Ethnic Genealogy is the first inclusive work that covers several ethnic minorities and provides more general information as well. Family researchers or librarians will find this comprehensive, user-friendly work invaluable. [This work] will be useful to librarians, to genealogists, and to persons searching American Indian, Asian-American, black American, and Hispanic-American ancestries. Each chapter has thorough documentation, annotated bibliographies, and, in some cases, lists of periodicals, directories of societies and repositories, etc. – Reference Books Bulletin.

Although a number of books have been published on genealogical research, this book ... brings together in a single sourcebook research techniques, a bibliography of published and unpublished sources, descriptions of library collections, addresses of genealogical organizations and societies, and other sources and strategies essential to the successful pursuit of ethnic genealogy.

This work is designed as a one-volume reference tool for librarians, researchers, archivists, amateur and professional genealogists, and readers interested in ethnic history and genealogy. For the experienced genealogist it complements and extends other books in the field; for the novice and the librarian it provides a firm grounding in the techniques of ethnic genealogical research.

Alex Haley contributed to Ethnic Genealogy: A Research Guide by writing the foreword.