LibGuides: COMM 365/366: Ancestor Information

Genealogy Research

MyHeritage Library Edition (EBSCO)

Your Genes and Science!

This is for your information only! You can have your DNA analyzed for ethnicity and genetic matches. These cost money, take time, and have privacy implications.

Slavery in the US

Digital Library on American Slavery (UNC-Greensboro)
Born in Slavery : Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1938
The Freedmen's Bureau Project
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To help bring thousands of records to light, The Freedmen’s Bureau Project was created as a set of partnerships between FamilySearch International and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society (AAHGS), and the California African American Museum.
International African American Museum Center for Family History's On Demand Learning Library

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Immigration / Naturalization Laws

Immigration and Nationality Act
A History of Immigration Law Regarding People of Color
U.S. Naturalization and Citizenship
Naturalization Process & Current Trends
Early Immigration Policies
How U.S. Immigration Laws & Rules Have Changed Through History
Manifest of Immigrants Act (1819) (from the Encyclopedia of North American Immigration)
The Manifest of Immigrants Act was the first piece of U.S. legislation regulating the transportation of migrants to and from America and the first measure requiring that immigration statistics be kept. The United States maintained uninterrupted data on individuals coming into the country from the time this act was passed.
Carriage of Passengers Act (1855) (from the Encyclopedia of North American Immigration)
With the support of President Franklin Pierce, Congress repealed the Manifest of Immigrants Act (1819) and subsequent measures relating to transportation of immigrants, replacing them on March 3, 1855, with “an act to extend the provisions of all laws now in force relating to the carriage of passengers in merchant-vessels, and the regulation thereof.”
Immigration policy (from the Encyclopedia of Foreign Policy)
New Americans: A Guide to Immigration Since 1965
Thematic essays address such topics as immigration law and policy, refugees, unauthorized migrants, racial and ethnic identity, assimilation, nationalization, economy, politics, religion, education, and family relations. Comprehensive articles on immigration from the thirty most significant nations or regions of origin.

Immigration and Migration: In Context
Call Number: E-book
Publication Date: 2018

Experiences for Different Groups in the United States

Encyclopedia of North American Immigration
Encyclopedia of North American Immigration, Revised Edition is a comprehensive encyclopedia consisting of hundreds of A-to-Z entries on events, themes, people, places, and legislation related to immigration.
Immigration and Relocation in U.S. History (Library of Congress)
The history of the United States has always been shaped by peoples and communities who came to its shores or moved within its borders. Some sought a better life, some fled oppression, and some were moved against their will.

Ethnic Americans by Leonard Dinnerstein
Call Number: E-book
Publication Date: 2009
Taking the past fifteen years into account, the fifth edition of Ethnic Americans considers recent influxes of Asians and Hispanics, especially the surge in the Mexican population.
With Scarcely a Ripple: Anglo-Canadian Migration Into the United States and Western Canada, 1880-1920
Call Number: E-book
Publication Date: 1998
Randy Widdis determines the geographical and social origins of migrants, the distance and direction of migration corridors, and geographical destinations in both the United States and Canada.

There is a series of books about different ethnic groups in Michigan. You can find them in SmartSearch by searching for the ethnicity (e.g. Swede, Dutch, Finnish, etc.) and Michigan. Limit your results to books. Some of them are print only and some are e-books, available online. A couple of examples are below:

Dutch in Michigan
Call Number: Third Floor - F575.D9 T46 2002
Swedes in Michigan
Call Number: E-book
Germans in Michigan Germans are the largest ancestral group in Michigan, representing over 2.6 million descendants or 22% of the state's population. Yet, unlike other immigrant groups, Germans have not retained their linguistic and cultural traditions as part of a distinct ethnic identity. The Bavarian villages of Frankenmuth and Gaylord stand as testaments to the once proud and vigorous German communities that dotted both rural and urban Michigan landscapes. Jeremy W. Kilar explores the social forces that transformed Germans from inward-looking immigrants to citizens in the cultural mainstream. Germans in Michigan is a story of assimilation and renewal and as such reveals the complexities of Americanization and immigration as social forces.
Call Number: Call Number: Third Floor - F575.G3 K45 2002