Are there special applications for African American research in early tax digests?
The early tax digests provide a number of important possibilities for African-American history and genealogy. With the loss of early census records, the tax digests are among the better sources for understanding the demography of slavery. Consistently from 1783 until 1820 the tax digests reflect varying rates of taxation on ownership of slaves. By analyzing the amount paid the researcher can determine the number of slaves owned by the taxpayer. (Later in the century, the census schedule of slave-owners provides a much better source for this type of information.) It is notable that in the late eighteenth century to the early nineteenth century, slaveholders on the Savannah River removed their slaves to South Carolina to avoid Georgia’s heavier rate of taxation. Free persons of color were heavily taxed, and legislation in 1818 mandated that a register of free persons of color be maintained in tax digests. The lists have a great deal of information, including the names of minors and of wh
