Records Consulted

The database consists of the names of every person whose personal description indicates the possibility of African descent. The researchers combed the surviving enlistment records and the muster rolls of vessels for this information. These records are part of Record Group 24, Records of the Bureau of Naval Personnel, at the National Archives, Washington, D.C. The enlistment records are Weekly Returns of Enlistments at Naval Rendezvous ("Enlistment Rendezvous"), volumes 7-44 (Jan. 1858 - July 1865), inclusive. The muster rolls may be found among Muster Rolls of Ships; the accompanying list provides the name of each vessel and the date(s) of muster examined.

In most cases, the description of an individual as "Negro," "Colored," or "Mulatto" suggested African ancestry such that the person's name and other descriptive information was entered into the database. Other cases are less straightforward. Person's whose complexion is listed as "Yellow," for instance, are also included in the database on the grounds that this designation was used commonly in the nineteenth century to describe persons of mixed European and African ancestry. It was also used commonly to describe Asians. In some instances, persons were characterized as "Black" or "Colored" even though they may not have been of African descent. To err on the side of inclusion rather than exclusion, the names of such persons whose ancestry is ambiguous are included in the database. So too are the names of African Americans whose names were entered onto the enlistment rolls but who did not subsequently serve in the navy. In most cases, these men were found to have a disease or disability when they reported to the receiving ship and were rejected from further duty.