African American genealogical research is distinct from that of other ethnic backgrounds in the United States. This is because the majority of slaves were unable to read, write, attend school, legally marry, own land, own a business, vote, and participate in many other activities that generated records on which much genealogical research is based. Many families were split up which makes it even harder to piece together African American family histories.

Passed by the Senate on June 8, 1866, and ratified two years later, on July 9, 1868, the Fourteenth Amendment granted citizenship to all persons “born or naturalized in the United States,” including formerly enslaved people, and provided all citizens with “equal protection under the laws,” extending the provisions of the Bill of Rights to the states.

The granting of citizenship to slaves in 1868 had an impact on records such as letters, diaries, wills, census records, land deeds, voter registrations, and school records. Now that former slaves were considered citizens, they were to be documented and enumerated as a US citizen.

With that, written documents were typically segregated, just like people were in that era. These records were usually kept in separate files or listed in the back of record books. Finding the location of these records also poses a problem for African American researchers. For instance, the military records of African Americans are indexed separately from all other ethnicities.