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Chapter 104 Texas Freedmen
Chapter 104 Texas Freedmen
"In the Declaration of Independence it says that All Men are created equal. How can we possibly claim to be a Democracy if we keep Texans in bondage on the basis of their skin.? If we shall rule as tyrants over decent human beings, then what was the point of the Revolution?"- President Juan Seguin 1866
"If nations can learn to respect their fellow man without entering a Civil War, then perhaps there is hope for the future after all."- Frederick Douglass- 1864
"In my time I've met some Americans who like to paint Texas as a Utopia for the Black Race, a nation that shows how the average American (as in the Americas) nation should've treated its black population after independence. While I am proud to be a Texan, to serve in Congress, I for one have to dispute that notion as being entirely false. We may not have had it as worse as the Blacks of Dixie, or the brutality in some of the European colonies of Africa, but we've had our own trials and tribulations that we had to go through. The three decades of legal slavery, years of Persecution by the sons and daughters of the Confederacy, economic inequality, and more. Remember that it was only the fact that the Confederacy lost and Texas stood alone as North America as a slave state that forced it to enter abolition, not out of a moral righteousness or the goodness of their hearts. The real reason why Black Texans had it slightly better, and one of the reasons our nation stands so strong today, is the vast multiculturalism of our Republic. Because there was no dominant race or ethnicity, no one could create institutional racism like the horrors that are ongoing in South Africa. Texas was a harsh frontier in its early years so we had to look past each others skin in order to survive, learning to accept one another as people, that in the end we aren't so different after all."- Congresswoman Barbara Jordan 1983
For twenty-eight years the vile institution of slavery had been in place within the Republic of Texas. For much of Eastern Texas, slavery had become ingrained as an unfortunately key economic institution into the Commonwealth, and by extension the Republic's, highly productive cotton and sugar trade. While the Union Army was burning Confederate Plantations, Texan planters made large amounts of profit in hundreds and even thousands of Redbacks with the absence of America in the global market, a profit that was able to be created entirely thanks to the immoral labor of slaved men and women. While the Republic of Texas is not the worst offender in the history of slave-practicing nations such as the United States and the Empire of Brazil, the fact that the nation was born with one of its main components being the institution of slavery is a great shame that weighs over the Republic's history. Even its noble revolution is not entirely free from this as many modern historians argue that a key reason for the revolution of Texas outside of Santa Anna's tyranny and the cultural division between Anglo and Mexican, was the desire of Texas to create a state where they would be free to practice slavery without interference. This was something that was shown many times in the 1820's with the Texan colonies absolutely refusing all demands from Mexico to end slavery, forcing Mexico City to turn the other way as slaves were brought into Texas. After the end of the Mexican War, Texans need no longer be ashamed about the topic. They had peacefully ended the practice and could now truly be considered a free nation. Unfortunately, as was the case in America and Brazil, emancipation is the easiest task, integrating them into society is far harder.
A depiction of Texas slavery in the 1850's.
