Contract for labor from Freedman Henry Dred, wife Sylvester, and child Alfred
date: label: Date
content: January 8, 1866
name: label: Created by
content: Freedmen's Bureau, American, 1865 - 1872
label: Subject of
content: Henry Dred, American, born 1830
label: Subject of
content: Sylvester Dred, American, born 1844
label: Subject of
content: Mary Josephine Rivers
label: Signed by
content: Edmund M. Portis, born 1821
notes: label: Description
content: A handwritten contract between Freedman Dred and Mary Josephine Rivers. The document stipulates that Dred and his child Alfred are to work for ten dollars per month for Rivers and her family in Clarke County, Alabama, with an additional five dollars per month to be paid if Dred's wife Sylvester is also capable of field work. Lodging, rations, and mending of clothes is included, and pay is to be delivered "at or by the end of this year" with deductions for doctors and medical care as well as "all lost time from slouth, sickness or otherwise, and all things furnished them not aforementioned." Dred is not to be absent without leave and faces expulsion from the property if the terms of the contract are violated. The final line of the contract appears in darker ink and states that expulsion must first be approved by the Assistant Superintendent of Freedment in Clarke County. The document is written on blue lined paper in dark ink, which is faded. Sheet is folded into quarters; body of document is interior when folded. The back or outside of the contract has written on it the signatures of Mary Josephine Rivers and of E. M. Portis, the Assistant Superintendent of Freedmen for Clarke County, Alabama. Approval is dated April 3, 1866.
label: Transcription Center Status
content: Transcribed by digital volunteers
place: label: Place made
content: Clarke County, Alabama, United States, North and Central America
topic: label: Topic
content: African American
label: Topic
content: Agriculture
label: Topic
content: American South
label: Topic
content: Emancipation
label: Topic
content: Families
label: Topic
content: Labor
label: Topic
content: Reconstruction, U.S. History, 1865-1877
label: Topic
content: Slavery
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
label: Classification
content: Slavery and Freedom Objects
label: Classification
content: Documents and Manuscripts
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Object number
content: 2019.28.36
objectType: label: Type
content: contracts
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Public domain
label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: ink on paper (fiber product)
label: Dimensions
content: H x W: 9 3/4 × 7 5/8 in. (24.8 × 19.4 cm)