Freedom: A Documentary History of Emancipation, 1861–1867: Series 3, Volume 2: Land and Labor, 1866-1867
Rene Hayden, Anthony E. Kaye, and Kate Masur
Abstract
This book examines the remaking of the South's labor system in the tumultuous aftermath of emancipation. Using documents selected from the National Archives, this volume depicts the struggle of unenfranchised and impoverished ex-slaves to control their own labor, establish their families as viable economic units, and secure independent possession of land. Among the topics addressed are the dispossession of settlers in the Sherman reserve, the reordering of labor on plantation and farm, nonagricultural labor, new relations of credit and debt, long-distance labor migration, and the efforts of fo ... More
This book examines the remaking of the South's labor system in the tumultuous aftermath of emancipation. Using documents selected from the National Archives, this volume depicts the struggle of unenfranchised and impoverished ex-slaves to control their own labor, establish their families as viable economic units, and secure independent possession of land. Among the topics addressed are the dispossession of settlers in the Sherman reserve, the reordering of labor on plantation and farm, nonagricultural labor, new relations of credit and debt, long-distance labor migration, and the efforts of former slaves to rent, purchase, and homestead land. The documents—many of them in the freedpeople's own words—speak for themselves, while the chapters provide context and illuminate major themes.
Keywords:
labor system,
emancipation,
National Archives,
ex-slaves,
dispossession,
Sherman reserve,
plantation,
farm,
nonagricultural labor,
labor migration
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2013 |
Print ISBN-13: 9781469607429 |
| Published to North Carolina Scholarship Online: July 2014 |
DOI:10.5149/9781469611099_Hayden |