With the Texan Congress forced to compromise and accept gradual emancipation over a period of three years, most slaves were not able to experience immediate freedom as their masters desired to exploit their labor for profit as long as possible, at the same time forming contingencies plans for when they would have to work with hired labor. The only slaves who were immediately emancipated in 1864 were those with masters who had abolitionist sympathies (in most of these cases the slaves were considered a close part of the family and were integrated afterwords as loyal friends to work for decent wages), slave-owners who continued to not make a profit, or simply from masters who simply wanted cash and wanted to do away with taking care of their slaves. According to the 1860 census the Republic of Texas had a number of 223,656 slaves recorded. It is estimated that at the passing of the 17th amendment that Texas had around 230,000 slaves. According to official records from Austin, in 1864 there were 18,783 slaves that were voluntarily emancipated by their masters. In 1865 this number increased to 31,762, in 1866 it was 56,904, with the rest being emancipated either voluntarily or upon the end of the three year term on June 15th, 1867. While an unfortunate few would not live to see their freedom, almost all of the slaves at the passing of the 17th would experience freedom in one manor or another in the three years to come. A few slaves were not as patient and between 1864 and 1867 there would be a number of 27 slave revolts throughout Texas with an estimated number of 1300 slaves taking part, demanding that they receive freedom now than be at the mercy of their master for a second longer. While President Seguin was sympathetic to their plight, any attempt to rewrite the 17th amendment would result in a near state of civil war across Texas and undo everything that Congress had went through to prevent the lone star republic from mirroring their eastern neighbors. With heavy heart Seguin ordered the Texas Rangers and local militia units to put an end to the revolts, almost all slaves dying while Texan forces suffered 209 casualties. With these revolts some feared that a race war would take place in Texas, thankfully it wasn't the case. Most slaves who were not immediately emancipated continued to work on their plantations. Minor conflicts between master and slave arose, though these did not escalate thanks to community intervention to keep the plantations in line and treat their slaves humanely in order not to set off a revolt and ruin the local economy. According to contemporary accounts, a joyous optimism was present among the slaves in the field. They knew that no matter what their masters would be forced to give them freedom one day, soon they would no longer be held in shackles and become their own free men and women. A survivalist attitude arose among the slave populations that persisted until the Third Juneteenth. The situation may not have been completely desirable, but they would hold their heads high and count the days towards freedom, and the hope of a promised age.
A Texan Army unit at rest from their mission of enforcing the post-Mexican War order.
When the slaves were eventually freed, either voluntarily or by law upon hitting the due date, a multitude of different situations occurred across Texas. Much as the saying goes in warfare that the best-made plains rarely survive contact with the battlefield, so too did the plans for emancipation rarely play out as smoothly upon the eventual complete abolition of slavery. Each situation differed greatly, all of them depending on the personality and emotions with the master along with the reactions of the enslaved. A prominent minority refused to see reality and proclaimed that they would continue to uphold "the rights of maintain their property" until the end of days. After June 15th of 1867 there were reportedly hundreds of cases where slave owners refused to emancipate their slaves and often used brute force and terror to keep their slaves in line. This forced President Seguin's hand who ordered Lieutenant General Travis to use the 1st and 2nd Brigades to cooperate with the Texas Rangers in enforcing the 17th. The so called "Emancipation campaigns" lasted for a period of eight months until Johnston's proclaimed end of the campaign in February. Most rebellious slavers who were met with the barrel of a gun relented and were promptly imprisoned. The few who violently resisted were put down and their property confiscated as traitors to the Republic.
For the rest of the slave population generally one of two broad situations would occur; the slave would either leave their former owner's property in search of a new life, or they would make a contract with their former master to continue to work as hired hands. Contemporary accounts indicate that large majority of emancipated slaves would immediately leave their masters in search of a new life, eager to use their new freedom to the fullest. Unfortunately after a short period of time, a good number of these slaves would come back to their former masters and ask for new employment, many staying for paid work in their previous jobs for the short-term. While many modern readers would be aghast at the idea of a a freedman willingly returning to their former master, the harsh reality of freedom forced them into these scenarios. Unlike the Freedmen's Bureau in the United States, the Republic of Texas did not create a government organization to oversee the integration of slaves into society. The total slave population was barely near four percent of the total population and focusing so much legislation on one minority would anger the others into taking action. The young republic also did not have the funds to take care of the freedmen thanks to the hundreds of thousands of Redbacks spent on voluntary emancipation, alongside other heavy costs such as post-war reconstruction, expansion of the armed forces, the continental railroad, etc. Republicans and Unionists would be more than happy to pass legislation to protect the civil rights of freedmen, but there were few from either party who could be convinced to providing fiscal aid. The luckiest freedmen in the aftermath of emancipation were those who received extensive support from their former masters and charity organizations, and the urban freedmen who had previously worked in the cities instead of the usual plantation life. Urban freedmen had the best lot after escaping bondage thanks to them accumulating practical skills in a variety of fields alongside limited education that gave them an inherent advantage over their rural brethren, allowing most to find work soon and a lucky few to accumulate enough wealth to become entrepreneurs and businesses owners later in their lives. With the commonwealths and the national government reluctant to integrate freedmen into the industrial economy, a large majority of Black Texans would stick to the countryside and continue to practice agriculture as their ancestors had been forced to due since landing in North America. Over the decades this lead to the stereotype of the Black Texan as a simple country people with high traditionalist values and practices, a stereotype that Blacks did not begin to escape from until the late 20th century.
