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Smith, Earl. “‘William Cooper Nell on the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.’” The Journal of Negro History, vol. 66, no. 1, 1981, pp. 37–40. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/2716874. Accessed 12 Dec. 2024.

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Source 1-William Cooper Nell on the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850(Secondary source-civil war)

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Source 1-William Cooper Nell on the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850(Secondary source-civil war)

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Credibility of the author:Earl smith is a writer and sociologist who has had his name one several hundred other published articles

Summary:This source describes the daily struggle of freedmen in the north having to worry about getting sent back to the south or getting accused of being a former slave and being forced to become a slave.

Lens: This aligns with the social lens because it shows how freedmen had to adjust to the fact that anyone could report them and get them sent back to the south with no questions asked. Their was also a social conflict with non-black anti-slave people because they were rewarded for helping turn someone in and could be punished for not.

Quote: one quote that sticks out to me the most is “which gave unlimited power to whites”. This quote shows the racial inequality of this act and how freedmen had no say in wither they were going to get sent back or not. Freedmen had no opportunity to defend themselves or advocate for themselves.

This source shows how the Fugitive slave act affected the social lives of freedmen in the north and how they could be sent back to being a slave against their will with no questions asked. This to no extent shows progress of reconstruction in the U.S. and in fact shows a step back in progress because it caused more inequalities and took away freedmen’s opportunities.

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O’Connell, Heather A. “The Impact of Slavery on Racial Inequality in Poverty in the Contemporary U.S. South.” Social Forces, vol. 90, no. 3, 2012, pp. 713–34. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41682675. Accessed 12 Dec. 2024.

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Source 2-The Impact of Slavery on Racial Inequality in Poverty in the Contemporary U.S. South-1860’s-(secondary source-my choice)

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Source 2-The Impact of Slavery on Racial Inequality in Poverty in the Contemporary U.S. South-1860’s-(secondary source-my choice)

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Credibility of Author: Heather O’Connell has a PHD in sociology and is currently a professor at the university of Louisiana as a sociology teacher.

Summary: This source tells us that Freedmen were most likely to have an agricultural, manufacturing, or service job and this could be tied to the lack of education opportunities during this time for freedmen. The source also tells us that many freedmen became unemployed because of racial inequalities and suppression of wages due to many freedmen going into similar jobs because of the lack of education opportunities and racial inequalities.

Lens: This source most closely relates to the social and economic lens's because it shows the types of jobs that freedmen had and how many were unemployed. It also relates to the social lens because this started the trend of African American people falling into lower paying jobs because they didn’t have the background or resume to get the higher paying job.

Quote: one quote from the source that sticks out to me is, “of low-income earners, who are more likely to be Black”. This sticks out to me because the reason that they are considered low-income earners is because of the lack of opportunities compared to the white man such as education. Many freedmen weren’t making a ton of money during this time and they would take any job they could get to try and make it by.

This sources shows little process being made within the economy for freedmen and gives them very little economic freedom beyond what they already had. This shows no progress in reconstruction because freedmen are being restricted by their lack of opportunity.

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Freedmen's contract between Isham G. Bailey and freedmen Cooper Hughs and Charles Roberts, January 1, 1867 (Gilder Lehrman Collection)

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Transcription: the said Cooper Hughs Freedman with his wife and one other woman, and the said Charles Roberts with his wife Hannah and one boy are to work on said farm and to cultivate forty acres in corn and twenty acres in cotton, to assist in putting the fences on said farm in good order and to keep them so and to do all other work on said farm necessary to be done to keep the same in good order and to raise a good crop and to be under the control and directions of said IG Bailey and to receive for their said services one half of the cotton and one third of the corn and fodder raised by them on said farm in said year 1867 and the said Charles Roberts Freedman with his wife Hannah further agrees and binds themselves to do the washing and Ironing, and all other necessary house work for said IG Bailey and his family during said year 1867 and to receive for their said services fifty dollars in money at the expiration of said year 1867 and the said Cooper Hughs Freedman further agrees and binds himself to give the necessary attention of feeding the Stock of cattle and milking the cows twice daily belong to said IG Bailey, and do the churning when ever necessary during the said year

Credibility of the author: Isham G. Bailey was a land owner during the time of civil war reconstruction, he directly created this contract between the two freedmen families. The two freedmen families also directly signed the contract.

Summary: Sharecropping did not truly give slave economic freedom and didn’t reflect the goals of American reconstruction. This document shows a share cropping contract between freedman and a landowner. In this deal the freedmen would receive food, supplies, housing and land but they had to raise some type of crop and give some percent to the landowner. This new opportunity was given to freedmen to give more economic independence but soon cause many freedmen to go into poverty due to landowners forcing freedmen to give large sums of their crops and from the little they had left not much money could be made.

Economics most closely relates to this document because it displays how many freedmen made their living what making money for them was like during this time.

