When doing research on particular subject, there is no better source to go to than the subject itself. I spent a good chunk of time researching the life of slaves in a post emancipation proclamation society. Many of the primary sources I found were letters from slaves to family members and were very difficult to read and fully understand. One source I found was a collection and discussion of interviews that had been conducted with ex-slaves in the 1930s by the Works Project Administration(WPA). Many of these interviews, in fact over 700, were with slaves from Arkansas. It discussed how many slaves had found freedom a fairly easy and quick thing to adapt to but others did not.

One such ex-slave whose transition from a life of slavery to freedom was not as easy as some, was a man by the name of Jake Goodridge. He served under a Confederate military leader until he was captured by Federal forces near the end of the war. Once the war ended, the Federal troops who had taken him from his Confederate master simply left him by himself in Arkansas alone in foreign territory rather than return him to his home state of Tennessee. As he recalled the situation, “I didn’t know what to do…that was the big freedom to us colored folks. That the way white folks fightin’ do the colored folks.” Men like Jake Goodridge were what led to the creation of the Freedman’s Bureau in 1865.

The source also discussed working conditions for black Americans in a post slavery society. The need for cotton was high and skilled farm workers were in high demand, many of the former slaves returned to the fields and worked with better treatment and pay. Some ex-slaves even stayed and worked for their former masters. This last point was interesting to me because I know if I was in that situation I would want nothing to do with someone like that. I would have tried to work in a different place so the fact many slaves remained where they were was interesting. That was one point that stuck out to me personally. I was really surprised so many did that.