Slavery Era Insurance Policies Registry

Current version of this page is now at: http://genweblog.blogspot.com/2006/02/slavery-research.html

The State of Illinois has put their report of the policies issued to slaveholders for death or damage of their slaves during the slavery era from every licensed insurer (or predecessor company): http://www.ins.state.il.us/Consumer/SlaveryReporting.nsf

Listed are compiled reports by slave name, and by slave holder name. The slaves and slave holders aren't just in Illinois, but all over the United States. A sample finding for the search "walters":

Slave Holder Name: Wm Bowen
Slave Holder County/Parish: Fredricksburg
Slave Holder State: VA
Slave Name: John Walters
Slave County/Parish: Fredricksburg
Slave State: VA
Slave Other: Policy Number(s): 453
Slave Job/Skill:
Machine builder and pattern maker

Clicking on Wm Bowen's name, I get a bit more information:

Name of Slave: John Walters
County/Parish: Fredricksburg
State: VA
Other Identifying Info (policy no. etc): Policy Number(s): 453
Job/Occupation/Skill (optional if known): Machine builder and pattern maker

Slave Holder Name: Wm Bowen
County/Parish: Fredricksburg
State: VA
Reporting Insurer: New York Life Insurance Company

California Slavery Era Insurance Registry: http://www.insurance.ca.gov/SEIR/main.htm
Alphabetical lists by name of slave, and slave holder. No search, but entire database is available.


AfriGeneas is the place to start African American genealogy, slave or free: http://www.afrigeneas.com/

NARA has federal records: http://www.archives.gov/research_room/genealogy/research_topics/african_american_research.html

Also essential is the Freedman's Bureau Online: http://freedmensbureau.com/

New initiatives just in time for Black History Month - African-American Migration from the Schomburg Center: http://www.inmotionaame.org/

A partnership between leading black media placement firms has been created to digitize back-issues from more than 200 black newspapers throughout the US to create an Internet-searchable database. For more info, see: http://eogn.typepad.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2005/02/new_collaborati.html

Africa WorldGenWeb Page: http://www.worldgenweb.org/africa.html

African-Native American History and Genealogy Home Page: http://www.african-nativeamerican.com/

African American Research Center: http://www.ancestry.com/aahistory

Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System - US Colored Troops: http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss/


Exploitation and oppression is not a matter of race. It is the system, the apparatus of world-wide brigandage called imperialism, which made the Powers behave the way they did. - Han Suyin, 1917-, Chinese writer, feminist, physician