150 Year Old Letter From Freed Slave To Former Master Surfaces

In honor of Black History month letter the following letter from a freed slave to his former  master   that has been rediscovered 150 years after it was first used to illustrate the tensions between blacks and whites following the Civil War is a must read.

Dayton, Ohio,

August 7, 1865

To My Old Master, Colonel P.H. Anderson, Big Spring, Tennessee

Sir: I got your letter, and was glad to find that you had not forgotten Jourdon, and that you wanted me to come back and live with you again, promising to do better for me than anybody else can. I have often felt uneasy about you. I thought the Yankees would have hung you long before this, for harboring Rebs they found at your house. I suppose they never heard about your going to Colonel Martin’s to kill the Union soldier that was left by his company in their stable. Although you shot at me twice before I left you, I did not want to hear of your being hurt, and am glad you are still living.

Original Article

3gm Three Girls & A Mic tumblrize 3GM black history month Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration Race Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States from Interviews with Former Slaves. Slavery in America Three Girls & A Mic