How can I trace my African roots for free and it will be accurate and easy?

Question

How can I trace my African roots for free and it will be accurate and easy?

Answer 1

You want it to be free, accurate and easy????  Hmmm.   Genealogy just isn't that way.  Do as Wendy has suggested.

Also, a lot of websites have family trees on them. They were not put on the websites by experts working for them but by folks like you and me.  There are errors. You cannot take as absolute fact everything you see in family trees on ANY website, free or not free.  Even when you see the same information repeatedly by many different subscribers that is no guarantee it is correct. A lot of people copy without verifying.

Answer 2

I think ancestry.com is free and I hear that it's pretty accurate.

Answer 3

Ancestry.com is not free. It is the best known site (and worthwhile) but it does have a fee. Tracing ANY genealogy will involve some effort and cost.. and what you find, will be up to both your willingness to put effort in.. and the availability of records re your ancestors.

Being realistic.. any African American research will be far more of a challenge than others, for the simple fact of slavery.  One skill (for any ethnic group) is that your goal is finding the records, and remaining objective about it.  It simply may not exist.. but that is something no one can predict for you.

http://rwguide.rootsweb.ancestry.com/

Here is one of many guides on starting research with basic things to know and look for. And, you have a number of persons here who can help, along the way. You HAVE TO start with the present, and use valid documents to work your way back.  When you reach the 1860s and before... it can be a toss up, since your family will not have surnames to work with, and they won't show up in the usual sources.

But the best tool here (anywhere) is honesty... if you simply want to type in your name/ ancestors name and have the right info come up like magic.. you are likely to be very disappointed.