Within the Texas Commonwealth a quasi-sharecropping system arose for a good number of the freedmen who were forced to seek employment for their former masters. While conditions for Texan sharecroppers are seen as generally better than those of the American Dixie states by modern historians, the conditions were still far from good a freedmen were forced to grow only a single kind of cash crop along with some amount of subsistence to feed them and their families. A majority of profits would generally go to the landowners and Black tenants were forced to enter into a heavy system of debt were housing, animals, seeds, tools, and anything of value to start a new life would be given to the freedmen in exchange for IOU's of a set monetary amount which would increase in interest the longer the sharecropper was unable to directly pay back the debt. Due to the sharecropper having most of their profit taken away, and what little being left meant to provide for their families, only a minuscule amount could afford to be sent to pay back the debts. The most divergent aspect of Texan sharecropping that differed from its Dixie counterparts is Homestead Expansionary Schemes. These schemes involved freedmen being coerced by their former masters into applying to the commonwealth government to be granted their constitutional right to a third of a league of land. Once they received their land the homestead would then be bought by the former master for a hefty price, sometimes with the possible inclusion of the clearing of debts or lowering of interest rates. After the contract was signed the freedmen would lose their land and the former masters would expand their properties without giving any land to their former slaves. This style of sharecropping was highly illegal and unconstitutional within the Republic, though unfortunately in the first few years in the chaos of abolition it was often overlooked in government records. After the Southern Exodus and during the Time of Turmoils within the Texas Commonwealth, the national government and Texas Rangers would begin various programs to crack down on sharecropping and homestead expansions, the highly aggressive policies of President Davis would bring a virtual end to the sharecropping system by 1880.
While Black Texans faced many hardships after emancipation, the history of Black Texans in the post-Mexican War period is not one completely full of tragedy and misery. Indeed much like the newly-forming Black States within America, Texas would also be a nation where many freedmen would come to thrive in the post-war years and begin to fully integrate themselves as productive Texans. Perhaps the greatest success story of Black Texans is the existence of Freedom Colonies. For the freedmen who refused to return to their former masters and those who would object to the sharecropping system, an alternative path would have to be created in order to create a lasting legacy for their children and future generations of Black Texans. Refusing to submit to the prospect of wage slavery, Black Texans would turn to the one weapon that could give them complete economic and civil freedom, land. In 19th century Texas land was seen as perhaps the greatest individual liberty that a citizen could partake in, as it meant that they did not have to answer to any man (besides the government) and could live their life in the manner they desired. For freedmen if they were able to obtain land, then they could become economically independent and build a strong and stable foundation that could maybe lead to prosperity for later generations. Luckily for these freedmen unlike in the United States, it was a constitutional right within the Republic of Texas to own land. Escaping from the grip of their former masters, tens of thousands of slaves would head off west into the frontier in search of unclaimed land that was not owned by Indian tribes and still under the claims of the state. Petitions were filed to the commonwealth legislature in Austin which would grant land deeds to Black Texans that filed for grants in state lands. These settlements would be located west of the German Hill Counties and would usually be raised within fifty miles of the hill counties in order to still have contact with civilization and the Hill Counties could be counted upon as support for the new communities. Once a land claim was established, Black families would move onto the land and would start their new life after obtaining bank loans and then buying materials and supplies from the nearest towns. Unlike the sharecropping system of the East, the financial agreements of the frontier were generally fair with both parties reaching an accord based on trust and high ethics. Trade links would be formed between the Hill Counties and the Freedom Colonies which interlinked the economies together and see a unique partnership form between the Black and German Texans. Depending on the geographic disposition of a Freedom Colony, such a situation could also occur with Tejanos, Indians, and Czechs.
