Unfree Labor
Daily journal of farm labor, June 29-July 3, 1821
Friday June 29th 1821
This day finished the corn & tobacco & began to pull flax & in the evening ground the scythes & cut a small piece of wheat at home
Saturday 30th
Finished pulling flax & began after breakfast to cut wheat at Jeb’s—with our hands & old Jim and Jim worked an hour or two & went to see the race—
Monday July 2
Wind at east. This day finished binding up the flax and began cutting wheat & cut twice up & down & the rain came on. Went to breakfast [and] it then continued to rain all day. Bill & Eben & Sam Griffin, Abe, old Jim, & William & Thomas Meredith were here, our hands planting tobacco—
Thursday July 3
Wind at east. This day cloudy & rained a little in the morning. It then broke away & all hands set to work, to wit: Bill & Henny – Eben & Abe – Sam Griffin & old Jim & William & Thomas Meredith. They all made one day’s work, including what they did on Monday morning before the rain.
[spelling and punctuation have been modernized]
This day finished the corn & tobacco & began to pull flax & in the evening ground the scythes & cut a small piece of wheat at home
Saturday 30th
Finished pulling flax & began after breakfast to cut wheat at Jeb’s—with our hands & old Jim and Jim worked an hour or two & went to see the race—
Monday July 2
Wind at east. This day finished binding up the flax and began cutting wheat & cut twice up & down & the rain came on. Went to breakfast [and] it then continued to rain all day. Bill & Eben & Sam Griffin, Abe, old Jim, & William & Thomas Meredith were here, our hands planting tobacco—
Thursday July 3
Wind at east. This day cloudy & rained a little in the morning. It then broke away & all hands set to work, to wit: Bill & Henny – Eben & Abe – Sam Griffin & old Jim & William & Thomas Meredith. They all made one day’s work, including what they did on Monday morning before the rain.
[spelling and punctuation have been modernized]
African American labor was the backbone of the local economy. Manuscripts in the Commodore Collection show enslaved African Americans of every age performing many kinds of tasks for their white enslavers, from farm labor to land surveying.
This daily record kept by a white farmer in July 1821 shows enslaved workers harvesting wheat and flax, as well as planting tobacco.
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