One quote that sticks out to me is ,“and to receive for their said services one half of the cotton and one third of the corn and fodder raised by them on said farm in said year 1867”. This sticks out to me because it doesn’t say anything about the freedmen getting any money for their work just food and crop. This would point in the opposite direction of what was supposed to be going on during reconstruction and makes sharecropping almost to no extent reflecting any progress from slavery.

This source shows a first hand look it to the details of sharecropping and the conditions and deals that the freedmen were actually making. Based on what was said in the contract sharecropping to a very small extent showed progress to reconstruction.

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Kerr-Ritchie, Jeff R. “Black Republicans in the Virginia Tobacco Fields, 1867-70.” The Journal of Negro History, vol. 86, no. 1, 2001, pp. 12–29. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/1350176. Accessed 12 Dec. 2024.

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Source 4-Black Republicans in the Virginia Tobacco Fields, 1867-70(Secondary source-reconstruction)

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Source 4-Black Republicans in the Virginia Tobacco Fields, 1867-70(Secondary source-reconstruction)

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Credibility of Author: Jeff Kerr-Ritchie has a PHD in history and is a current professor at Howard university. He is a historian and a published author with 4 total books.

Summary: Many freedmen started getting involved in politics and political meetings. Freedmen attend these meetings even during the peak crop seasons where the most money is made. The author also uses the words “en masse” to emphasize how many freedmen were attending these meetings and keeping up with the political scene.

Lens: This relates mostly to the political lens because it shows freedmen adopting politics into their lifestyle. Freedmen are making politics a big deal for themselves even willing to lose some money to keep up with them.

Quote: A quote that sticks out to me is “The freedmen engaged in political activities en masse during the busiest

the 1867 agricultural”. Freedmen now had the opportunity to get involved in politics and political meetings. It was almost like a trend, everyone wanted to get involved and wanted reforms due to the inequality’s and uneven amount of opportunity. This was one of the only ways their ideas and voice could get out about change they wanted.

This source shows how freedmen were adopting politics into their lifestyle because they saw it as a way for their voice to be heard. This to a great extent shows progress because now with more integration, more ideas will spread and more change and reforms will come.

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“Radical Members of the First Legislature after the War.” Facing History & Ourselves, www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/first-south-carolina-legislature. Accessed 14 Apr. 2016. 

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Source 5-Radical members of the first legislature after the war-1876(primary source-my choice)

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Source 5-Radical members of the first legislature after the war-1876(primary source-my choice)

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Credibility of source: The source is a primary source picture from the time period when the event happened

Summary:The source depicts the state legislation of South Carolina during the year 1876. The majority of the legislature was black. This was the first time something like this took place within the United States and this took place during the reconstruction period. This showed a lot of progress in getting rid of social inequalities and giving freedmen and African Americans more opportunity and chance to advocate and get their voice heard.

Lens:This relates to the political lens the most because it depicts more and more freedmen and black people getting the chance to join the political scene actually to the point where there are more black people than white. This also shows us that more black and freedmen were integrating politics into their lifestyles.

An observation that I had while examining the source is everyone is depicted with equal respect and representation in the image. There is no racial inequality between the black legislature and the white legislature. This shows that they all had equal opportunity within politics and there were no differences in opportunities.

The source shows how freedmen and black people began to join the political scene and they were given equal opportunity to the white man to join. This source shows to a great extent progress within American because freedmen now have the same opportunities and there is no racial inequality within the political field.

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Fleetwood, Christian A, Geo. Wm. Publisher Cook, and Daniel Murray Pamphlet Collection. The Negro as a soldier. Washington, D.C.: Published by Prof. Geo. Wm. Cook: Howard University Print, 1895. Pdf. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/a12000751/>.

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Source 6-The Negro as a soldier-1895-primary source civil war

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Source 6-The Negro as a soldier-1895-primary source civil war

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Credibility of the author: Christian A. Fleetwood was the Sargent-major of a troop of colored soldiers during the civil and he wrote this book about his time during the civil war.

Summary of the source: This source tells us about the total number of black/freedmen were fighting in the civil war. It also tells us where all of the freedmen were enlisting from. Finally, it tells us how many freedmen died during the civil war.

Lens: The lens that this source relates with the most is the political lens because most freedmen fought in the war to support their side and in hopes that their side would win and the reconstruction after the war would be in their favor. If the north wins they will get rid of social inequalities and end slavery but if the south wins then slavery will persist.

Something that stuck out to me in this source is the statistic that 178,975 freedmen were enlisted to fight in the civil war. According to the 1860 census(https://www.census.gov/library/publications/1864/dec/1860a.html) around 500,000 freedmen lived in the United States. This means that 36% of all freedmen went to fight in the war. This shows that the war and fighting for your beliefs was a core belief of the freedman.

In this document it discusses the amount of freedmen that were sent to fight in the civil war. By the large number of freedmen that enlisted it could be concluded that it was very important to them to fight for what they believed. This event to a great extent showed progress within the U.S. because it gave freedmen more opportunities to fight for what they believed in and against social inequalities.