Freedmen filing for land grants which would become the basis of the Freedom Colonies
A Freedom Colony in a historical definition is a primarily Black-majority settlement with a population of at least 500 people in rural Texas. After finding suitable lands which were ignored by the first wave of immigrants and settlers, Blacks would often congregate together into forming large communities so that a form of financial and social cooperation would be constructed, the hope that in the presence of a large community Blacks could avoid the challenges of frontier isolation and have a local support network to provide for their families in times of need. After a few years an economic foundation would be erected with the freedom colonies relying on three types of revenue; a mixture of cash crops, small-scale ranching, or subsistence farming. Close bonds would form within the communities and with a strong sense of solidarity most freedom colonies would become self-sustaining and avoid the worst of poverty. Soon these Colonies would form into small towns, with proposals for township charters sent to San Antonio and most cases receiving a positive response. Official towns would be created and in some cases "Freedom Counties" would be erected across the Commonwealth, giving Black Texans a small political presence in the greater Republic. The luckiest residents of Freedom Colonies would use their first profits to expand their land and invest in new businesses or expand their agricultural areas, becoming the first elites of the Freedom Colonies. According to historical research coinciding with the census records, an estimated 57,000 Black Texans lived in freedom colonies in 1870, increased to 124,000 in 1880. For the first time ever, life in Texas for Blacks could possibly get good, and Black Texans would be able to finally partake in the grand Texan dream.
A second generation freedmen family circa 1885.
A/N: So most of my knowledge and research that I am basing this chapter off of comes from the book, "Freedom Colonies: Independent Black Texans at the time of Jim Crow." It's a remarkable story detailing the plight of Black Texans during the century after the Civil War, more specifically Black Texans who managed to escape the bondage of the sharecropper system and after the end of the Civil War managed to obtain their own lands and form close communities with economic independence and small amounts of prosperity. It also goes over the general history and developments of Black Texans during this period, going over the many hardships and some of the successes that they went through. I highly recommend you read it as it's a very in-depth and detailed book and is a good in-look into the history of Texas and some of its culture.
"In the Declaration of Independence it says that All Men are created equal. How can we possibly claim to be a Democracy if we keep Texans in bondage on the basis of their skin.? If we shall rule as tyrants over decent human beings, then what was the point of the Revolution?"- President Juan Seguin 1866
"If nations can learn to respect their fellow man without entering a Civil War, then perhaps there is hope for the future after all."- Frederick Douglass- 1864
"In my time I've met some Americans who like to paint Texas as a Utopia for the Black Race, a nation that shows how the average American (as in the Americas) nation should've treated its black population after independence. While I am proud to be a Texan, to serve in Congress, I for one have to dispute that notion as being entirely false. We may not have had it as worse as the Blacks of Dixie, or the brutality in some of the European colonies of Africa, but we've had our own trials and tribulations that we had to go through. The three decades of legal slavery, years of Persecution by the sons and daughters of the Confederacy, economic inequality, and more. Remember that it was only the fact that the Confederacy lost and Texas stood alone as North America as a slave state that forced it to enter abolition, not out of a moral righteousness or the goodness of their hearts. The real reason why Black Texans had it slightly better, and one of the reasons our nation stands so strong today, is the vast multiculturalism of our Republic. Because there was no dominant race or ethnicity, no one could create institutional racism like the horrors that are ongoing in South Africa. Texas was a harsh frontier in its early years so we had to look past each others skin in order to survive, learning to accept one another as people, that in the end we aren't so different after all."- Congresswoman Barbara Jordan 1983
For twenty-eight years the vile institution of slavery had been in place within the Republic of Texas. For much of Eastern Texas, slavery had become ingrained as an unfortunately key economic institution into the Commonwealth, and by extension the Republic's, highly productive cotton and sugar trade. While the Union Army was burning Confederate Plantations, Texan planters made large amounts of profit in hundreds and even thousands of Redbacks with the absence of America in the global market, a profit that was able to be created entirely thanks to the immoral labor of slaved men and women. While the Republic of Texas is not the worst offender in the history of slave-practicing nations such as the United States and the Empire of Brazil, the fact that the nation was born with one of its main components being the institution of slavery is a great shame that weighs over the Republic's history. Even its noble revolution is not entirely free from this as many modern historians argue that a key reason for the revolution of Texas outside of Santa Anna's tyranny and the cultural division between Anglo and Mexican, was the desire of Texas to create a state where they would be free to practice slavery without interference. This was something that was shown many times in the 1820's with the Texan colonies absolutely refusing all demands from Mexico to end slavery, forcing Mexico City to turn the other way as slaves were brought into Texas. After the end of the Mexican War, Texans need no longer be ashamed about the topic. They had peacefully ended the practice and could now truly be considered a free nation. Unfortunately, as was the case in America and Brazil, emancipation is the easiest task, integrating them into society is far harder.
