History of African Americans in Alabama

African Americans are Americans of African descent. People of African descent are first recorded as arriving in African Americans are Americans of African descent. People of African descent first arrived in Alabama as apart of the Spanish conquest of La Florida(which included Alabama) in the 16th century. The first documented Africans in Alabama arrived with Hernando Desoto. “We know very little about the black slaves with DeSoto. A letter from Spain's King Charles V dated April 20, 1537, gave DeSoto permission to take 50 Africans, a third of them female, to Florida. According to historian Jane Landers, DeSoto's slaves included both Moors from Northern Africa and sub-Saharan Africans. Many of them deserted him to live with the Native Americans in Florida. We know that DeSoto abandoned some black slaves during his expeditions, including two with known names. One named Robles, who apparently was Christian, was left at Coosa, Ala., because he was too ill to walk.” {{cite web|url= https://www.al.com/news/2019/08/slaves-arrived-in-america-and-alabama-years-before-1619.html?outputType=amp title=History}}. As the Spanish continued its conquest of La Florida which provinces included Alabama (Apalachacola) it’s enslaved and free African population grew. After the Spanish San Franciscans arrived in Saint Augustine, Florida in 1573, they started moving northward and eastward into the Alabama area. {{cite=Christina K. Schaefer, Genealogical encyclopedia of the colonial Americas : a complete digest of the records of all the countries of the Western Hemisphere (Baltimore, Maryland : Genealogical Publishing Company, c1998), 559. WorldCat (Other Libraries); FS Library book 929.11812 D26 1998 title=History}}. “ Between 1519 and 1600, 151.6 thousand Africans disembarked on the Spanish American mainland and another 187.7 thousand over the next 50 years. In all, 54% of all enslaved Africans brought to the New World between 1519 and 1700 disembarked in Spanish America (Eltis el at 2001).” {{cite web|url= https://www.nps.gov/ethnography/aah/aaheritage/spanishamb.htm#:~:text=Between%201519%20and%201600%2C%20151.6,(Eltis%20el%20at%202001). title=History}}. Many enslaved and free people of African descent escaped bondage and or colonial life by running away and living with the American Indian tribes of Alabama. French colonist established the first permanent European colony in Alabama near Mobile and we can find African descendants enumerated on French colonial census tablets for Mobile dating from 1699-1732. {{cite Section: Census Tables. The Census Tables for the French Colony of Louisiana from 1699 Through 1732 [database on-line]. title=History}}. As the century passed and as territories in Alabama changed flags, free and enslaved peoples of African descent sought their independence and freedom by fighting battles under Spanish, British, Native American, French and American flags. For example in 1781 there was a “black militia who fought under the Spanish led by Galvez at Mobile”. {{cite web|url=https://www.americanrevolution.org/blk.php title=History}}. African Americans in Alabama also fought in the war of 1812 and the Creek war 1813-14 including at Fort Mims. {{cite web|url=https://npshistory.com/publications/hobe/braund-2017.pdf title=History}}. In 1814 African Americans fought alongside Creek Indians at the battle of Enchanachaca in Alabama where U.S military officers described them as their “most desperate foe”. {{cite=Iverson, Justin. “Fugitives on the Front: Maroons in the Gulf Coast Borderlands War, 1812-1823.” The Florida Historical Quarterly, vol. 98, no. 2, 2019, pp. 105–29. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/27098092. title=History}}. After those battles Alabama gained American statehood in 1819 which represented a clear danger of enslavement for Alabama Africans. People of African descent continued to seek freedom and independence in Alabama by living among Native American tribes such as the Creek Indians or forming independent Maroon communities in more secluded parts of Alabama. “Further east along the gulf coast a maroon group secreted themselves in a swamp at the confluence of the Alabama and Tombeckbe rivers, just north of Mobile. Some of the members of this group had 'been runaway for several years' and were led by a 'an extraordinary negro for size and bodily strength' named Old Hal. Following a battle with local planters in 1827, which led to the death of several maroons, even the newspapers were forced to conceded 'that old Hal and his men fought like Spartans, not one gave an inch of ground, but stood and was shot dead or wounded, and fell on the spot'.” {{cite =New York Spectator, 17 July 1827; Vermont Chronicle, 20 July 1827. title=History}}. After the war most African Americans living in Creek Indian territory of Alabama were enslaved but many were free. Before removal during the Creek census of 1832 the enumerators sent a letter requesting clarification regarding the status of free African Americans living as citizens of the Creek nation in Alabama. B. S. Parsons and Thomas J. Abbott Wrote “To wit: there is a number of free black families that seem to be in every way identified with these people, and the only difference is the color. I have taken their numbers in all cases, but am I to take them as heads of families for reservations or not? For those persons I have thought proper to make a separate book”. {{cite=A letter from B. S. Parsons and Thomas J. Abbott to Lewis Cass regarding the census, multiple wives, Indian countrymen, and Negroes, Sept. 7, 1832.title=History}}. For an example of an African American population in Pre Native American removal Alabama one can look at the Creek Indian 1832 census for Tuskeega town(Tuskegee/Taskigi). Here we find free and enslaved people of African descent living in the town. {{cite=web|url=https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~texlance/genealogy/1832census/index.htm title= 1832 Creek Nation (Alabama) census}} Interesting enough the leader of Taskigi town in Oklahoma after Creek Indian removal was an African American by the name of Silas Jefferson also known as Ho-tul-ki-mi-po (Chief of the Whirlwind). {{cite web|url= https://collections.gilcrease.org/object/43263939 title=History}}. Many free and enslaved African Americans in Alabama were forced to leave on the trail of tears with the Creek Indians in 1833. Any of them who dared to stay behind would face enslavement by encroaching American planters as the territory exchanged hands. After the Creek war and Alabama gained statehood in 1819 it’s enslaved African population grew. As slave catchers captured Maroons in Alabama and American planters arrived in Alabama with enslaved African Americans the population ballooned. Between 1819-1860 Africans continued to arrive in Alabama and those Africans and people of African descent continued to resist bondage. For example we find reports of 400 people of African descent engaged in insurrection in Lowndes county in September of 1850. {{cite=Gallipolis journal. [volume], September 12, 1850, Image 1title=History}}. In 1860 the last documented slave ship arrived in Mobile bay in Alabama. It’s 110 African captives arrived in Alabama from the Kingdom on Dahomey in West Africa. {{cite web|url=https://www.mobile.org/things-to-do/history/african-american-heritage/clotilda/ title=History}}. As the American civil war commenced African Americans in Alabama took up arms in what can be considered the largest slave revolt in U.S history. “The largest slave revolt in U.S. history involved nearly 5,000 slaves from Alabama, rising up to strike a blow against their masters” {{cite=web|urlhttp://www.civilwarconnect.com/2012/03/kingdom-comin-largest-slave-rebellion.html?m=1#:~:text=The%20largest%20slave%20revolt%20in%20U.S.%20history%20involved%20nearly%205%2C000,bead%20on%20the%20master%20class. title=History}}.

