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The Names of Nearly 4 Million Enslaved People in Former British Colonies Are Now Searchable Online, Helping Descendants Find Lost Ancestors

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The Names of Nearly 4 Million Enslaved People in Former British Colonies Are Now Searchable Online, Helping Descendants Find Lost Ancestors (Corroborated, claim 1)

A few years ago, we fea­tured here on Open Cul­ture the Freedmen’s Bureau Project data­base, which con­tains search­able infor­ma­tion on for­mer­ly enslaved peo­ple in the Unit­ed States after its Civ­il War. (Unverified, claim 3) With near­ly 1.8 mil­lion men, women, and chil­dren reg­is­tered there when it first opened to the pub­lic, it has remained a valu­able resource for many Amer­i­cans research­ing their own her­itage, not just descen­dants of for­mer slaves but of oth­er Civ­il War refugees as well. (Unverified, claim 4) But of course, the U.S. was hard­ly the only coun­try where slav­ery exist­ed. (Unverified, claim 5) Count­less peo­ple here in the twen­ty-first cen­tu­ry have ances­tors who were enslaved in oth­er for­mer British colonies, and now they’ve got a por­tal through which to do genealog­i­cal search­es of their own.

Launched by a part­ner­ship between the geneal­o­gy com­pa­ny Ances­try and the Cen­tre for the Study of the Lega­cies of British Slav­ery at Uni­ver­si­ty Col­lege Lon­don, the online For­mer British Colonies Enslave­ment Reg­is­ters makes avail­able records on near­ly four mil­lion indi­vid­u­als enslaved between 1813 and 1840 in a host of coun­tries from the Bahamas to Mau­ri­tius to South Africa. (Corroborated, claim 6)

In the video above, geneal­o­gist and Ances­try Senior Sto­ry Pro­duc­er Nic­ka Sewell-Smith pro­vides an intro­duc­tion to the For­mer British Colonies Enslave­ment Reg­is­ters, which you can access here. (Not auto-checked, claim 7) If you’re curi­ous about whether your own ances­tors may appear in its records, you can search by details like name, approx­i­mate date, or loca­tion to nar­row down the poten­tial match­es. The mod­ern descen­dants of peo­ple enslaved in the 20 coun­tries cov­ered by the data­base by no means live exclu­sive­ly, or even pri­mar­i­ly, in those coun­tries or in Great Britain itself. (Unverified, claim 8) More than two cen­turies lat­er, their descen­dants live all over the world, includ­ing in Latin Amer­i­ca and the Unit­ed States, lead­ing lives very dif­fer­ent from those of their enslaved ances­tors — but the recon­struc­tion of their fam­i­ly sto­ries has only just begun. Enter the data­base here.

The Atlantic Slave Trade Visu­al­ized in Two Min­utes: 10 Mil­lion Lives, 20,000 Voy­ages, Over 315 Years (Unverified, claim 9)

The Names of 1.8 Mil­lion Eman­ci­pat­ed Slaves Are Now Search­able in the World’s Largest Genealog­i­cal Data­base, Help­ing African Amer­i­cans Find Lost Ances­tors (Unverified, claim 10)

1.5 Mil­lion Slav­ery Era Doc­u­ments Will Be Dig­i­tized, Help­ing African Amer­i­cans to Learn About Their Lost Ances­tors (Unverified, claim 11)

Visu­al­iz­ing Slav­ery: The Map Abra­ham Lin­coln Spent Hours Study­ing Dur­ing the Civ­il War (Unverified, claim 12)

Hear the Voic­es of Amer­i­cans Born in Slav­ery: The Library of Con­gress Fea­tures 23 Audio Inter­views with For­mer­ly Enslaved Peo­ple (1932–75) (Corroborated, claim 13)

The Civ­il War and Recon­struc­tion: A Free Course (Unverified, claim 14)

Based in Seoul, Col­in Marshall writes and broad­casts on cities, lan­guage, and cul­ture. (Not auto-checked, claim 15) He’s the author of the newslet­ter Books on Cities as well as the books 한국 요약 금지 (No Sum­ma­riz­ing Korea) and Kore­an Newtro. (Not auto-checked, claim 16) Fol­low him on the social net­work for­mer­ly known as Twit­ter at @colinmarshall.

