Image from the Emancipation Proclamation America's reconstruction: Peoples and Politics After the Civil War
Emancipation Black Soldiers Rehearsal for Reconstruction A New Birth of Freedom: Reconstruction During the Civil War

Reading the Contract,

Reading the Contract,
Grove Plantation, Port Royal, 1863.
(University of North Carolina
)

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Freedmen living on the Sea Islands and throughout the Union-occupied South labored for wages under terms of yearly contracts drawn up under army supervision.

Although the contract labor system allowed production to resume by stabilizing labor relations during the war, it kept the vast majority of freedmen poor and landless
.

Copyright 2003
A New Birth of Freedom: Reconstruction During the Civil War The Meaning of Freedom: Black and White Responses to Slavery From Free Labor to Slave Labor Rights and Power: The Politics of Reconstruction Introduction The Ending of Reconstruction Epilogue: The Unfinished Revolution Additional Resources Credits for this Exhibit Digital History Home