Mother Ruby Lee Campbell Robinson

(courtesy of Anthony Campbell). This image is of Mother Ruby Lee (Campbell) Robison. The daughter of Shelby Campbell and grandaughter of George Campbell. (

THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GEORGE CAMPBELL AND HIS CHILDREN

(photo courtesy of the Grenada Star) VOL. 1

Annie Eliza Campbell

Annie Eliza Campbell was a daughter of George Campbell. Annie Eliza was born during the month of January in the year 1872. Like her other siblings Annie Eliza was born in Duck Hill, Montgomery county, Mississippi.

(Image of Annie Eliza Campbell courtesy of cousin James Rickman).~

The first record that we find Annie Eliza on is the 1880 U.S federal census. Here we see Annie Eliza, Her parents and siblings enumerated under the surname Cameron.

(Source Citation:Federal Census:Year: 1880; Census Place: Montgomery, Mississippi; Roll: 658; Page: 361A; Enumeration District: 141 Description Enumeration District: 141; Description: 2nd District Embracing 2nd Supervisor's District).~~

Around the year 1888 Annie Eliza Campbell married James Rickman in Montgomery county, Mississippi. During the following decade Annie Eliza and Husband would add children William, Dillie, John, James and Epsy Rickman to their fast growing family.~

When the census year 1900 came around and the census enumerator knocked on Annie Eliza's door we find her still living in Duck Hill, Montgomery county, Mississippi. Two of her neighbors being her brothers Solon and John. You'll notice that Solon is enumerated under his mother's maiden name Carver and her brother John was still going by the surname Cameron. Cameron was a surname used by their father George and also by George's blood relatives living in North Carolina. Counted amongst Annie's household was her husband James and the children previously named.

