The 2010 U.S. Census recorded 974 black Americans with Warrick as their last name. That represented 15% of the total of 6,347 entries.
This article tracks their numbers in the census since the Civil War. We also look at historic African American people named Warrick.
We end with a review of early records of black military service in the United States.
After The Civil War
The 1870 census was the first survey after the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation. In 1850 and 1860, only free African Americans were recorded in the census. The many enslaved were omitted.
From 1870 onward, all black Americans were included.
118 people named Warrick were recorded in the 1870 census as black and 15 as mixed.
There was a total of 1,100 people with the name.
Warrick In The 1900 And 1940 Census
The mixed category was dropped from the census in 1900, so we just need to look at the black numbers this time.
The 1900 census recorded 335 people with the last name Warrick as black within a total of 2,025 that year.
By the way, the mixed category returned in the 1910 and 1920 censuses. It was dropped again in 1930, but replaced with extra categories for colored and non-white in a way that seems confusing now.
This changed again in 1940 and we can simply focus on one black category.
The 1940 census recorded 374 people named Warrick as black within a total of 3,145.
Historic Black Figures With The Warrick Surname
Here is a notable African Americans in history with Warrick as their last name.
Meta Warrick
- Born: 1877
- From: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Died: 1968
Meta Vaux Warrick’s parents were relatively well-to-do in Philadelphia. Her father owned barber shops and her mother owned a beauty salon that catered to wealthy white women. They encouraged their daughters to study art and sculpture.
Meta graduated from art college in 1898 and focused on sculpture. Her work was influenced by horror stories related with gusto in her family home. When she went to study in Paris, she became a student of Auguste Rodin in 1902. She also met WEB Du Bois who encouraged her to use African American themes. Her works were widely exhibited in Paris.
She returned to the U.S. in 1903 where the arts scene was far less open to a black woman. However, her talent was undeniable, and she received several commissions. Meta married Solomon Fuller in 1907 and settled in Massachusetts. Her exhibited works in the 1920s had considerable African influence.
She became part of the Harlem Renaissance, and not just because of her sculptures. Fuller also was heavily involved in theater design and direction.
The Harlem Renaissance after the First World War was a period when African American art, literature, and music flourished around Harlem.
Painters, poets, writers, and musicians established a creative hub of black culture in the United States. The movement was hugely influential on the development of black literature and art through the twentieth century and today.
Warrick In Black Military Records
Military records are a rich resource of information for family history research. Here are examples of the Warrick surname from different military services:
- Black civil war sailors
- Tuskegee airmen
Black Civil War Sailors
The National Parks Service has a free archive of African American sailors during the Civil War.
The information includes their age, height, rank, occupation, and where and when they enlisted. It also includes every ship that they served on.
You can search the database on the National Parks website.
One of the few entries for Warrick was for Robert Warrick from Baltimore, Maryland. He enlisted in April 19 1864 at Baltimore when he was aged 20.
The record shows that Robert was assigned on December 1864 to the ship St. Lawrence. His naval rank was Landsman.
“Landsman” was the lowest rank at the time and was given to recruits with little sea experience.
Tuskegee Airmen
The Tuskegee Airmen were military personnel who served at the Tuskegee Army Airfield or related programs.
Nearly one thousand black pilots graduated from the Tuskegee Institute. They flew single-engine fighter planes or twin-engine bombers. 352 fought in combat.
Calvin Warrick graduated from the Tuskegee Institute in March 1945. He qualified as a bomber pilot. Calvin was from Elkton, Maryland.
Warrick In The Freedmen’s Bureau Records
The Freedmen’s Bureau was established after the Civil War to help newly freed African Americans. You can read more in our article on researching the Freedmen archives.
There are over 80 records for Warrick in the archives. Here are some of the first names:
- Berlin
- Cornelius
- Lydia
- Moses