no other historical document quite like it. The collection contains over 20,000 pages of type-scripted interviews with more than 3,500 former slaves collected over a ten year period. (Requires Ancestry.com Membership) Get 14 Days Free Access!!!
- Ancestry.com Slave Narratives $$
- Arkansas Slave Narratives
- Hosted at Ancestry.com
- Mailing Lists
- Military Records
- Military Records (hosted at AccessGenealogy)
- World War 1 Records
- Hosted at Ancestry.com
- World War II Records
- Arkansas World War II Army – Air Corps Casualty List
- Arkansas World War II Navy – Marines Casualty List
- Hosted at Ancestry.com
- African-American Civil War Soldiers & Sailors (hosted at Solders and Sailors System)
- Military Records (hosted at AccessGenealogy)
- Arkansas Military Records
- Colored Troops of Crawford County (hosted at Arkansas Freedman)
- Arkansas Black Civil War History (hosted at Arkansas Freedman)
- Eleventh US Colored Troops (hosted at Arkansas Freedman)
- Miscellaneous
- Slave Owners
- Surnames
- African-American Surnames Database (hosted at Afrigeneas)
- Vital Records
I am searching for my ancestors that I know lived in Arkansas in 1880. Charlotte Powell, the daughter of Drucilla and Phillip Powell (both originally from Virginia) lived in Point Revome Township, Conway County, Arkansas in 1880. This information I discovered in census records. In 1900, Charlotte (Downs?) was then recorded as living in Morrillton City, Arkansas Conway County, Dist 0016 with her mother Drucilla and 6 children (Iroq Bland, Hattie Bland, Ida, Walter, A.D., and Daniel ) I am trying to find any census records from the year 1890. I understand, through my research, that the census records were damaged in a fire in March 1896. I am an educator and I have been working on this information for the past 2 years. I would appreciate any information that you have available on my family as I know that they were a part of the great migration. Ida, who is my great grandmother, ended up living in Chicago, Illinois and raising her son, Harold Lloyd Lucas Jr., who is my grandfather. Unfortunately, our family has no connection to any of Ida’s siblings which I am attempting to remedy. I would like to know my family. Please help. Thank you.