What Actually Happened When Slaves Were Freed

American school children are taught that slaves in Confederate states were freed when Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862

While true, the reality of actually freeing those slaves was far more complicated

Today, we're going to take a look at what actually happened on plantations when the slaves were freed

Okay, so let's head back to the days after the Civil War. You would think that once freed, the slaves would get off the plantations as fast as humanly possible

But in his autobiography, Booker T. Washington mentioned that many ex-slaves, especially older ones, decided to stay

Although free, these ex-slaves typically made deals with their former masters to work for pay

According to Washington, one by one, the older slaves began to wander from the slave quarters back to the big house

to have a whispered conversation with their former owners as to the future

Thomas Rutling was only nine when he and his fellow slaves learned of their emancipation

He thought freedom would mean his family would now live a life like their former master

but instead the family chose to stay on the plantation another two years

Rutledge, along with his brother and sister, finally left the plantation in 1865

They went to live with the family in Nashville. He later attended the Fisk Free Colored School, which eventually became Fisk University

In her 1909 book, Memories of Childhood Slavery Days, ex-slave Annie L. Burton wrote of her own experiences with emancipation

Annie recalled that when the news reached the Alabama plantation she worked on, every slave who wasn't feeble or sickly left immediately

Some of these younger, healthier ex-slaves even immediately joined the Union Army

However, because their mother had run away, Annie and her younger sisters stayed behind

under the care of their mistress. This may not have been the act of charity it appears to be

This same mistress tried to talk her husband into not telling the slaves about their freedom

and then made the feeble and sickly slaves who remained on the plantation work the fields

After the crops were planted, some plantation owners asked their ex-slaves to sign contracts

guaranteeing they would work the crops until January. They would then be divided at the fall harvest for payment

Such a deal is mentioned in the Reverend Irving E. Lowry's 1911 book

Life on the Old Plantation in Antebellum Days or A Story Based on Facts Lowry said his ex tried to convince the slaves to sign the deals by making a long speech in which he reminded them that he wasn a bad guy

The plantation owner pointed out that he never put an overseer over them, never employed bloodhounds

and never separated a mother from her child, nor a husband from his wife

He also told them that they were welcome to stay on his plantation as long as they'd like, and that any mistreatment they had

experienced off the plantation was their own fault and not his. Although that argument might sound meager to us, all but one ex-slave signed the contract

Charles Hayes owned a plantation 16 miles north of Louisville, Kentucky. Like many slave owners, Hayes at first chose not to tell his slaves about emancipation at all

However, after a few days, he relented out of fear of being arrested

According to ex-slave Harry Smith in his 1891 book, 50 years of slavery in the United States of America, Hayes broke the news by saying

I am about to tell you something I never expected to be obliged to tell you in my life

It is this. One and all, woman, men, and children belonging to me. You are free to go where you

please. Smith also noted that at the same time, Hayes was cursing Lincoln's name and exclaiming

that if Lincoln were there, he'd kill him for taking his slaves away. However, after Hayes

cooled down, he gave the entire plantation access to his whiskey stash and threw what sounds like a

pretty decent party. It was described as a great jubilee in which the ex-master and all the ex-slaves

got drunk together. Smith recalls that everyone was cheering Abraham Lincoln, but Hayes was way

too drunk to notice. By nightfall, the revelers had broken into song and dance and kept it up until

morning. According to the Civil War diary of James T. Ayers, Charles Hayes was far from being

the only master who tried to hide the news of emancipation from his slaves. Ayers was a Union

recruiter who went into the South to enlist newly freed men into the Union Army. Things being as

they were, he also often found himself as the person to inform the ex-slaves that they were

in fact now free. In his diary entry for May 7, 1864, Ayers recorded spreading the word about

emancipation to a group of four ex-slaves on a plantation near Huntsville, Alabama. He accomplished

this by showing them a broadside that featured an illustration of freed slaves on one side

and a two version of the Emancipation Proclamation on the other Ayers states the four men agreed to enlist so he told them to gather the things and he promised he would protect them When they were confronted by their ex Ayers drew his revolver and sounding much like a hero in an action movie calmly told the man

