Labor Agreement between P.C. Morgan and his Laborers

Labor Agreement between P.C. Morgan and his Laborers

African Americans, labor, race relations

P. C. Morgan's contract identifies the people he hired as he would have identified them back in slavery times, as belonging to his neighbors ("Irby's Henry, Hudson's Albert, Thomas's Ned, Peggie and Eley"). It also indicates that the hired people insisted on at least one change in the contract, to delete the passage allowing Morgan to force them to work on Saturdays. Otherwise, the contract is very favorable to Morgan and includes restrictions on the activities and behavior of the laborers. It is not clear why the names that appear in the first line of the contract differ from the names placed with the workers' marks or why the witness or the Freedman's Bureau agent nevertheless approved.

P.C. Morgan

Lunenburg County Freedmen's Contracts, 1865-1866, Lunenburg County Court Records, Local Government Records Collection, Library of Virginia.

January 1, 1866

Library of Virginia

CC BY-SA

JPG

Manuscript

15_0732_010, 15_0732_010a, P.C. Morgan agreement_1866_transcription_15_0732_010-101a.pdf

Lunenburg County, Virginia