(Source Citation: Federal Census.Year: 1900; Census Place: Duck Hill, Montgomery, Mississippi; Roll: 820; Page: 7; Enumeration District: 0077; FHL microfilm: 1240820).~

Before the 1910 census Annie Eliza added more little ones to her bustling family. Also just like her parents and some siblings started leaving Duck Hill decades earlier, Annie Eliza,her household, and the households of her brothers Odis and Solon Campbell decided to move to Tallahatchie county, Mississippi. When the census taker walked up to Annie Eliza's door in 1910 that's where her and her children were living. The census enumerator counted Annie Eliza, her husband James and their children James W,George, Lura and Sylvester Rickman in Annie's home. Annie Eliza's son William Rickman was listed as her neighbor. Her brothers Odis and Solon were living in the same town.

(Source Citation: Federal Census.Year: 1910; Census Place: Beat 5, Tallahatchie, Mississippi; Roll: T624_760; Page: 18B; Enumeration District: 0081; FHL microfilm: 1374773).~

Annie Eliza remarried twice. Once in Tallahatchie county, MS to Robert White in 1916. To this union was born a daughter named Bobbie White.

(Source Citation: "Mississippi, County Marriages, 1858-1979," database, FamilySearch)(https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Z4XL-3TMM : 3 May 2020), Mrs Annie or Anna Liza Rickman in entry for Mr Bob White, 28 Nov 1916; citing Marriage, Tallahatchie, Mississippi, United States, 00486, citing multiple county clerks; Mississippi Department of Archives and History, Jackson").

Eventually Annie Eliza would leave Mississippi. She lived in Missouri for sometime but she would eventually settle in Illinois.
On the 1930 and 1940 Federal census we find Annie Eliza living in Cairo,Alexander County, Illinois with her husband Frenchie Lewis. Her child Bobbie and her grandson James Rickman can be seen living in the home as well. In 1940 we see Eliza's daughter Lura is also her neighbor.

(Source Citation: Federal Census.Census Year: 1930; Census Place: Cairo, Alexander, Illinois; Page: 13A; Enumeration District: 0009; FHL microfilm: 2340141 Description District: 0009; Description: CAIRO CITY (PART), BOUNDED BY (N) 34TH EXTENDED, 34TH; (E) OHIO RIVER; (S) 30TH, WASHINGTON AVE., 28TH, 28TH EXTENDED; (W) MISSISSIPPI RIVER.

(Source Citation: Year: 1940; Census Place: Cairo, Alexander, Illinois; Roll: m-t0627-00758; Page: 2A; Enumeration District: 2-3 Description Enumeration District: 2-3; Description: CAIRO ELECTION PRECINCT, CAIRO CITY BOUNDED BY (N) CITY LIMITS; (E) OHIO RIVER; (S) 28TH; (W) SYCAMORE).

Just as the 1940 census showed Eliza's daughter was also a neighbor, when her son Sylvester registered for the WW2 draft in October of that year he put on his draft card that he also lived on 29th street in Cairo. His address being 331 on 29th and his mother's address being 311 on 29th street.

(Source Citation:National Archives at St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; WWII Draft Registration Cards for Illinois, 10/16/1940-03/31/1947; Record Group: Records of the Selective Service System, 147; Box: 1503). ~

While researching Annie Eliza I was able to learn oral history passed down from her grandson James Rickmon. He spoke of Annie Eliza's Campbell background and how two of her siblings namely Georgeanna and Sing Campbell often came to visit in Cairo. By the year 1950 Annie Eliza's husband Frenchie Lewis had passed away. On the census for that year we find Annie Eliza still living in Cairo, Illinois. Living in the home was her sister Georgeanna and her grandson James Rickmon. Also in the home were other grandchildren Charles , Lura, Versie and Richard Hogue, the children of her daughter Bobbie.

(Source Citation:United States of America, Bureau of the Census; Washington, D.C.; Seventeenth Census of the United States, 1950; Record Group: Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790-2007; Record Group Number: 29; Residence Date: 1950; Home in 1950: Cairo, Alexander, Illinois; Roll: 1027; Sheet Number: 6; Enumeration District: 2-7).~

According to oral history passed down from James Rickmon, Annie Eliza passed away in Cairo, Illinois around the year 1955.

