From the desk of Mary Paynton Schaff

In honor of African-American History Month, we would like to highlight some African American genealogical resources specific to Washington State and the Pacific Northwest that can be found here at the Washington State Library, as well as online.

For starters, we have an outstanding collection of Washington historical and current newspapers on microfilm and online, including several African-American newspapers. You can see a list of the African-American newspapers here, as well as other titles that may help you learn more about African-American family history.  [ed. note: see also Laura’s comment on our previous post.]

And keep in mind you can always search our catalog to check for resources on African-American genealogy or anything else related to Washington family history, local and state government questions.

Beyond our walls, there are some really great free online resources about African-Americans in the Pacific Northwest. Here are some websites that we find especially interesting:

Through Open Eyes: 95 Years of Roslyn’s Black Mining History by the Ellensburg Public Library
The page includes a history of the Roslyn community and its mining industry, a pictorial database, and historical newspaper excerpts that describe mining accidents.

National Parks Service: African Americans at Fort Vancouver
The page has links to articles such as “African-Americans and the Hudson Bay Company” and “Buffalo Soldiers at Fort Vancouver.”

BlackPast: An Online reference guide to African American history by Quintard Taylor (Scott and Dorothy Bullitt Professor of American History, University of Washington Seattle)
From Quintard Taylor’s introduction to the website: “This 3,000 page site is dedicated to providing reference materials to the general public on African American history in the United States and on the history of people of African ancestry around the world.” Of particular interest is the “African-Americans in the West” page.

African American Coal Miner Information Center by Tim Pinnick
The page includes a database of African-American miners, lists of coal mining camps and towns by state, and lists of suggested reading for further research.