African-American genealogical research presents unique challenges to the researcher. Few resources are currently available, but fortunately with growing interest in the subject, new resources are being developed. This section is an attempt to inform researchers of available resources for Mississippi research. Please contact me if you know of additional listings that should be added in this section.
Listed below are links to webpages with information on African-American families of Pike County. If you would like to add your family's webpage to the listing, please contact Sue Wright. My thanks to Willie L. Robinson for his suggestion to add this section to the page.
The Mississippi Department of Archives and History, located in the Capers Building, 100 South State Street, Jackson, has in its collection several items of specific interest to those researching African-American ancestry.
Mississippi Freedmen's Bureau Records, consisting of fifty rolls of microfilm, most of which are unindexed, are available . Among these records are Freedmen's Bureau labor contracts, which are indexed, marriage records, and records of the Freedmen's Savings and Trust Company including The Register of Signatures of Depositions and Index to the Deposit Ledgers.
The Works Progress Administration slave narratives are also found at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. Only the Mississippi narratives are available.
Miscellaneous records of interest include the apprentice records for Amite, Issaquena and Panola counties. While these are the only counties at present for which these records are available, the records of additional counties are being filmed for the collection.
Source: Lipscomb, Anne S. & Hutchison, Kathleen S., Tracing Your Mississippi Ancestors (Jackson, Miss.:University Press of Mississippi, 1994.) Pages 68-75.
 | Pike County MSGenWeb Page This page was last updated 5/25/2004  |