CONTENT WARNING
Materials in the Library of Virginia’s collections contain historical terms, phrases, and images that are offensive to modern readers. These include demeaning and dehumanizing references to race, ethnicity, and nationality; enslaved or free status; physical and mental ability; and gender and sexual orientation.
Context
In March 1865, before the Civil War had ended, Congress created the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands (generally known as the Freedmen’s Bureau) to supervise matters related to freed people as well as to distribute land "abandoned" by Confederates to formerly enslaved men and women. The land distribution did not happen, but the Freedmen's Bureau assisted freed people with housing, food, clothing, health care, education, and employment. The Bureau worked to implement a system of free labor in the former Confederate states with the goal of helping freed people become self-sufficient enough to support themselves. Bureau functions included supervising labor and apprenticeship contracts between freed people and white employers as well as managing disputes about contracts.
Freedmen’s Bureau agents operated throughout Virginia between 1865 and 1869. Lieutenant Frederick M. Kimball was an agent for Brunswick County. In that capacity he supervised and signed these apprenticeship agreements (or indentures) of two children to a white farmer in 1866. According to the contracts, Mason Ann Brooks had granted permission for her children, Charles and Lucella Brooks, to be apprenticed for a period of years to Edward Clayton. Sometimes Freedmen's Bureau agents apprenticed children without their parents' knowledge or consent to keep children and their families from being entirely dependent on the Bureau. Even when a parent attempted to reclaim custody of their child, Bureau agents were reluctant to break signed contracts and family members remained separated as had often been the case during slavery.
Citation: Charles Brooks, Freedmen's Contract, and Lucella Brooks, Freedmen's Contract, 1866, Brunswick County Freedmen's Contracts and Apprentice Indentures, Library of Virginia.
Learn more about freed people and Virginia's post-Civil War economy in the Library's online exhibition Remaking Virginia: Transformation Through Emancipation.
Standards
Suggested Questions
Preview Activities
Think About It: Students brainstorm a list of what they know about Reconstruction before reading the contract.
Scan It: Scan the contracts for any words that stand out. Why do they stand out? What do they tell you about the document?
Post Activities
Analyze: Compare the two contracts. How are they similar? In what ways are they different? Form a hypothesis about why these contracts differ.
Form an Opinion: Read the requirements that are expected for both parties of the contract. Form an opinion about the terms of the indenture. Use two examples from the contracts to explain your opinion.