A depiction of Texas slavery in the 1850's.
With the Texan Congress forced to compromise and accept gradual emancipation over a period of three years, most slaves were not able to experience immediate freedom as their masters desired to exploit their labor for profit as long as possible, at the same time forming contingencies plans for when they would have to work with hired labor. The only slaves who were immediately emancipated in 1864 were those with masters who had abolitionist sympathies (in most of these cases the slaves were considered a close part of the family and were integrated afterwords as loyal friends to work for decent wages), slave-owners who continued to not make a profit, or simply from masters who simply wanted cash and wanted to do away with taking care of their slaves. According to the 1860 census the Republic of Texas had a number of 223,656 slaves recorded. It is estimated that at the passing of the 17th amendment that Texas had around 230,000 slaves. According to official records from Austin, in 1864 there were 18,783 slaves that were voluntarily emancipated by their masters. In 1865 this number increased to 31,762, in 1866 it was 56,904, with the rest being emancipated either voluntarily or upon the end of the three year term on June 15th, 1867. While an unfortunate few would not live to see their freedom, almost all of the slaves at the passing of the 17th would experience freedom in one manor or another in the three years to come. A few slaves were not as patient and between 1864 and 1867 there would be a number of 27 slave revolts throughout Texas with an estimated number of 1300 slaves taking part, demanding that they receive freedom now than be at the mercy of their master for a second longer. While President Seguin was sympathetic to their plight, any attempt to rewrite the 17th amendment would result in a near state of civil war across Texas and undo everything that Congress had went through to prevent the lone star republic from mirroring their eastern neighbors. With heavy heart Seguin ordered the Texas Rangers and local militia units to put an end to the revolts, almost all slaves dying while Texan forces suffered 209 casualties. With these revolts some feared that a race war would take place in Texas, thankfully it wasn't the case. Most slaves who were not immediately emancipated continued to work on their plantations. Minor conflicts between master and slave arose, though these did not escalate thanks to community intervention to keep the plantations in line and treat their slaves humanely in order not to set off a revolt and ruin the local economy. According to contemporary accounts, a joyous optimism was present among the slaves in the field. They knew that no matter what their masters would be forced to give them freedom one day, soon they would no longer be held in shackles and become their own free men and women. A survivalist attitude arose among the slave populations that persisted until the Third Juneteenth. The situation may not have been completely desirable, but they would hold their heads high and count the days towards freedom, and the hope of a promised age.
A Texan Army unit at rest from their mission of enforcing the post-Mexican War order.
When the slaves were eventually freed, either voluntarily or by law upon hitting the due date, a multitude of different situations occurred across Texas. Much as the saying goes in warfare that the best-made plains rarely survive contact with the battlefield, so too did the plans for emancipation rarely play out as smoothly upon the eventual complete abolition of slavery. Each situation differed greatly, all of them depending on the personality and emotions with the master along with the reactions of the enslaved. A prominent minority refused to see reality and proclaimed that they would continue to uphold "the rights of maintain their property" until the end of days. After June 15th of 1867 there were reportedly hundreds of cases where slave owners refused to emancipate their slaves and often used brute force and terror to keep their slaves in line. This forced President Seguin's hand who ordered Lieutenant General Travis to use the 1st and 2nd Brigades to cooperate with the Texas Rangers in enforcing the 17th. The so called "Emancipation campaigns" lasted for a period of eight months until Johnston's proclaimed end of the campaign in February. Most rebellious slavers who were met with the barrel of a gun relented and were promptly imprisoned. The few who violently resisted were put down and their property confiscated as traitors to the Republic.
