Article of Agreement between William D. Floyd and Susan Burnett, Fannie Burnett, Betsy Burnett, Julia Burnett, Dick Burnett, and Ellen Burnett

Article of Agreement between William D. Floyd and Susan Burnett, Fannie Burnett, Betsy Burnett, Julia Burnett, Dick Burnett, and Ellen Burnett

African Americans, labor, race relations

This November 1865 contract between William D. Floyd, of Lunenburg County, and six members of the Burnett family is a fairly typical agreement by which a landowner allowed workers to farm his land in exchange of a share of the crop that the workers produced. It contains a penalty clause if Floyd or any of the workers failed to fulfill his or her part of the agreement. The final provision of the contract allowed the parties to appeal to the Freedmen's Bureau to annul the labor contract. Many such contracts contained similar language, indicating that agents of the bureau often took part in negotiating labor agreements.

William D. Floyd

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

November 28, 1865

Library of Virginia

CC BY-SA

JPG

Printed form and manuscript

15_0732_004

Lunenburg County, Virginia