Freedmens Bureau List of Outrages Perpetrated by the Whites Upon The Freedmen in the State of Tennessee from April 1865 to March 1866

After spending a few hours browsing the web for various sources that dealt with the experiences of freed blacks after emancipation, I ran across this list on the Freedman's Bureau website. This list is a primary source that has been digitized on their website that dates back from April 1865 to March 1865. The source is a list that was produced by the Freedmen's Bureau. It describes various incidents in which violence was perpetrated against freed blacks in Tennessee, typically by white southerners. One of the first incidents that the list outlines occured in April of 1865, when freed black Gilbert Mcgee was assaulted and killed while plowing a field. The Freedmen's Bureau identified the killers as both white males named Thomas Perry and James Morton. The two assaulted Mcgee, took him to a nearby plantation in Gallatin, Tennessee. He was whipped, executed by pistol, and later decapitated. I feel this incident, as described by the Freedmen's Bureau, signifies the lingering threat of violence against freed blacks in the south, that persisted even after emancipation. Freed, former slaves, often relied on the trade skills they had acquired during enslavement as a means of economic sustainability after they were freed. Freed blacks utilized their agricultural skills to become farmers and planters. This example evidences two unfortunate points about the experiences of freedmen after emancipation. First, it shows that although legally free from the bondage of slavery, freed blacks had no guarantee of safety. Emancipation didn't simply put and end to the mistreatment of blacks, and in fact, it often times inspired the likelihood that violence would be incurred against freedmen. The former landed white aristocracy that controlled the local economies of the south held negative sentiments towards the freed black population after emancipation, because freedom of the slave population had resulted in the loss of an economically viable labor source that had ran the agricultural industry in the south for decades. These negative sentiments often played into the motives behind these random and vicious attacks against freedmen. The second point that this incident demonstrates is that freedmen were often put into difficult situations by working in a free labor farm system after emancipation. All of the ruling institutions that formerly controlled the enslaved labor systems, also controlled the free labor agricultural industry for freedmen after their emancipation. The fact that Mcgee's death occured on a plantation only furthers the point that the industry of farm labor was no safe place for freedmen to make a living in after emancipation.

source:     http://www.freedmensbureau.com/tennessee/outrages/tennoutrages1.htm