From: Anonymous One
Date: 4/25/00
Time: 8:37:06 AM
Remote Name: 155.247.185.169
Anonymous One The Black Men from the South and the Rebels, chapter 11:The change from Slavery to Freedman
The slaves were happy to be free at last. For them it meant doing anything that pleased them or doing as they wished. After they were freed, many of them ran away from the plantations, away from their masters. The blacks wanted to be their own masters, they wanted to regulate their own affairs without been bossed around. They learnt about their freedom and refused to work for the whites saying that freedom was a privilege for not working. Even those who were treated well by their master, they refused to remain in the plantations. Although they did not achieve all of their goals, but succeeded in securing some of the independence. There was a change in southern social relations and labor relations. Many slaves became family farmers. After been freed, they had education opportunity, they learnt how to read and write. They set up their own churches ,headed by black ministers. The Whites were not pleased with the idea of freeing the slaves. They fund it difficult to imagine the society in which blacks had the same right as whites. They were bitter over the loss of their slaves, because they depended on them for economic achievements and so after they were freed, there was labor shortage. Some of those who remained refused to work. Their masters did not want the former slaves to know about their rights. Racial discrimination rose among the black, as the whites did not want them to be free or have any rights.