On the record
In some cases the negroes, understanding that they are freed, have refused to work without a contract for wages.
Said by
Whitelaw Reid
Source
gutenberg.orgWhitelaw Reid: “In some cases the negroes, understanding that they are freed, have refused to work without a contract for wages.”
Editor's note · Context
This quote reflects the newfound agency of some freed individuals who sought contracts for their labor after emancipation.
Share
More from Whitelaw Reid
Never was there a problem more serious or difficult than that which is now before the Nation, as to this race, whose destiny has been confided to the wisdom and honor of our Government.
It is my firm conviction, that suffrage is not only the best security for freedom, but the most potent agent of amelioration and civilization.
May it not prove, moreover, in that work of reorganization, which now engages the thoughts of all patriotic men, that universal suffrage is the best reconciler of the most comprehensive lenity with the most perfect public security and the…
Let me repeat, that I think it best for all men—white men, black men, and brown men, if you make that distinction, that all men of proper age and unconvicted of crime, should have the right of suffrage.