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Auction 84

Lot 28

Freemen's Bureau-era legal apprenticeship bond, 1866, in which John B. Moore (and other signatories) legally bind themselves regarding the apprenticeship of two freed children - Tom Lee, described as a "free colored boy," and Margaret Jane, a "free colored girl."

These contracts were common in the southern United States immediately after emancipation (1865-1868). Under Mississippi's so-called "Black Codes", white landowners often used apprenticeship agreements to retain the labor of formerly enslaved children - sometimes under exploitative or quasi-servile terms - while claiming it was for their "training" or "support."

This document is a vivid example of the post-emancipation transitional labor system in the South. Enslaved people were declared free after the Civil War, but local courts and former slaveholders often bound Black minors to their former owners under "apprenticeship" laws. Many of these contracts were later investigated by the Freedmen's Bureau, which sought to protect freed children from re-enslavement. The year 1866 is particularly significant, as it falls squarely within the Reconstruction period and the early enforcement of the Civil Rights Act of 1866.

Some soiling at right, still an amazing historical document.
Estimate $300 - 400.

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