Smithsonian Magazine – Free sessions hosted by the National Museum of African American History and Culture offer visitors advice on researching their genealogy..Genealogy researchers use military records, birth and death certificates, marriage licenses, wills, legal and court documents, and census records to help piece together the past. The resources referenced by NMAAHC’s team don’t currently include newspaper archives, which contain obituaries, but that “process is moving forward,” Crawley says. Amateur genealogists don’t need much information to start the search. Normally, people begin with the name, birth date, and city or county of residence of a relative born before 1950, the most recent year with available census data. (For privacy reasons, the U.S. Census Bureau only releases census data 72 years after its collection.) In many instances, the initial search will yield multiple results, particularly for more common names. Having additional information, such as the names of fellow household members, especially parents or guardians and siblings, can help verify a person’s identity…”