Unfree Labor

Contract for the “hire” of Emory, December 1, 1814

Contract for the “hire” of Emory, December 1, 1814

 

I promise and pledge myself, my heirs, executors, and administrators to pay or cause to be paid unto Thomas B. Cook the sum of fifty dollars current money of Maryland for the hire of one Negro man named Emory for one year beginning the first day [of] January 1815 and ending the last day of December in the same year. I agree to give said Negro two country linen shirts and two pair of trousers of same, one good suit of country kersey yarn, stockings and double-soled shoes, and one wool hat. This my hand and Seal
December 1st 1814
William Skinner

Witness
Jesse M. Sherwood

[spelling and punctuation have been modernized]

This hire contract for a Black worker named Emory, also for the entire year of 1815, lists the annual clothing allotment for an enslaved man: two linen shirts, two pairs of linen trousers, one wool suit, stockings, double-soled shoes, and a wool hat.

Enslaved people were often insufficiently clothed, and after an entire year of hard labor, their garments might be little more than rags.



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