Tips for searching African American geneology?

I'm trying to research my family history, I'm using ancestry.com but I keep running into issues with my family history past 1829. My family is a mixture of Black, Native American and White. From what I've been told my father's family has Irish or Welsh roots but most records for African-Americans in those days just said ***** or maybe mulatto, also, you had the problem of the whole child is considered the race of their mother that was an issue during slavery. Anyone have any tips for getting around this issue? I'm sorry I couldn't be more clear. Thanks