Opening the Eyes to the Truth of Jourdon Anderson's Letter

To the people who have endured and survived enslavement for about 250 years in America, the word freedom meant everything. It meant families would stay together and women would no longer be sexually abused. It meant freedom to move around without having to receive approval. Freedom meant producing labor that would provide revenue for the laborer, not for the master and without using the whip. To the former slaves, freedom meant property to own, farm, and live on. Most of all, freedom meant voting, citizenship and the biggest of them all, having the same rights as white people. Freedom has more than one meaning. During Reconstruction freedom represented hope for the future and shaped the actions of politicians, protestors, and African Americans. Freedom can mean as little as choosing to work or as meaningful as gaining citizenship. With the burden of white supremacy weighing on them, fighting for the little freedom African Americans had was their only chance at achieving what this country was founded to do, pursue individual liberties they were born with.

With the collapse of slavery, many African Americans saw the opportunity to pursue a life of their own. The loyalty, devotion, and cooperation they gave to their former masters were gone, and their inner feelings were reflected. In a letter to his old master, Jourdon Anderson asked for compensation for the work he did, “we trust the good Maker has opened your eyes to the wrongs which you and your fathers have done to me and my fathers, in making us toil for you for generations without recompense.” Slaves bluntly displayed their reaction to years of enslavement. The freedom to finally show their emotion and the freedom to choose where they wanted to work was given to them only to be hindered by the laws that the white people made to make sure that they were the more superior race. The Black Codes of Mississippi says that 'All contracts for labor made with freedmen, free negroes, and mulattoes for a longer period than one month shall be in writing. ... If the laborer shall quit the service of the employer before the expiration of his term of service, without good cause, he shall forfeit his wages for that year up to the time of quitting.' The little freedom they were given to work without a master and earn a living on their own empowered them to endure these codes and avoid becoming a slave under contract.

As slavery ended, the most important thing to the freed people was finding family members who had been sold away from them. Slavery had destroyed hundreds of families, but husbands, wives, and children were now able to come together after the Civil War. The freedom to have a family and to take care of them was a right that the freed slaves had fought for as they continued to work for many human liberties promised to them in the first amendment. Stated by the Civil Rights of Freedmen in Mississippi, “All freedmen, free negroes, or mulattoes who do now and have herebefore loved and cohabited together as husband and wife shall be taken and held in law as legally married, and the issue shall be taken and held as legitimate for all purposes.” Freedom to marry was one of the most meaningful freedoms given to African Americans because this ensured that their family would be able to stay together, but of course, there was a price for this freedom. “It shall not be lawful for any freedman, free negro, or mulatto to intermarry with any white person; nor for any white person; nor for any white person to intermarry with any freedman, free negro, or mulatto… any person who shall so intermarry, shall be deemed guilty of felony, and conviction thereof shall be confined in the State penitentiary for life.” The state of Mississippi is giving freed slaves the opportunity to marry whomever they want just as long as they do not marry someone not of color. According to this freedmen are only deemed free if they are of “pure negro blood.”

Freedom and education were inseparable. To be illiterate after emancipation was to be enslaved. Jourdon writes to his former master, “the great desire of my life now is to give my children an education, and have them form virtuous habits.” Every free black person young or old wanted to learn. Schools began to form, and many children began to learn to read and write. African Americans were obtaining the key to freedom and with their motivation to move toward gaining their right to education; the door to freedom was right in front of them waiting to be opened.

As people embraced freedom and left their masters, they wanted land. Families wanted to work the land and prosper self-sufficiently. Former slaves felt that their future as free people was tied to the possession of the land. However, just as it was virtually impossible to abolish slavery without federal intervention, it would not be possible to obtain land as a black person without U.S. government involvement. In the Black Codes of Mississippi, a black person “may acquire personal property, and chose in action, by descent or purchase, and may dispose of the same manner and to the same extent that a white persons may.” This gave them the opportunity to provide for themselves and make a living, but on the conditions “that the provisions of this section shall be so constructed as to allow any freedman, free negro, or mulatto to rent or lease any lands or tenements except in incorporated cities or towns, in which places the corporate authorities shall control the same.” Again, the white people desired to restrict what little rights the former slaves held to ensure that they received the best of the best.

Even though a taste of equality was given through the little freedoms the freedmen had, for millions of African Americans, the future looked more promising than ever before in American History. Without these essential yet straightforward freedoms “liberty is a mockery” and they “might as well almost retain the old name of slavery.” “If he is not the slave of the individual master, he is a slave of society, and holds his liberty as a privilege, not as a right.” If it were not for these freedoms granted to African Americans by the government's enforcement of the Thirteenth Amendment, then the nation would not be where it is today. Freedom during reconstruction ultimately resembled hope. This idea of equal freedom helped them persevere through their travails to provide for their families and future generations in the hope that would see a brighter future.