Finding Your Roots
The roots of our Black community run deep, with some of our earliest ancestors arriving long before Buffalo became a city in 1832. Each generation left behind stories and legacies that captured and recorded through the hard work of organizations across Buffalo. Explore the abundance of genealogical resources in our city that can help you find – or rediscover – your roots.
Buffalo & Erie County Public Library
The Central Library’s Grosvenor Room, 1 Lafayette Square, www.buffalolib.org
Start your genealogical journey downtown at The Central Library’s Grosvenor Room, which holds the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library’s Special Collections. First-time visitors can pick up a free printed guide outlining the library’s African American genealogical resources, from church and census records to how-to guides and the “local history file” of historic newspaper articles about prominent Buffalonians. No appointments are necessary for this free experience.
Buffalo Black Achievers Museum
1490 Jefferson Avenue, www.buffaloblackachievers.org
Uncover hundreds of stories about Black Buffalonians past and present. More than 50 years ago, the late Herb Bellamy Sr. founded the Buffalo Black Achievers Awards to recognize the accomplishments of African Americans across the city. In the five decades since, the Black Achievers has awarded more than 2,000 community members, a distinction that Bellamy’s son, Herb Jr., transformed into a genealogical resource. In 2020, Bellamy Jr. opened the Buffalo Black Achievers Museum, which features searchable databases that house the biographies and photos of every award winner.
The Frank E. Merriweather Library
Jefferson Avenue and East Utica Street www.buffalolib.org
Explore a collection of thousands of funeral programs that share the stories and legacies of generations of Black Buffalonians. The Buffalo Genealogical Society of the African Diaspora, a group of retired librarians and other community members, meets monthly to expand that extraordinary collection. The library also features an extensive collection of the Buffalo Criterion and Buffalo Challenger on microfilm inside its William A. Miles Center for African and African-American Studies, the largest resource center in Western New York focused on African American History.
The Buffalo History Museum
One Museum Court www.buffalohistory.org
Along the shelves of the research library, discover giant volumes of printed city directories for most years between 1828 and 2001 that list the names, addresses and occupations of hundreds of thousands of Buffalonians. The Museum also has an “obituary index,” a searchable catalog organized by name of 99,000 newspaper obituaries from throughout Buffalo’s history. Book a two-hour appointment ($10) to begin to scratch the surface of the extraordinary resources here.
The Uncrowned Community Builders
Since its founding more than 20 years ago, the project has amassed a searchable database of hundreds of biographies and photos of African American community members on its website, www.uncrownedcommunitybuilders.com. Co-founders Dr. Barbara Seals Nevergold and Dr. Peggy Brooks Bertram invite you to add to this collection by submitting your own biographies and photos of friends and loved ones to the site.
Afro-American Historical Association of the Niagara Frontier
Dive into the rich resources collected , including an extensive collection of community oral histories and more than 600,000 pages of documents placed on microfilm. Access their records at the Frank E. Merriweather Library, the University at Buffalo’s Butler Library, and SUNY Buffalo State’s Monroe Fordham Regional History Center. (www.aahanf.org)
The Buffalo History Channel
Step back in time on YouTube and discover the stories of community members who came before us. Doug Ruffin’s channel features an extensive library of vintage videos that showcase Buffalo & Western New York’s rich African American history.www.youtube.com/@BuffaloHistoryChannel