We’re hop­ing to rely on our loy­al read­ers rather than errat­ic ads. To sup­port Open Cul­ture’s edu­ca­tion­al mis­sion, please con­sid­er mak­ing a dona­tion. We accept Pay­Pal, Ven­mo (@openculture), Patre­on and Cryp­to! (Unverified, claim 19) Please find all options here. We thank you!

We're hoping to rely on loyal readers, rather than erratic ads. Please click the Donate button and support Open Culture. You can use Paypal, Venmo, Patreon, even Crypto! (Unverified, claim 20) We thank you!

Open Culture scours the web for the best educational media. (Corroborated, claim 23) We find the free courses and audio books you need, the language lessons & educational videos you want, and plenty of enlightenment in between.

No passage has a claim with this status.

  • Corroborated backed by sources
  • Contradicted contradicted by sources
  • Unverified not confirmed or contradicted
  • Not auto-checked evidence only, no automated status

Every claim 18

  1. 1CorroboratedThe Names of Nearly 4 Million Enslaved People in Former British Colonies Are Now Searchable Online, Helping Descendants Find Lost Ancestors2 sources

    Report

    At least one independent source states or directly implies this, or, where sources disagree, clearly more sites support it than contradict it.

    Evidence

    • www.tbsnews.netcontextfound by search
      Nearly 4 million records of enslaved people across 20 former British colonies have been made searchable online for the first time through a landmark digital archive.
    • www.ucl.ac.ukshowsfound by search
      The UCL Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slavery (CSLBS) has partnered with Ancestry to digitise and make searchable nearly 4 million records of people enslaved in the 19th century.
    • thegrio.comshowsfound by search
      Ancestry has made nearly 4 million enslavement records searchable for free, giving descendants across the African diaspora another way to trace family connections and recover ancestors’ names.
    Status history
    1. unverified · initial · system
    2. unverified → corroborated · l3_supports · system
  2. 3UnverifiedA few years ago, we fea­tured here on Open Cul­ture the Freedmen’s Bureau Project data­base, which con­tains search­able infor­ma­tion on for­mer­ly enslaved peo­ple in the Unit­ed States after its Civ­il War.0 sources

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    No independent source we read confirms or contradicts this sentence yet. That is not a finding that it is wrong.

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    No source is attached to this claim yet.

    Status history
    1. unverified · initial · system
  3. 4UnverifiedWith near­ly 1.8 mil­lion men, women, and chil­dren reg­is­tered there when it first opened to the pub­lic, it has remained a valu­able resource for many Amer­i­cans research­ing their own her­itage, not just descen­dants of for­mer slaves but of oth­er Civ­il War refugees as well.0 sources

    Report

    No independent source we read confirms or contradicts this sentence yet. That is not a finding that it is wrong.

    Evidence

    No source is attached to this claim yet.

    Status history
    1. unverified · initial · system
  4. 5UnverifiedBut of course, the U.S. was hard­ly the only coun­try where slav­ery exist­ed.0 sources

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    No independent source we read confirms or contradicts this sentence yet. That is not a finding that it is wrong.

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    No source is attached to this claim yet.

    Status history
    1. unverified · initial · system
  5. 6CorroboratedLaunched by a part­ner­ship between the geneal­o­gy com­pa­ny Ances­try and the Cen­tre for the Study of the Lega­cies of British Slav­ery at Uni­ver­si­ty Col­lege Lon­don, the online For­mer British Colonies Enslave­ment Reg­is­ters makes avail­able records on near­ly four mil­lion indi­vid­u­als enslaved between 1813 and 1840 in a host of coun­tries from the Bahamas to Mau­ri­tius to South Africa.1 source

    Report

    At least one independent source states or directly implies this, or, where sources disagree, clearly more sites support it than contradict it.

