Hirelings: African American Workers and Free Labor in Early Maryland

229 Pages·2011·1.402 MB·English

by  Jennifer Hull Dorsey

Hirelings

Hirelings
African American Workers and
Free Labor in Early Maryland
Jennifer Hull Dorsey
Cornell University Press
Ithaca and London
Copyright © 2011 by Cornell University
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or
parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in
writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University
Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850.
First published 2011 by Cornell University Press
Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Dorsey, Jennifer Hull, 1969–
Hirelings : African American workers and free labor in early Maryland /
Jennifer Hull Dorsey.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8014-4778-5 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Free African Americans—Eastern Shore (Md. and Va.)—History—
18th century. 2. Free African Americans—Eastern Shore (Md. and Va.)—
History—19th century. 3. Free African Americans—Employment—
Eastern Shore (Md. and Va.)—History—18th century. 4. Free African
Americans—Employment—Eastern Shore (Md. and Va.)—History—
19th century. 5. Agricultural laborers—Eastern Shore (Md. and Va.)—
History—18th century. 6. Agricultural laborers—Eastern Shore (Md.
and Va.)—History—19th century. 7. African American agricultural
laborers—Eastern Shore (Md. and Va.)—History—18th century.
8. African American agricultural laborers—Eastern Shore (Md. and Va.)—
History—19th century. 9. Slaves—Emancipation—Economic
aspects—Eastern Shore (Md. and Va.) 10. Wage payment system—
Eastern Shore (Md. and Va.)—History. I. Title.
E185.93.M2D67 2011
331.2'160899607521—dc22 2010047915
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Cloth printing 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
List of Illustrations vii
Preface ix
Introduction 1
1. Work 21
2. Migration 45
3. Family 61
4. Dependency 82
5. Community 100
6. Recession 118
Conclusion 145
Notes 161
Bibliography 185
Index 203

Illustrations
Figures
1. Joseph Chain advertisement, 1817 40
2. House Servants Wanted, 1817 49
3. A Plea for Charity, 1817 122
Maps
1. Map of the Upper Eastern Shore of Maryland xviii
2. Map of the Delmarva Peninsula, ca. 1778 11
3. Map of Talbot County, 1878 101
Tables
1.1. Average per diem wages earned by freed men, 1789–1823
(in dollars) 35
1.2. Average per diem wages earned by freed women, 1789–1823
(in dollars) 35
1.3. Property owners in Trappe and Hole-in-the-Wall,
Talbot County, 1804–32 43
viii Illustrations
2.1. Applicants for Certifi cates of Freedom as a percentage
of whole free black populations, Queen Anne’s and
Talbot counties, 1805–34 51
2.2. Sex and age structures of Certifi cate of Freedom applicants,
Talbot County, 1800–34 55
2.3. Sex and age structures of Certifi cate of Freedom applicants,
Queen Anne’s County, 1807–34 56
Preface
In 1997 historian Wilson J. Moses wished aloud that scholars would
fi nd something new to say about nineteenth-century free African Ameri-
cans. Moses observed in Reviews in American History that the scholarship
had become predictable, adding that there are “layers of data in support of
theses that are no longer subject to serious dispute.” The fi eld is ready for
a revolution, he suggested.1 The exploration in this book into the working
lives of manumitted and freeborn African Americans may not revolution-
ize the fi eld, but it is meant to fi ll an inexplicable gap in African American
studies as well as the history of the early republic. It is a history of free
African American laborers, their families, and communities, but it is also
an exploration of the relationship between the early republic manumis-
sions and the nascent wage labor system. It is the story of how agricultural
employers made slaves into wage laborers and how two generations of Af-
rican Americans experienced this transition from slavery to wage work.
With a few noteworthy exceptions, most historians have ignored
the working lives of those African Americans manumitted in the fi rst