(Image of Annie Eliza's daughter Lura Rickman and Lura's husband Eddie Hornbeak courtesy of cousin James Rickman).

George Campbell

We pick up on George Campbell's life during a very tumultuous time in American history. Emancipation for formerly enslaved African Americans had just been realized after nearly 200,000 African American men both free and enslaved joined the Union Army to fight for the freedom of their collective people. In 1863 when Lincoln issued the emancipation proclamation black men and women saw that as a call to arms. Many fled the plantations, removed themselves from the Maroon camps in the swamps and returned from freedom in the North to pick up arms and join the fight against the confederates. Some genealogical evidence suggest that our ancestor George Campbell may have been amongst those who took up arms for freedom. We currently seek to gain access to certain civil war pension files held at the National Archives to confirm if this maybe true.

We find George Campbell shortly after the civil war living in Duck Hill, Mississippi. During this time of reconstruction newly emancipated blacks were making real progress. They had entered politics and many had taken up positions of influence and power all over the south. Naturally this did'nt sit right with the former plantation owners and enslavers. There were Union troops stationed throughout Mississippi and the Freedmen's Bureau was established to aid newly emancipated African Americans and some recently improvished whites. This was the enviroment in the year 1867 where on record we find George Campbell registering to vote in Duck Hill, Mississippi. It is important to note that Duck Hill was apart of Carroll County, Mississippi until the year 1870.

(Source Citation: List of registered voters for Duck Hill, Carroll County, Mississippi for the years 1867,1868 and 1869.)~

On the voter's list mentioned above there are names that become familiar to us as neighbors, friends and possible relatives of George Campbell. Names like Armstead, Anderson, Nelson and Jefferson Campbell come to mind. However there was a name that appears along side George's names on tax lists and census records from the 1860's through the 1890's and that was Jacob Campbell. To understand the enviroment that George and his family endured in Duck Hill one can read the Freedmen's bureau records of complaints. These records are rife with reports of racial attacks and kidnapping of black children for the purposes of forced labor. Because Jacob Campbell lived near George Campbell for many decades we can use a report involving him to get a glimpse at life in Duck Hill right after the civil war. Just 1 year before we find George Campbell bravely registering to vote, In August of 1866 Jacob Campbell made a complaint about a violent attack. It was witnessed that Jacob's wife who was "Heavy with child" was tied to a tree near Duck Hill and whipped. When Jacob Campbell tried to stop the attack he was beaten with clubs by the men who were viciously attacking his pregnant wife. One of the men involved in this attack was John Jordan. John Jordan came from a slaveholding family in and near Duck Hill. Interestly and oddly enough George Campbell and children always lived near this Jordan family and evidence suggest that at one point in time George's wife may have been enslaved by the Jordan family.

(Source Citation: The National Archives in Washington, DC; Washington, DC; Records of the Field Offices for the State of Mississippi, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 1865-1872; NARA Series Number:: M1907; NARA Reel Number:: 19; NARA Record Group Number::)~


WHAT'S IN A NAME?
As we seek to find information about the life of George Campbell we must use the scarce records available to us. One year after registering to vote we find George on the 1868 Tax List for Duck Hill. Here he is listed along with other "FREEDMEN". On this record we find our ancestor George paying a 50 cent tax on a firearm that he owned. Possibly his firearm from the war. He also paid $2.00 taxes on himself. The total of $2.50 that George Campbell paid in taxes in 1868 is worth approximately $90 today counting inflation.

(Source Citaion:1868 personal tax roll Carroll county, MS 1868 Duck Hill, Carroll county, Mississippi Personal roll books of assessment of personal property polls, ca. 1851-1906. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C34L-T949-P?i=290&cat=1159103. )~


George Campbell and many of his children often used the surname Cameron. Atleast 3 of his sons used the Cameron surname on their marriage licenses and some identified as Camerons on census records. Many of George Campbell's progeny who have DNA tested have found that their Campbell genetics is also matched with distant cousins who are progeny of people who were on the Cameron plantations in Cumberland, Moore and Harnett counties in North Carolina. I have personally been able to triangulate these many distant DNA matches and isolate the connection specifically to George Campbell. It is likely that a man by the name of Allen Cameron who moved to Mississippi from North Carolina in the 1830's brought enslaved people with him. One being George's mother or father. George most likely used this surname Cameron to indentify with the family left behind and broken apart due to the domestic slave trade in the United States. On the 1869 tax list for Duck Hill we find George listed as George Cameron. Here he is paying taxes on a dog that he owned.

