One of the best letters EVER! It's written by a slave to his former master.

[tabatha]

In August of 1865, a Colonel P.H. Anderson of Big Spring, Tennessee, wrote to his former slave, Jourdan Anderson, and requested that he come back to work on his farm. Jourdan — who, since being emancipated, had moved to Ohio, found paid work, and was now supporting his family — responded spectacularly by way of the letter seen below (a letter which, according to newspapers at the time, he dictated).

Rather than quote the numerous highlights in this letter, I'll simply leave you to enjoy it. Do make sure you read to the end.

(Source: The Freedmen's Book; Image: A group of escaped slaves in Virginia in 1862, courtesy of the Library of Congress.)

Dayton, Ohio,

August 7, 1865

To My Old Master, Colonel P.H. Anderson, Big Spring, Tennessee

Sir: I got your letter, and was glad to find that you had not forgotten Jourdon, and that you wanted me to come back and live with you again, promising to do better for me than anybody else can. I have often felt uneasy about you. I thought the Yankees would have hung you long before this, for harboring Rebs they found at your house. I suppose they never heard about your going to Colonel Martin's to kill the Union soldier that was left by his company in their stable. Although you shot at me twice before I left you, I did not want to hear of your being hurt, and am glad you are still living. It would do me good to go back to the dear old home again, and see Miss Mary and Miss Martha and Allen, Esther, Green, and Lee. Give my love to them all, and tell them I hope we will meet in the better world, if not in this. I would have gone back to see you all when I was working in the Nashville Hospital, but one of the neighbors told me that Henry intended to shoot me if he ever got a chance.

http://www.lettersofnote.com/2012/01/to-my-old-master.html

[limpyhobbler]

1. du rec.

saw this earlier today. worth reading for sure

[dipsydoodle]

2. Definately a good read

Rec'd

[dixiegrrrrl]

3. That site is a marvel. What a fascinating concept.

rec'ing for the letter and the site.

good find!

[rocktivity]

4. These are the lines that jumped out at me

Last edited Wed Jul 15, 2015, 04:02 PM - Edit history (29)

"...Mandy -- the folks call her Mrs. Anderson..."
That line was no accident -- makes me wonder if the owner "took advantage" of Mrs. Anderson. My guess is that Mr. Anderson enjoyed his freed wife's respectability VERY much.

"Here, I draw my wages every Saturday night...(I)n Tennessee, there was never any pay-day for the Negroes any more than for the horses and cows."
Except that the horses and cows were provided with the nutrition, shelter, and care they required to remain productive!

"I served you faithfully for thirty-two years, and Mandy twenty years. At twenty-five dollars a month for me, and two dollars a week for Mandy, our earnings would amount to eleven thousand six hundred and eighty dollars."
I wonder how that would translate into to 2012 dollars.

On edit: Adjusting for inflation, and assuming they escaped in 1862, the Andersons were owed closer to $17,266.72.
In 2012 dollars, the $11,680 is now worth $277,304.80.

"Say howdy to George Carter, and thank him for taking the pistol from you when you were shooting at me."
I didn't know they had snark back in 1865 -- An Honorary Historical Achievement DUzy!


rocktivity

[Uncle Joe]

5. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, tabatha.

[yellerpup]

6. What a thrilling find!

I'm big into history and this kind of treasure is rare. Thanks so much for finding it and posting it here.

[fasttense]

7. Wow, he certainly left none of the horrors out.

"In answering this letter, please state if there would be any safety for my Milly and Jane, who are now grown up, and both good-looking girls. You know how it was with poor Matilda and Catherine. I would rather stay here and starve—and die, if it come to that—than have my girls brought to shame by the violence and wickedness of their young masters."

Even white Southern women rarely spoke of the frequent rapes of slave women southern masters frequently committed.

[tnlurker]

8. for later

[BB1]

9. Heeehaaa!

Great read! Dictated and all, fun to witness.

This was a no-wage slave.

[liberalhistorian]

10. "Surely there will be a day of reckoning for those

who defraud the laborer of his hire."

