Lineage tool
Lineage Records Checklist
Work backward one generation at a time. Your progress is saved only on this device — nothing is uploaded.
01 Start with the living
Write down full names, birthplaces, and the counties where grandparents and great-grandparents lived.
Research your family history →Confirm names, ages and counties to anchor each generation.
National Archives 1950 Census ↗
02 Bridge to 1870
1870 is the first federal census that named formerly enslaved people. This is the critical bridge.
Trace the 1870 line →Labor contracts, marriage records and rations lists from 1865–1872.
Freedmen's Bureau records (NARA) ↗Depositor cards often list parents, siblings, plantations and former enslavers.
Freedman's Bank records (NARA) ↗
03 Before emancipation
Enslaved people were listed as property in wills and estate inventories of enslavers.
Look up your county →About 179,000 men served; pension files often contain detailed family evidence.
USCT records (NARA) ↗
04 Organize the receipts
Keep copies offline, one page per generation, with the source citation for every document.
Glossary: lineage →
This checklist is a research aid, not a legal eligibility determination.
Civic action dispatch
Now act on it
A debt documented is not yet a debt collected. See it, prove it, force it.
- 01Federal + state bills
Step 01 · Monitor
Track the bills
Follow active reparations measures in Congress and the states.
Open tracker - 023,142 counties
Step 02 · Document
Verify the receipts
Find slave schedules, Freedmen's records and land deeds in your county.
Search your county - 03Scripts + caucuses
Step 03 · Mobilize
Organize your district
Call your lawmaker, reach your Black Caucus and start a local group.
Get the playbook
Priority action · 30 seconds
Call your state lawmaker today
Copy the script, then find your representative's number on the community page.