For the rest of the slave population generally one of two broad situations would occur; the slave would either leave their former owner's property in search of a new life, or they would make a contract with their former master to continue to work as hired hands. Contemporary accounts indicate that large majority of emancipated slaves would immediately leave their masters in search of a new life, eager to use their new freedom to the fullest. Unfortunately after a short period of time, a good number of these slaves would come back to their former masters and ask for new employment, many staying for paid work in their previous jobs for the short-term. While many modern readers would be aghast at the idea of a a freedman willingly returning to their former master, the harsh reality of freedom forced them into these scenarios. Unlike the Freedmen's Bureau in the United States, the Republic of Texas did not create a government organization to oversee the integration of slaves into society. The total slave population was barely near four percent of the total population and focusing so much legislation on one minority would anger the others into taking action. The young republic also did not have the funds to take care of the freedmen thanks to the hundreds of thousands of Redbacks spent on voluntary emancipation, alongside other heavy costs such as post-war reconstruction, expansion of the armed forces, the continental railroad, etc. Republicans and Unionists would be more than happy to pass legislation to protect the civil rights of freedmen, but there were few from either party who could be convinced to providing fiscal aid. The luckiest freedmen in the aftermath of emancipation were those who received extensive support from their former masters and charity organizations, and the urban freedmen who had previously worked in the cities instead of the usual plantation life. Urban freedmen had the best lot after escaping bondage thanks to them accumulating practical skills in a variety of fields alongside limited education that gave them an inherent advantage over their rural brethren, allowing most to find work soon and a lucky few to accumulate enough wealth to become entrepreneurs and businesses owners later in their lives. With the commonwealths and the national government reluctant to integrate freedmen into the industrial economy, a large majority of Black Texans would stick to the countryside and continue to practice agriculture as their ancestors had been forced to due since landing in North America. Over the decades this lead to the stereotype of the Black Texan as a simple country people with high traditionalist values and practices, a stereotype that Blacks did not begin to escape from until the late 20th century.
Within the Texas Commonwealth a quasi-sharecropping system arose for a good number of the freedmen who were forced to seek employment for their former masters. While conditions for Texan sharecroppers are seen as generally better than those of the American Dixie states by modern historians, the conditions were still far from good a freedmen were forced to grow only a single kind of cash crop along with some amount of subsistence to feed them and their families. A majority of profits would generally go to the landowners and Black tenants were forced to enter into a heavy system of debt were housing, animals, seeds, tools, and anything of value to start a new life would be given to the freedmen in exchange for IOU's of a set monetary amount which would increase in interest the longer the sharecropper was unable to directly pay back the debt. Due to the sharecropper having most of their profit taken away, and what little being left meant to provide for their families, only a minuscule amount could afford to be sent to pay back the debts. The most divergent aspect of Texan sharecropping that differed from its Dixie counterparts is Homestead Expansionary Schemes. These schemes involved freedmen being coerced by their former masters into applying to the commonwealth government to be granted their constitutional right to a third of a league of land. Once they received their land the homestead would then be bought by the former master for a hefty price, sometimes with the possible inclusion of the clearing of debts or lowering of interest rates. After the contract was signed the freedmen would lose their land and the former masters would expand their properties without giving any land to their former slaves. This style of sharecropping was highly illegal and unconstitutional within the Republic, though unfortunately in the first few years in the chaos of abolition it was often overlooked in government records. After the Southern Exodus and during the Time of Turmoils within the Texas Commonwealth, the national government and Texas Rangers would begin various programs to crack down on sharecropping and homestead expansions, the highly aggressive policies of President Davis would bring a virtual end to the sharecropping system by 1880.
