African-American Resources at Joyner
By Elizabeth H. Smith

            North Carolina is home to a rich African American heritage that can be explored in various resources available in Joyner Library’s Verona Joyner Langford North Carolina Collection. The books introduced here are just a few valuable sources to assist students, researchers, and genealogists.

•  Jeffrey J. Crow has contributed to several histories of African Americans in our state, including “A Brief History of African Americans in North Carolina” in The Rich Heritage of African Americans in North Carolina (2000), A History of African Americans in North Carolina (1992), and The Black Experience in Revolutionary North Carolina (1977).
  
  
• Paul Heinegg’s award-winning Free African Americans of North Carolina and Virginia, (1997) includes the family histories of more than 80 percent of those counted as "all other free persons" in the 1790 and 1800 censuses. It includes sources for North Carolina and Virginia arranged by counties, South Carolina references, a list of census records used, Virginia parish registers and vestry books, general sources consulted, a bibliography of books and articles, and an index that lists given names along with surnames.
  
  
• Lenwood G. Davis’s A Travel Guide to Black Historical Sites and Landmarks in North Carolina (1991) is a guide to African American historical sites in North Carolina listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The three-part book introduces more than one hundred fifty historic landmarks and sites, highway historical markers, and African American restaurants with menus and bookstores.
  
  
• William L. Byrd’s In Full Force and Virtue: North Carolina Emancipation Records, 1713-1860 (1999) organizes documents relating to slaves and free persons of color that are housed at the North Carolina State Archives in Raleigh. The author points out, however, that this is not a complete collection of North Carolina’s emancipation papers because others are scattered across the state in court documents. The entries, which are complete transcriptions arranged by county, include the family histories of more than 80% of those counted as “all other free persons” in the 1790 and 1800 censuses.
  
  
• Somebody Knows My Name: Marriages of Freed People in North Carolina County by County (1995) is a three-volume guide to more than 22,000 marriages recorded during the years 1866-1867. Dr. Barnetta McGhee White states in the introduction to her compilation that the 1866 North Carolina "Act Concerning Negroes and Persons of Color or of Mixed Blood,"  which provided for the recognition and legalization of marriages between slaves, resulted in more information being recorded than in other states. The specificity of the law provided for the gathering of a large amount of information that is valuable in African American family history research.
  
  
• The Heritage of Blacks in North Carolina (1990), which is introduced as a “snapshot” of African American North Carolinians across historical periods, includes a general history section as well as sections on church and family histories. The section “Selected Historical Milestones 1526-1988” is a valuable timeline for the study of African American history.
  
  
• Michael Cunningham’s Crowns: Portraits of Black Women in Church Hats (2000) is a fun-to-look-at picture book with photographs of African American women in elegant hats and short essays by the models.
  

    The North Carolina Collection’s current exhibit introduces more than two dozen African American North Carolinians who have contributed in the arts, science, education, literature, and sports, and some "firsts" in African American history.

    Area residents, as well as members of the ECU community, are encouraged to visit the exhibit and to use the North Carolina Collection located on the third floor of Joyner Library. For more information call 328-6601 or visit the Web site at http://www.ecu.edu/cs-lib/ncc/index.cfm.

    Elizabeth H. Smith is a librarian in the Verona Joyner Langford North Carolina Collection.