Moving to a New Life

Imagine a large group of people, just two years after gaining their freedom, deciding to move to a completely different place. This big change must have brought up all sorts of feelings for them.

Life after slavery, even with the Freedmen’s Bureau trying to help, wasn’t always easy. People complained about unfair treatment through the Bureau. This likely played a big part in why many chose to leave and look for a new area where they could find work on labor contracts and get paid regular wages.

Reactions in the News

Local newspapers in the Kingstree area, Galveston and beyond took notice of these freed men, women, and children gathering before their journey and after they had left. They reported on how the local people reacted to this movement.