Harlan County, Kentucky People of Color, 1860 & 1870

Harlan County, Kentucky People of Color, 1860 & 1870

Kentucky; African Americans--Appalachian Region; African Americans--Southern States; African American heritage; African American slavery--Claiborne County; Slave Owners--Harlan County; African American free people of color; African American families.

The following lists have been compiled in order to provide free and easy access to data regarding the population of people of color in Harlan County, Kentucky in the years 1860 and 1870. Although Appalachia has long been considered a (nearly) exclusively white space in popular American imagination, just the opposite was, and is, true. Slavery was abolished in the United States in 1865, months following the close of the Civil War. Therefore, we have chosen to compile lists of Harlan County’s population of color from the census published before and after 1865. Unfortunately, no slave schedule is available from this County in 1860.

Black in Appalachia

United States Census Bureau

Black in Appalachia

1860 - 1870

Kathleen Kelley

Items can be used for private reflection and research, and not for commercial purposes.