I shall not hurt a hair of your head, sir, if you be quiet, but I have come for your slaves, and your slaves I'll have

It is believed that Ayers recruited hundreds of black soldiers to the Union cause and spread the word of emancipation to thousands before his death in September of 1865

According to his 1901 autobiography, Up From Slavery, the first day of freedom at the Virginia plantation where Booker T. Washington was born started with a simple, solemn meeting

The meeting was then followed by a reading of the Emancipation Proclamation by a government

official, and the news was initially quite well received by the now former slaves

Washington recalled that the master's entire family had gathered on the veranda of the house

He got the impression that they were sad, not because of the loss of property, but rather

because they were, in many ways, very close to some of the ex-slaves, who would now be leaving

He recalled his mother kissing her children while tears of joy ran down her cheeks

According to Washington, for some minutes, there was great rejoicing and thanksgiving

and wild scenes of ecstasy. But there was no feeling of bitterness

In fact, there was pity among the slaves for our former owners. Once the initial joy passed, however

many of the ex-slaves began to feel anxiety over what freedom would really mean

Washington observed, the great responsibility of being free, of having charge of themselves

of having to think and plan for themselves and their children, seemed to take possession of them

He noted that some of the slaves were 70 or 80 years old and had no strength with which to earn a living

According to 1908's generously titled, Memoirs of Samuel Spotford Clement Relating Interesting Experiences in Days of Slavery and Freedom

Clement's ex-master, Tasswood Ward, informed him and the other slaves on Ward's plantation of their freedom by reading to them from the newspaper

Spotford recalled that when Mr. and Mrs. Ward came out of the house, he was holding a newspaper and she was crying

They walked to the front of the steps and he said, men and women, you are as free as the birds that fly in the air

Ward then raised the paper and read from it. He informed the ex-slaves that Lee had surrendered to Grant

and the Southern Confederacy was at an end. He then offered to pay the men to stay and help reap the crops

The offer was accepted by all but one man Known only as Uncle Fendal the man was concerned that the rebels might pick up the fight again and revoke their freedom There somebody who been around the block once or twice

Thomas Almond Ashby was 17 years old when he watched his father inform the family slaves

on their front royal Virginia plantation that they were all now free

In his 1914 memoir, The Valley Campaigns, Ashby recalled that his father told the ex-slaves that he had no further control over them

and that in the future, he would pay them for their services based on wage rates established

by the community. He told them that if they wished to stay in his employ, they could do so

as long as they desired, but that if any of them wished to seek out a new home

he wouldn't try to stop them from making a change. The elder Ashby further assured the now-freed

people that he had nothing but a friendly desire to see them do well and be happy. He also warned

them of the altered conditions that freedom would bring, and he urged them to cultivate habits of

thrift and industry. He believed hard work would make them useful citizens and earn them self-respect

which is some pretty ironic advice coming from a slave owner. According to Ashby, it took several

years before all of the ex-slaves had finally left the plantation. One, a woman known only as

Aunt Susan, seemed to take Ashby's advice about thrift to heart. After saving up three years

worth of money she earned taking in the wash and doing light work, she was actually able to buy

a neat little house in the city. Juneteenth, also known as Emancipation Day or Freedom Day

is an official holiday in the state of Texas and an unofficial American holiday that commemorates

June 19, 1865. On that date, Union General Gordon Granger read from the federal proclamation

that slavery was over in the state of Texas. While the Emancipation Proclamation had ended slavery

in the Confederacy more than two years earlier, it took some time for the news to reach all parts

of the war-torn states. Granger's proclamation guaranteed absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property

between former masters and slaves. It also declared that the connection between master

and slave was officially replaced by that between employer and hired labor

During the late 19th century, Juneteenth was primarily celebrated by the black community

However, the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 60s led to a renewed interest in the holiday at a wider level

In January of 1980, it became an official holiday in the state of Texas

And in the 21st century, it has become a widely recognized day to celebrate black historical achievements

and encourage respect and pride in all cultures