    Evidence

    • www.ucl.ac.ukshowsfound by search
      They document enslaved individuals from 20 former British colonies between 1813–1840 and represent the most comprehensive records of enslaved populations during the British Empire.
    Status history
    1. unverified · initial · system
    2. unverified → corroborated · l3_supports · system
  6. 7Not auto-checkedIn the video above, geneal­o­gist and Ances­try Senior Sto­ry Pro­duc­er Nic­ka Sewell-Smith pro­vides an intro­duc­tion to the For­mer British Colonies Enslave­ment Reg­is­ters, which you can access here.0 sources

    Report

    Not auto-checked: this sentence names a private individual or small business, so no automated status is given. Evidence only.

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    No source is attached to this claim yet.

    Status history
    1. unverified · initial · system
  7. 8UnverifiedThe mod­ern descen­dants of peo­ple enslaved in the 20 coun­tries cov­ered by the data­base by no means live exclu­sive­ly, or even pri­mar­i­ly, in those coun­tries or in Great Britain itself.0 sources

    Report

    No independent source we read confirms or contradicts this sentence yet. That is not a finding that it is wrong.

    Evidence

    • www.ucl.ac.ukcontextfound by search
      They document enslaved individuals from 20 former British colonies between 1813–1840 and represent the most comprehensive records of enslaved populations during the British Empire.
    • thegrio.comcontextfound by search
      The collection documents enslaved people across 20 former British colonies between 1813 and 1840.
    • www.tbsnews.netcontextfound by search
      Nearly 4 million records of enslaved people across 20 former British colonies have been made searchable online for the first time through a landmark digital archive.
    Status history
    1. unverified · initial · system
  8. 9UnverifiedThe Atlantic Slave Trade Visu­al­ized in Two Min­utes: 10 Mil­lion Lives, 20,000 Voy­ages, Over 315 Years0 sources

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    No independent source we read confirms or contradicts this sentence yet. That is not a finding that it is wrong.

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    No source is attached to this claim yet.

    Status history
    1. unverified · initial · system
  9. 10UnverifiedThe Names of 1.8 Mil­lion Eman­ci­pat­ed Slaves Are Now Search­able in the World’s Largest Genealog­i­cal Data­base, Help­ing African Amer­i­cans Find Lost Ances­tors0 sources

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    No independent source we read confirms or contradicts this sentence yet. That is not a finding that it is wrong.

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    No source is attached to this claim yet.

    Status history
    1. unverified · initial · system
  10. 11Unverified1.5 Mil­lion Slav­ery Era Doc­u­ments Will Be Dig­i­tized, Help­ing African Amer­i­cans to Learn About Their Lost Ances­tors0 sources

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    Status history
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  11. 12UnverifiedVisu­al­iz­ing Slav­ery: The Map Abra­ham Lin­coln Spent Hours Study­ing Dur­ing the Civ­il War0 sources

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    Status history
    1. unverified · initial · system
  12. 13CorroboratedHear the Voic­es of Amer­i­cans Born in Slav­ery: The Library of Con­gress Fea­tures 23 Audio Inter­views with For­mer­ly Enslaved Peo­ple (1932–75)1 source

    Report

    At least one independent source states or directly implies this, or, where sources disagree, clearly more sites support it than contradict it.

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    Status history
    1. unverified · initial · system
    2. unverified → corroborated · l3_supports · system
  13. 14UnverifiedThe Civ­il War and Recon­struc­tion: A Free Course0 sources

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  14. 15Not auto-checkedBased in Seoul, Col­in Marshall writes and broad­casts on cities, lan­guage, and cul­ture.0 sources

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  15. 16Not auto-checkedHe’s the author of the newslet­ter Books on Cities as well as the books 한국 요약 금지 (No Sum­ma­riz­ing Korea) and Kore­an Newtro.0 sources

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  16. 19UnverifiedWe accept Pay­Pal, Ven­mo (@openculture), Patre­on and Cryp­to!0 sources

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  17. 20UnverifiedYou can use Paypal, Venmo, Patreon, even Crypto!0 sources

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  18. 23CorroboratedOpen Culture scours the web for the best educational media.1 source

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    • media-and-learning.eushowsfound by search
      Not an app, but a resource like the cave of Ali Baba: Open Culture helps you find high-quality cultural and educational media.
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