Up to now, genealogical research on African-American families often ran into a dead end after the search reached back to 1870, the first census that documented newly freed slaves as U.S. citizens.
That wall will be broken for many researchers because of last week's donation of an indexed database of the Freedmen's Bureau Records to the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture.
The index was compiled during the past year by 25,000 volunteers assembled by FamilySearch International, a nonprofit genealogical organization sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Read Full Article »