(Source citation:1869 Personal roll books of assessment of personal property polls, ca. 1851-1906 1869 Duck Hill, Carroll county, Mississippi Personal roll books of assessment of personal property polls, ca. 1851-1906. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C34L-T9WC-R?i=417&cat=1159103.)~

In 1870 we have not located George on the federal census but we did locate Jacob Campbell in Duck Hill. We also have record of George Campbell still in Duck Hill in the year 1870. We find him again enumerated as George Cameron on the 1870 tax list for Duck Hill. He pays taxes on some property that he owned which included 1 cow and 3 pigs. Next to him on this tax list you can find those same familiar names of Sandy,Westly, Jasper, Jefferson and Armstead Campbell. You can also find these Campbells enumerated on the 1870 census for Duck Hill, MS.

(Source Citation: 1870-Personal roll books of assessment of personal property polls, ca. 1851-1906.1870 Duck Hill, Carroll county, Mississippi).~

Oral history informs us that although George Campbell's children did'nt all have the same mother they all knew and loved each other as siblings. We will find them living with and around each other as they migrated and lived out their lives. ~
On the 1880 federal census the enumerator for Duck Hill only identified people by their first initial and Surname. Here we find George Campbell again enumerated under the surname Cameron. We find some of his children living with him and his wife and some living with their mother next door. Turning one or two pages to view the nieghbors you'll find familiar names such as Jacob Campbell and the Jordan family.

(Source Citation: Federal Census;Year: 1880; Census Place: Montgomery, Mississippi; Roll: 658; Page: 361A; Enumeration District: 141).~
We know from records that some of George Campbell's children started leaving Duck Hill for places like Coffeeville as early as 1886. We know that George Campbell left Duck Hill by the year 1890 because we find him in Lodi, Mississippi on the 1890 tax list for Montgomery county, Mississippi. Here he is listed under the surname Cameron. This year in Lodi George was paying taxes on two cows and one horse that he owned.

(Source citation:1890 Tax List for Montgomery county,Mississippi:https://www.familysearch.org/records/images/image-details?place=395863&page=1&rmsId=TH-1951-21859-8530-43&imageIndex=366&singleView=true County Tax Rolls: Lowndes. Tax Records 1884–1892, Tax Records 1).~

In 1892 George's son Odis starts to appear as head of the home on tax list in Lodi so that suggests that's most likely the year that George Campbell left Montgomery county for Coffeeville where his son Sellers Campbell Sr had moved to some number of years prior. On the 1900 census George Campbell can be found in Coffeville living near many of his children such as Hess,Shelby and Herman. Some of his children such as Cliff, Dewitt and Richard were living in Lodi while other such as Annie Eliza, Solon and John were still living in Duck Hill. In George Campbell's home in Coffeeville was his wife Lethia, their two daughters Patient and Doshie Campbell, and also George's grandchildren Clara and Beanna Williams.

(Source Citation:Year: 1900; Census Place: Beat 5, Yalobusha, Mississippi; Roll: 834; Page: 25; Enumeration District: 0109; FHL microfilm: 1240834).~
As of right now we are unsure of when and where George Campbell may have passed away or where he may have been buried. Hopefully further research may lead to more information about the life of our ancestor George Campbell.

African Descendant Ethnogene results.

I've collected these Ethnogene results from various locations on social media. I have included the national/Ethnic/Ancestral details provided my the original posters. I have not included any of their identifying personal information.

1.)An  Afro Jamaican results. *Notice the high Akan and Igbo ethnic assignments. These results seem to support thethistorical documentation of the high amounts of Akan and Igbo people who were shipped to Jamaica from they're African homelands.

2.) African American's Ethnogene results

3.) An African American's Ethnogene results. Low country Gullah.

4.) A Nigerian's Ethnogene results. Igbo/Abuan.

5.) An Afro-Surimanese Ethnogene results. * The significant amount of Akan and Central African ancestry along with the Dutch genetic inheritance that this test result shows is a testimony to the history of enslaved Africans from the Goldcoast who were forced to labor in Suriname by Dutch slavers.

As

6.) Ethnogene results for someone who has four grandparents whom were born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.