Trojita
Rapid Response Threadmaker
A lot of people take it as common knowledge that if a black person has an English last name that it must have been a slave name forced on them that they kept. It's taken as fact, even by people that believe they have a slave name. For some people this couldn't be further from the truth.
I mostly came through this knowledge myself when researching awhile ago whether African slaves, many of whom were slaves in Africa itself (Western, Northern, Sub-Saharan, Horn, and Arab Slave Trade), whether they had actual surnames while slaves in Africa. I still haven't found a conclusive answer on this. Many people know of the story Kunta Kinte from Roots, who had an african surname, but the character is largely fictionalized, plagiarized from a fictional book, and mostly historically inaccurate. What compounds issues is that some of the locations and tribes in Africa may have had actual chattel slavery and some might have had a system closer to servitude. It would be interesting to talk to a Griot, for those that don't know they are like a historian mixed with a bard, with knowledge of pre 1850's African genealogy, but any if they exist are rare.
Back to what I made this topic about:
Some good reads:
http://www.wessyngton.com/blog/2009/08/surnames-used-by-african-american-slaves/
http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2013/11/tracing_black_last_names_advice_for_finding_slave_roots.html
http://rootsrevealed.blogspot.com/2012/04/aint-gonna-take-massas-name.html
With the abolition of slavery, many black people had the opportunity to start their life anew and choose their own surname. While it is true that some adopted the name of their former owners, this was not always the case. Some chose surnames based on their occupation, while others used names of prominent local and national figures. Other surnames were based on family members given names, or even the name of a nearby town or place. Some newly freed slaves named themselves Freeman or Freedman. Some freed people that were freed by a slave owner before abolition were given a last name by their previous owner. Some African slaves even kept last names secret from their slave owners.
The given names portion is easy to understand, basically a Freed person would take their first name and then their surname would be either their father or mother's first name.
I'll admit that it is a small but not wholly insubstantial polling size.
Hopefully this was educational for some people, those unfamiliar with American and African History, people well studied in the area but never saw this mentioned in detail, or people of African descent that haven't traced back their genealogy.
Note: Sorry if I used quotes too much near the end. There's a lighting storm out right now.
I mostly came through this knowledge myself when researching awhile ago whether African slaves, many of whom were slaves in Africa itself (Western, Northern, Sub-Saharan, Horn, and Arab Slave Trade), whether they had actual surnames while slaves in Africa. I still haven't found a conclusive answer on this. Many people know of the story Kunta Kinte from Roots, who had an african surname, but the character is largely fictionalized, plagiarized from a fictional book, and mostly historically inaccurate. What compounds issues is that some of the locations and tribes in Africa may have had actual chattel slavery and some might have had a system closer to servitude. It would be interesting to talk to a Griot, for those that don't know they are like a historian mixed with a bard, with knowledge of pre 1850's African genealogy, but any if they exist are rare.
Back to what I made this topic about:
Some good reads:
http://www.wessyngton.com/blog/2009/08/surnames-used-by-african-american-slaves/
http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2013/11/tracing_black_last_names_advice_for_finding_slave_roots.html
http://rootsrevealed.blogspot.com/2012/04/aint-gonna-take-massas-name.html
With the abolition of slavery, many black people had the opportunity to start their life anew and choose their own surname. While it is true that some adopted the name of their former owners, this was not always the case. Some chose surnames based on their occupation, while others used names of prominent local and national figures. Other surnames were based on family members given names, or even the name of a nearby town or place. Some newly freed slaves named themselves Freeman or Freedman. Some freed people that were freed by a slave owner before abolition were given a last name by their previous owner. Some African slaves even kept last names secret from their slave owners.
The given names portion is easy to understand, basically a Freed person would take their first name and then their surname would be either their father or mother's first name.
I'll admit that it is a small but not wholly insubstantial polling size.
Hopefully this was educational for some people, those unfamiliar with American and African History, people well studied in the area but never saw this mentioned in detail, or people of African descent that haven't traced back their genealogy.
Note: Sorry if I used quotes too much near the end. There's a lighting storm out right now.