February is Black History Month. In order to make our family's involvement in slavery as transparent as possible, I have put resources in this post. This post is not meant to celebrate our ancestors' actions. This post is meant to acknowledge what happened as a step in supporting those still affected by our ancestors' actions to heal while society improves.
The next few links are from the Library of Congress's images of the Federal Writer's Project to record slave narratives.
Starting on image 253, Bernice Bowden recounts her life in slavery and the early years of freedom.
Starting on image 251, Samuel S Taylor describes his experiences in slavery and transitioning to freedom.
Starting on image 343, Miss Irene Robertson tells about enslavement and becoming free.
Starting on image 112, Albert Todd speaks on the part of his life when he was enslaved and when he became free.
This book of memoirs recounts the later years of slavery, Civil War years, and early years following the war of an associate of a Ryland family member.
I have attached the 1850 Slave Schedule information that I have found on Family Search. I explained who is included so far at the top of the document, and I plan on adding more people as more names are identified. Additionally, I am working on a similar document from the 1860 Slave Schedule. I am planning to create similar documents from previous years and add names to the current document using the Census directly, and I will add names of enslaved individuals if identified through the original Census entries.