John May's Freedmen Bureau Labor Contract - 1865


"It was several months after the slaves were freed befo I knowed it. I heered it talked about dat the slaves were freed, but I was kinda skeered to ask abot it. I did one day tho and when I asked Old Miss, "Miss dey tells me de niggers is free, is dey?" She say, "No! and you'd better come on and go to work 'fore you gits tored up". Dey did free us tho about three or fo monts after dis." Ex-slave George Coleman of Mississippi

Extracted by Linda Durr Rudd
LRudd@aol.com

FREEDMEN LABOR CONTRACT - LIST OF FREEDMEN
PLANTER: JOHN MAY
COUNTY: SIMPSON COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI
DATE: AUGUST 25, 1865

NAME, AGE

BOB GRUBBS, 60
ANN MAY, 45
SINA, 5

SOURCES

Freedmen Bureau Labor Contracts
Microfiche Number: 47-060
Slave Narrative of George Coleman
All records are found at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History in Jackson, Mississippi.

Remembering Their Names