The more things change, the more they stay the same. This could be said to countless employers and big businesses today in regards to their treatment of workers. I believe he is correct in a coming reckoning, and I would not want to be one of those selfish defrauders.

And to think there is still a large contingent in the south, including professors and other academics, who insist that the slaves were happy and better off and didn't want slavery to end!!!!

[tech_smythe]

12. I was thinking that there's too much in that letter that could be said today...

granted it's wage slavery and under-payment now a days, but the ideas sadly remain.

One thing that always amazes me by letters from the civil war, or 1800's in general, is how well they're written.

Even a ex slave has better grammar and writing skills than a great many youth of today.

I worked at a subcontractor for apple doing phone support for the iphone, and you can't believe what a hell hole that place is!

I can't point to anything physical, but the pressure and stress put on us to keep calls short, and sell extended warranties, and to deny service to anyone not paying (even trying to decide if it was a initial 1-year warranty covered issue) was horrible!

You had to keep the calls short and profitable. and you had to keep your transfers to tier 2 a few as possible. the metrics were damn near impossible to meet. if you didn't you'd get marked.

the attendance policies were equally as horrible. a minute was treated with the same weight as missing an entire day.

if you called in sick, that was also an incident. 9 incidents and you were gone POOF!

and they only paid $10.25/hr for what was, in the end, technical work.

better than mcdonalds, but I never wanted to slit my wrists when I was working at Wendy's!

[liberalhistorian]

14. My hat is off to you for enduring even one day of work

under those conditions. It sounds very much like the working conditions of AOHell, also, as well as Dell and Gateway. I knew someone who worked for Gateway once and he had similar stories. I don't know what it is about American tech companies, but many of their founders seem to be psychopaths. It's a major reason why I was absolutely sickened at all of the glory, accolades and worship heaped on Steve Jobs when he died. The man was a horrible person, with no consideration whatsoever for employees or their conditions, no ethics and his treatment of his foreign workers overseas would have made Scrooge cry. I will NEVER understand the kowtowing at his feet after his death.

[tech_smythe]

19. i somehow survived 3+ months

but i just broke.
I was up to 5 cigs a day. 1 before my shift, one at each break (BTW they NEVER gave a 3rd 15 min break no matter how long you were there for) and one after.
I'd worked several 10 hour shifts with breaks at 1.5 hours, lunch then 6 hours, then off... it was the worst i've ever seen!

Of course I once worked in the bay area during the boom, so I have this (now shattered) idea that tech workers get treated with SOME kind of understanding for the high stress work they do.... nope! not anymore, and not here!

[lavenderdiva]

11. What a great letter!

Obviously, Mr. Anderson was a well-read and well-spoken gentleman. I marvel at his mastery of the written word, given he probably had little schooling-- imagine what his abilities would have been given a proper education!! Incredible!

Thank you for sharing this---

[Mira]

13. What a magnificent piece of work.

It makes me so proud of this man. And he wrote this letter without a single smilie for yet it is dripping with it in the most dignified way.
This has made my day.
Thank you, Tabatha!

[tabatha]

15. You're welcome.

I thought it was too wonderful to not share.

Sometimes points can be made best with quiet irony.

[neverforget]

16. What a great letter!

K&R

[kas125]

17. Wow, this is really an amazing letter.

Thank you so much for sharing it!

[Kablooie]

18. That Jourdan was one clever fellow.

Great, sarcastic fun letter.
I wonder if he really felt warmly towards Miss Mary, Miss Martha and Allen?
Hard to tell with the acid tongue he writes with.

[ZombieHorde]

20. I wonder if he had a ghost writer.

He seems fairly educated for being a slave most of his life.

[tabatha]

21. I think he was educated while being a slave.

Often a slave was the invisible person in the room, hence heard and saw many things. Just as language is picked up by children from their parents, just as Libyans learned English from TV, I am sure slaves, being an indispensable part of the family, learned a lot of the ways and habits of their "masters".

[yellerpup]

23. He dictated the letter

from his attorney's office.

[Sherman A1]

22. K&R

[byronius]

24. So powerful. Love his voice.

[progressoid]

25. Great to the very end!

K&R