Today is the commemoration of the day in 1865 when people who had been in slavery in Galveston TX heard that slavery had actually finally ended. To put this in perspective, President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863 ONLY APPLIED TO ENSLAVED PEOPLE IN CONFEDERATE-CONTROLLED AREAS. So basically, it did not apply to people in any area that the Union (United States - Lincoln) controlled. Let's take a moment to reflect on the twisted nature of this political convolution... wherever the US flag flew, people were still enslaved. This applied to border states like Missouri, West Virginia, Maryland, Washington DC, etc. And then it took two and a half years after that before slavery actually ended everywhere - basically not until the Civil War ended.
In addition, no reparations were forthcoming, despite the promised "40 acres and a mule" that the Union Army was "advertising" to attract support from black folks to enlist and serve in the war effort against the Confederacy. Then afterwards, with the reaction of massive white southern resistance to the Reconstruction measures after the war (1865 until 1876-77), and the overturning of Reconstruction, that meant that the half-measures to give formerly enslaved people a fighting chance in life - things like the Freedmen's Bureau and the FB Bank, the schools they started - were either shut down or were massively undermined by the rise of Jim Crow segregation which terrorized black folks who tried to start businesses, educate their community, and vote. (Think Tulsa race massacre of 1921 as but one example of the reign of terror against successful black businesses and communities.)
This Jim Crow era which started in the 1870s didn't really end until the mid-20th century civil rights measures. The civil rights movement of course started during Jim Crow - think Ida B. Wells, WEB DuBois, Booker T Washington, A. Phillip Randolph among others - it didn't start with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr or Rosa Parks. They carried forward a movement that really started even in the 1850s and 1860s with Frederick Douglass and on through the Jim Crow era with the many freedom fighters who gave their life's work and sometimes their lives for the struggle. Meanwhile, white settlers were given free land with the Homestead Act of 1862. No free land was being given to black people who had tilled it and given their blood, sweat and tears to build wealth for others involuntarily. I try to keep this in perspective as I find relatives of my own who benefited from the Homestead Act, in the course of my genealogy research. Doing genealogy with ancestors who were enslaved has its challenges, since no enslaved people were NAMED in US Census records before 1870. But starting in 1870, much can be learned, and for pre-1865 research, the papers and records of plantations, as well as newspapers and other sources, can be rich sources for finding information on one's relatives.
Some of these records have been digitized and are open-access to anyone. There are many free resources online to get started, not only at FamilySearch but also the Library of Congress and websites like Reclaiming Kin. As far as organizations that support genealogists in gaining skills, the Midwest African American Genealogy Institute is a great organization, a leader in the field. If you have African American/ black roots in the US, do not be daunted by the "peculiar institution" - dive into genealogy research of your ancestors, and be prepared for some amazing discoveries! Think Finding Your Roots!
