Digital Library on American Slavery

Search the Petitions

The Digital Library on American Slavery, a cooperative effort of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, is a searchable database of detailed personal information about slaves, slaveholders, and free people of color. Designed as a tool for genealogists and historians, the site provides access to data collected from legal petitions filed from 1777 to 1867 in all fifteen slaveholding states in the U.S. This information documents where, when, and by whom slaves were owned, and provides insight into where, when, and how free people of color lived.

Information in the petitions can be accessed in three ways. To search the petitions by keyword, select geographic and date criteria then enter a search term or phrase below. To search the database for specific named individuals, select the Search By Name tab. To see petitions associated with particular historical, legal, or cultural topics, select the Browse Subjects tab.

State:

Filing Year(s)

From: To: Include relevant records with no date:

Keywords

AND OR EXACT PHRASE