Digital Library on American Slavery: Race and Slavery Petitions

This is a searchable database of detailed personal information about slaves, slaveholders, and free people of color gleaned from petitions to southern legislatures and county courts filed between 1775 and 1867 in fifteen slaveholding states - including Maryland - and the District of Columbia.

Enslaved: People of the Historical Slave Trade

Enslaved: People of the Historical Slave Trade is a public clearinghouse of data on enslaved people in the Americas. The University of Maryland is a partner in the development and maintenance of the site. It includes entries on the enslaved in Maryland.

GU272 Memory Project

In 1838, Maryland's Jesuit priests sold hundreds of men, women, and children to Southern plantations to raise money for the construction of Georgetown University. Though they faced incredible hardship, most didn't perish. They married and raised children. Today, more than 8,000 of their descendants have been located through genealogical research. Use this site to search for an ancestor and to hear the stories of the descendants.

Mapping the Freedmen's Bureau

Mapping the Freedman’s Bureau is devoted to helping researchers put their ancestors back on the historical landscape where they lived. The site is devoted to mapping the many places that affected the newly freed survivors of slavery. Research guidance also is available on using Freedman's Bureau records, including for Maryland.

MCHC Guide to African American Sources

A guide to resources in the H. Furlong Baldwin Library at the Maryland Center for History and Culture for those researching African Americans or their history, including books, photographs, oral histories, manuscripts, and various records and directories. The collection is strongest in materials from the 19th and 20th centuries. The Library’s significant holding of materials relating to the efforts to colonize freed blacks in Liberia and its transcripts of oral histories are particularly interesting.

Montgomery County Chapter - Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society

The Chapter is a group of family researchers with ancestral roots in Montgomery County whose aim is to help each other and the public discover the answers to family history questions. Activities include: creating a network of persons with similar interests; assisting members in documenting the history of our ancestors; becoming familiar with resources for historical and genealogical research. The Chapter is dedicated to uncovering the rich African American heritage that continues to contribute to the diversity of the county and the nation.

O Say Can You See: Early Washington, D.C., Law and Family

The site allows you to explore kinship and family networks of multigenerational black, white, and mixed families of early Washington, D.C. (portions of which originally were part of Maryland). These networks have been created using information derived from court records, as well as genealogical research. Because of the importance of kinship and family in matters of freedom, the petition for freedom case files in particular often contain genealogical information for the black and white families involved in these suits.

Reclaiming Kin

This blog by professional Maryland genealogist Robyn Smith is designed to highlight genealogy skill building and explore the many challenges of slavery and slave research. The site includes African-American genealogy articles and resources for researching slavery. Several of her own family lines from Maryland are featured in her research examples.

Reginald F. Lewis Museum of African American History and Culture

The museum seeks to be the premier experience and best resource for information and inspiration about the lives of African American Marylanders by collecting, preserving, interpreting, documenting and exhibiting the rich contributions of African American Marylanders from the state's earliest history to the present and the future.