Probate Records and the Recovery of Enslaved Lives in Georgia

Probate Records and the Recovery of Enslaved Lives in Georgia is a multi-phased project documenting demographic data on enslaved men, women, and children as recorded in Georgia probate records. In doing so, it shifts the focus of white estates away from deceased enslavers and onto enslaved survivors to reveal new and important information on the enslaved population of the state. In part, this dataset serves as an alternative, albeit limited, census of the state’s enslaved people, a segment of the population slighted by census enumerators. More than that, it helps recover the world of the enslaved at a moment of extreme personal and familial disjunction amid the fragmentation of white households. Harris County, 1828-1865 is the first of numerous anticipated publications of data from this project. It contains over 15,000 records drawn from the probate files of 368 Harris County, Georgia, testators between 1828 and 1865.

佐治亚州遗嘱档案与被奴役者生命复原项目（Probate Records and the Recovery of Enslaved Lives in Georgia）是一项多阶段研究项目，系统收录佐治亚州遗嘱档案中记录的被奴役男性、女性与儿童的人口统计数据。借此研究视角的转换，本项目将关注点从已故奴隶主的遗产归属转向幸存被奴役者的境况，以此揭示佐治亚州被奴役人口群体此前未被充分挖掘的重要新信息。从功能上看，本数据集可作为该州被奴役人口的替代普查资料（尽管存在一定局限性）——而被奴役群体恰恰是人口普查员长期忽视的统计对象。更进一步而言，在白人家庭因奴隶制解体而陷入极端个人与家庭离散的历史节点上，本数据集有助于还原被奴役群体的生存全貌。《1828-1865年哈里斯县数据集》（Harris County, 1828-1865）是本项目首批计划发布的数据成果之一，该数据集收录了1828年至1865年间佐治亚州哈里斯县368位立遗嘱人的遗嘱档案，总计15000余条记录。