The Fort Bend County Libraries Genealogy and Local History Department will present a special online program, “Family-History Research: Beginning African-American Genealogy,” at 10:30 a.m. Feb. 22. The program will be a live-streamed teleconference via Webex and will not be in person.

Daniel Sample, manager of the Genealogy and Local History department, will discuss many of the resources that are available to family history researchers, with special focus on tools to help individuals who are researching African-American family histories.

The seminar offers tips on extending family history research into the years before the American Civil War took place.

Participants will learn about the “Freedman’s Bureau Records” database, which contains records from 1865-1871, along with the closely associated Freedman’s Savings and Trust Company’s registers of signatures of depositors. This resource can contain information such as the names of depositors, names of employers and plantations, names of family members, and place of birth.

Sample will also talk about items that are available on microfilm, print resources, and other online resources, such as Heritage Quest and the Ancestry.com database.

The class is free and open to the public. Reservations are required; a link to the teleconference will be sent to all registrants. To register online at the library’s website (www.fortbend.lib.tx.us), click on “Classes & Events,” select “Virtual Programs,” and find the program. Participants may also register by calling the library system’s communications office at 281-633-4734.