Freedmen's Labor Contracts

Object Details

See more items in: Records of the Assistant Commissioner for the State of North Carolina Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 1865–1870

Archival Repository: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Collection Citation: Courtesy of the U. S. National Archives and Records Administration, FamilySearch International, and the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Scope and Contents: As part of the Bureau's function the officers and agents were responsible for the protection of the legal rights of freedmen, which included assistance in drawing up contracts for labor. There is a series of contracts, January 1865–October 1868, which is arranged chronologically. These agreements between freedmen laborers and employers stated such terms of employment as pay, clothing, and medical care due the freedmen, the part of the crop retained by freedmen, and sometimes whether a plot of ground for growing subsistence crops was to be provided for the freedman.

Collection Restrictions: Freedmen's Bureau Digital Collection, 1865–1872, is a product of and owned by the National Museum of African American History and Culture, Smithsonian Institution. Copyright for digital images is retained by the donor, FamilySearch International; permission for commercial use of the digital images may be requested from FamilySearch International, Intellectual Property Office, at: cor-intellectualproperty@ldschurch.org.