While Black Texans faced many hardships after emancipation, the history of Black Texans in the post-Mexican War period is not one completely full of tragedy and misery. Indeed much like the newly-forming Black States within America, Texas would also be a nation where many freedmen would come to thrive in the post-war years and begin to fully integrate themselves as productive Texans. Perhaps the greatest success story of Black Texans is the existence of Freedom Colonies. For the freedmen who refused to return to their former masters and those who would object to the sharecropping system, an alternative path would have to be created in order to create a lasting legacy for their children and future generations of Black Texans. Refusing to submit to the prospect of wage slavery, Black Texans would turn to the one weapon that could give them complete economic and civil freedom, land. In 19th century Texas land was seen as perhaps the greatest individual liberty that a citizen could partake in, as it meant that they did not have to answer to any man (besides the government) and could live their life in the manner they desired. For freedmen if they were able to obtain land, then they could become economically independent and build a strong and stable foundation that could maybe lead to prosperity for later generations. Luckily for these freedmen unlike in the United States, it was a constitutional right within the Republic of Texas to own land. Escaping from the grip of their former masters, tens of thousands of slaves would head off west into the frontier in search of unclaimed land that was not owned by Indian tribes and still under the claims of the state. Petitions were filed to the commonwealth legislature in Austin which would grant land deeds to Black Texans that filed for grants in state lands. These settlements would be located west of the German Hill Counties and would usually be raised within fifty miles of the hill counties in order to still have contact with civilization and the Hill Counties could be counted upon as support for the new communities. Once a land claim was established, Black families would move onto the land and would start their new life after obtaining bank loans and then buying materials and supplies from the nearest towns. Unlike the sharecropping system of the East, the financial agreements of the frontier were generally fair with both parties reaching an accord based on trust and high ethics. Trade links would be formed between the Hill Counties and the Freedom Colonies which interlinked the economies together and see a unique partnership form between the Black and German Texans. Depending on the geographic disposition of a Freedom Colony, such a situation could also occur with Tejanos, Indians, and Czechs.
Freedmen filing for land grants which would become the basis of the Freedom Colonies
A Freedom Colony in a historical definition is a primarily Black-majority settlement with a population of at least 500 people in rural Texas. After finding suitable lands which were ignored by the first wave of immigrants and settlers, Blacks would often congregate together into forming large communities so that a form of financial and social cooperation would be constructed, the hope that in the presence of a large community Blacks could avoid the challenges of frontier isolation and have a local support network to provide for their families in times of need. After a few years an economic foundation would be erected with the freedom colonies relying on three types of revenue; a mixture of cash crops, small-scale ranching, or subsistence farming. Close bonds would form within the communities and with a strong sense of solidarity most freedom colonies would become self-sustaining and avoid the worst of poverty. Soon these Colonies would form into small towns, with proposals for township charters sent to San Antonio and most cases receiving a positive response. Official towns would be created and in some cases "Freedom Counties" would be erected across the Commonwealth, giving Black Texans a small political presence in the greater Republic. The luckiest residents of Freedom Colonies would use their first profits to expand their land and invest in new businesses or expand their agricultural areas, becoming the first elites of the Freedom Colonies. According to historical research coinciding with the census records, an estimated 57,000 Black Texans lived in freedom colonies in 1870, increased to 124,000 in 1880. For the first time ever, life in Texas for Blacks could possibly get good, and Black Texans would be able to finally partake in the grand Texan dream.
A second generation freedmen family circa 1885.
A/N: So most of my knowledge and research that I am basing this chapter off of comes from the book, "Freedom Colonies: Independent Black Texans at the time of Jim Crow." It's a remarkable story detailing the plight of Black Texans during the century after the Civil War, more specifically Black Texans who managed to escape the bondage of the sharecropper system and after the end of the Civil War managed to obtain their own lands and form close communities with economic independence and small amounts of prosperity. It also goes over the general history and developments of Black Texans during this period, going over the many hardships and some of the successes that they went through. I highly recommend you read it as it's a very in-depth and detailed book and is a good in-look into the history of Texas and some of its culture.
- Kaiser Chris
- Word Count: 3.2k