Missouri State Archives
Missouri's African American History

The Missouri State Archives' African American History Initiative began in October 2001. The initiative aims to create a broad public awareness of the rich contributions of African Americans to the state, as well as offer new resources to historians and others studying Missouri's black history.

Guide to African American History at the Missouri State Archives

Timeline of Missouri's African American History

African-American Geneology: Putting together the Pieces of Your Past

African American History Educational Materials

• Missouri's Early Slave Laws: A History in Documents
• United States Colored Troops in Missouri
• Before Dred Scott: Freedom Suits in Antebellum Missouri

Missouri 's Early Slave Laws: A History in Documents

• Histories
  • Laws Concerning Slavery in Missouri: Territorial to 1850s
  • George Thompson History
• Original Documents
  • 1837 Law 
  • 1847 Law 
  • George Thompson Petition 
  • George Thompson Request for Release 

Before Dred Scott: Freedom Suits in Antebellum Missouri

• Histories
  • Antebellum Missouri
  • History of Slave Freedom Suits in Missouri
    • 1807 Missouri Territorial Statute
    • 1824 Missouri Law
• Original Documents
  • Rachel v. William Walker (1836)
    • Petition for freedom (and transcription)
    • Enrichment worksheets
  • Ralph v. Coleman Duncan (1833)
    • Petition for freedom (and transcription)
    • Charge of Trespass of False Imprisonment (and transcription)

Progress Amidst Prejudice: Portraits of African Americans in Missouri, 1880-1920

• Histories
  • An Introduction to the Portraits of African Americans in Missouri Collection
• Original Documents
  • The Johnson Family: What can a picture tell us?
    • Father and Three Children
    • Three Children
    • Young Man
    • Elderly Man

Dred Scott

• Dred Scott: 150th Anniversary Commemoration
• Missouri's Dred Scott Case, 1846-1857
• Original Documents from the Dred Scott Case, St. Louis Circuit Court
• Conservation of the Dred Scott Papers

St. Louis Circuit Court Historical Records Project: Freedom Suits

The Long Road to Dred Scott:  Personhood and the Rule of Law in the Trial Court Records of St. Louis Slave Freedom Suits

United States Colored Troops in Missouri

• Original Documents
  • George W. Reynolds Enlistment Record 
  • George W. Reynolds Descriptive List 
• Histories
  • History of United States Colored Troops
  • Missouri's African American Troops