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Black History Month

We’ve put together a list of some of the resources at the Department of State to help celebrate Black History Month.

African Americans and the vote

Voter Registration Rolls, 1867-68

This collection from the State Archives of Florida includes online, searchable records that list individuals who registered to vote in the State of Florida in 1867 and 1868. 

These lists are unique because they are the first voter rolls in Florida to systematically include African Americans. 

Additionally, for most black Floridians listed in this collection, this is the earliest instance of their inclusion by their full name on an official state document. 

Emancipation and Reconstruction in Florida

Guide from the State Library of Florida that includes books, articles and digital resources to help users explore Emancipation in Florida and the Reconstruction period that followed (1865-1877). 

Other resources

Available at the Archives

Clausell Family Papers

  • Documents the public life and activities of Bernyce Clausell, the first female minister in Florida, civil rights activist and founder of Calvary Baptist Church in Tallahassee.
  • Contains Clausell's personal files, home videos, day planners, and programs and minutes from the First Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Association.
  • Includes video recordings of her sermons and speeches as well as a variety of typed sermons written by her husband, Reverend James Clausell.

Sacred Florida

State Library of Florida bibliographies

Genealogy resources

Florida Memory

Artists and writers

Black Heritage Trail

This publication features 64 pages of historic African-American history and heritage sites from Pensacola to Key West, as well as profiles and biographical sketches.

Music

Research

imls180.for.panel.jpgMany of these resources and programs are funded under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Florida's LSTA program is administered by the Department of State's Division of Library and Information Services.