Archive Catalog

Browse public collection guides, selected historical source records, genealogy video lessons, and research methods from Native Black Ancestry.

Watch Michael Lane discuss comparing names, birth dates, and household members before attaching a historical record to a family tree.

Watch Michael Lane explain why a surname match is a research clue, then use a simple checklist to investigate the family connection.

An America figure with feathers, a bow—and dark skin? Explore European church paintings, close-ups, and the descriptions identifying America and Africa.

Take a second look at the faces, clothing, and descriptions. Explore historical artwork and the words that help explain what you are seeing.

Meet the people behind the pages. Read seven recorded life stories, with document previews and highlights that take you straight to the scan.

Start with the story, then follow the paper trail. Michael Lane Jr.’s original theses open with a plain-language guide and a family research connection before digging into the records and arguments.

This act bars “negro, mulatto or Indian” people from public office. Its definition of “mulatto” includes a child of an Indian and specified generations descended from a Negro. It documents overlapping legal categories while still naming Indian separately in the office prohibition.

The wording matters. Look closely at runaway ads and legal notices describing Indian ancestry, appearance, hair, and complexion. The most direct references come first.

The faces, families, and stories behind the history. Start with vivid photographs, then explore portraits, family records, and biographies.

Cragin identifies her father as Indian and remembers being taunted about that identity. She recounts her mother Luvenia Polk resisting a beating and escaping toward Kansas on a cow. Her account also discusses secret Bible lessons and her later work sewing and quilting.

How to distinguish historical records, transcriptions, research interpretations, and unresolved questions when using the Native Black Ancestry Digital Archive.

Shows many Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek and Cherokee towns, principal forts, rivers and routes across the Southeast. The historical map dates to 1766; this digitized sheet is a later facsimile of the manuscript held by the Clements Library. Town symbols and colonial labels help locate communities but d

Three scanned pages reproduce the health department bulletin announcing the new racial integrity law. The act restricted marriage and defined whiteness with an exception for limited American Indian ancestry. Compare the statute with Plecker’s letters to see how officials pursued its enforcement.

What were people saying at the time? Browse newspaper pages, tribal publications, and the stories preserved in print.

Whose towns were on the map? Zoom in on colonial places, Indigenous nations, and changing boundaries across the East Coast, Southeast, and Great Lakes.

Who got counted, who got land, and who got crossed out? Read treaties, laws, rolls, and official letters for yourself.

Ready to go down the rabbit hole? Find books, scholarship, and research guides for the next deep dive.

Indian on one record. Colored on another. Follow changing labels through laws, publications, and family history.