Study Areas

Enslavement

Anti-Slavery

Free Persons of Color

Underground Railroad

The Violent Decade

US Colored Troops

Civil War

Year of Jubilee (1863)

20th Century

Development of Harrisburg's Free African American Community

Featured Page

• Midland Cemetery--A Historic African American Cemetery in Swatara Township, Dauphin County

History Articles

• "Old Negro Cemetery," (Charles Fies) Middletown
• African American Burial Ground near Fort Hunter
• African American Burials at St. John's, Chester County with notes
• Harrisburg's "Free Person of Color" Registration Ordinance of 1821
• Harrisburg's African American Community Opposes Colonization, 1831
• Dauphin County Citizens Petition Congress in Support of Colonization
• William Nesbit Replies to T. Morris Chester on Colonization, 1855
• Adams County Items  Interesting short stories
• Dauphin County Items   Interesting short stories
• Lycoming County Items Interesting short stories
• Fugitive Slave Incidents in Central Pennsylvania
• Emancipation Day:  Harrisburg Celebrations
• Emancipation Day: Carlisle Celebrations
• A Jubilee of Freedom:  Harrisburg's African American Population Hails the Emancipation Proclamation
• Arrest of the Patriot and Union Staff--1862 with commentary
• Biography of Octavius V. Catto:  "Forgotten Black Hero of Philadelphia" by Andy Waskie, Ph.D.  Revised, February 20, 2004.
• "Our Alma Mater:"  An Address by Octavius V. Catto  by Andy Waskie, Ph.D.
• John G. Chaplin, African American Artist, 1828-1907
• Obituary of John G. Chaplin, Artist
• Carolina Singers at the Odd Fellows Hall, Harrisburg, 1873
• W.C. Williams, First Black Police Officer in Harrisburg
  Obituary from the Harrisburg Telegraph, submitted by David W. Houseal
• Harrisburg Cemetery:  Black History Perspectives (tour)  stops 1 - 7 posted.
• See also: The Underground Railroad in Central Pennsylvania

Building Community

• Roebuck Family Dedicates Monument at Midland Cemetery
• "Let Us Remember" Keynote speech delivered by SFC Houston D. Wedlock at the Friends of Midland Memorial Day Service, May 29, 2004.
• A Common Man's Tribute:  Allegorical Imagery in Lincoln Centennial Postcards

Reference and Databases

• 1820 Census of African Americans in Dauphin County, part 1
• 1820 Census of African Americans in Dauphin County, part 2
• 1830 Census of African Americans in Dauphin County
• 1850 Census of African Americans in Dauphin County
• 1850 Census of African Americans in West Caln, Chester County
• 1850 Census of African Americans in West Caln, Chester County (Word doc)
• 1880 Census of African Americans in Dauphin County
• Harrisburg's Role on the Trail to Freedom by T. R. McIntosh
• Pennsylvania African American Civil War Veterans
• Lincoln Cemetery, Harrisburg Tombstone transcriptions and images
• Midland Cemetery Lot Holders
  Records of burial, costs, causes of death and other information, transcribed from old lot books, 1894-1916.
• Midland Cemetery Map, Names and History
• All Names Index to Midland Databases  Unified index to the names of all persons known buried at Midland Cemetery, and names of African Americans who died in the Steelton area in the late 1800's and early 1900's.
• Ships Manifests, Lists of Slaves, Port of Philadelphia, 1800-1840
• Records of African Americans at the Berks County Poor House, Deaths and Pregnancies, 1825-1857
• Burials at Hosanna Church, Chester County
• Orrick Cemetery, Winchester, VA--Links to local families

Black History Event Photographs

• Rededicated Tombstone for Thomas Morris Chester:  Lincoln Cemetery, September 21, 2002 (Page 1) | (Page 2)
• Photographs from the USCTI Conference, Harrisburg

Covering the history of African Americans in central Pennsylvania from the colonial era through the Civil War.