1 00:00:01,160 --> 00:00:04,280 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class from hot 2 00:00:04,440 --> 00:00:13,880 Speaker 1: works dot com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm 3 00:00:13,880 --> 00:00:17,599 Speaker 1: Holly Frying and I'm Tracy B. Wilson, and today we 4 00:00:17,640 --> 00:00:20,000 Speaker 1: are talking about a topic that was requested on Twitter 5 00:00:20,079 --> 00:00:24,600 Speaker 1: by listener carsa uh and it is Contraband camps. And 6 00:00:24,640 --> 00:00:27,600 Speaker 1: we have spoken before about the term contraband being used 7 00:00:27,640 --> 00:00:30,960 Speaker 1: to refer to escaped or Union freed slaves during the U. S. 8 00:00:31,000 --> 00:00:34,880 Speaker 1: Civil War, but we really haven't touched on with any 9 00:00:34,920 --> 00:00:38,320 Speaker 1: detail the contraband camps where many of these people were 10 00:00:38,320 --> 00:00:42,080 Speaker 1: held both during the war and through reconstruction. And as 11 00:00:42,159 --> 00:00:44,640 Speaker 1: is often the case with history, the story of emancipation 12 00:00:44,800 --> 00:00:47,519 Speaker 1: is just way more complicated than the broad strokes that 13 00:00:47,560 --> 00:00:50,599 Speaker 1: are often used to describe it. It's definitely not as 14 00:00:50,600 --> 00:00:54,560 Speaker 1: though the Emancipation Proclamation happened and voila, everyone is free 15 00:00:54,600 --> 00:00:57,920 Speaker 1: and everything is great. In fact, this transition was incredibly 16 00:00:57,960 --> 00:01:01,520 Speaker 1: difficult and newly freed people and really struggled and some 17 00:01:01,680 --> 00:01:04,200 Speaker 1: very bad things happened to them. And we're going to 18 00:01:04,240 --> 00:01:07,920 Speaker 1: talk about some of the legal issues surrounding slaves escaping 19 00:01:07,920 --> 00:01:10,160 Speaker 1: to freedom, and then we're going to get into the 20 00:01:10,200 --> 00:01:14,319 Speaker 1: incident that really catalyzed, sort of accidentally, the development of 21 00:01:14,400 --> 00:01:18,160 Speaker 1: contraband camps, and then we'll talk about the challenges that 22 00:01:18,200 --> 00:01:21,080 Speaker 1: these camps posed, both for those living in them and 23 00:01:21,120 --> 00:01:25,560 Speaker 1: for the Union Army. Yeah. I'm both glad and sad 24 00:01:25,600 --> 00:01:29,040 Speaker 1: that we're doing this episode because it's such a difficult topic, 25 00:01:29,240 --> 00:01:31,679 Speaker 1: but also the idea of contraband has come up so 26 00:01:31,720 --> 00:01:34,080 Speaker 1: many times in so many past episodes that I'm really 27 00:01:34,120 --> 00:01:36,880 Speaker 1: glad that we will have this one to refer folks 28 00:01:36,920 --> 00:01:40,560 Speaker 1: to if they want to learn more about that. Yeah. 29 00:01:40,760 --> 00:01:43,399 Speaker 1: So we've talked about the Fugitive Slave Acts before, but 30 00:01:43,600 --> 00:01:45,520 Speaker 1: for the sake of context, we're going to do kind 31 00:01:45,560 --> 00:01:48,640 Speaker 1: of a broad stroke overview of them. Here. In the 32 00:01:48,720 --> 00:01:52,800 Speaker 1: late seventeen hundreds, there was already a significant conflict brewing 33 00:01:52,840 --> 00:01:55,680 Speaker 1: between the states that we're pushing for abolition and the 34 00:01:55,720 --> 00:01:59,960 Speaker 1: slave states. There were concerns that this ongoing disagreement was 35 00:02:00,040 --> 00:02:02,920 Speaker 1: going to cause really big problems and fracturing for the 36 00:02:03,000 --> 00:02:07,080 Speaker 1: fledgling nations. So to try to find a compromise, Congress 37 00:02:07,120 --> 00:02:12,280 Speaker 1: passed the Fugitive Slave Act of sevente and this act 38 00:02:12,400 --> 00:02:15,800 Speaker 1: built on the fugitive Slave clause that already existed in 39 00:02:15,840 --> 00:02:19,760 Speaker 1: the U. S Constitution, and that clause read quote, no 40 00:02:19,960 --> 00:02:23,280 Speaker 1: person held to service or labor in one state under 41 00:02:23,320 --> 00:02:27,840 Speaker 1: the laws thereof escaping into another, shall, in consequence of 42 00:02:27,880 --> 00:02:32,120 Speaker 1: any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service 43 00:02:32,200 --> 00:02:35,520 Speaker 1: or labor, but shall be delivered upon claim of the 44 00:02:35,600 --> 00:02:40,160 Speaker 1: party to whom such service or labor. Maybe do so 45 00:02:40,240 --> 00:02:42,480 Speaker 1: to sum that up, if you escape to a free state, 46 00:02:42,560 --> 00:02:46,280 Speaker 1: that doesn't mean you're free. So the Fugitive Slaved Act 47 00:02:46,320 --> 00:02:50,760 Speaker 1: of see established much more specific ways for that clause 48 00:02:50,840 --> 00:02:53,840 Speaker 1: to be enacted. It made provisions for slave owners and 49 00:02:53,880 --> 00:02:57,440 Speaker 1: those taking or those acting on their behalves to search 50 00:02:57,600 --> 00:03:01,400 Speaker 1: for escape slaves in free states. They had to provide 51 00:03:01,440 --> 00:03:04,960 Speaker 1: proof of ownership if they captured an escaped slave, but 52 00:03:05,040 --> 00:03:08,600 Speaker 1: this requirement was actually pretty lax. It could be as 53 00:03:08,600 --> 00:03:12,520 Speaker 1: simple as as signed affidavit swearing that yes, the captor 54 00:03:12,680 --> 00:03:16,960 Speaker 1: owned the person they were holding. This law also specified 55 00:03:16,960 --> 00:03:20,400 Speaker 1: a penalty of five hundred dollars to anyone who helped 56 00:03:20,639 --> 00:03:26,120 Speaker 1: or hid an escaped slave. In response, several states enacted 57 00:03:26,160 --> 00:03:29,360 Speaker 1: personal liberty laws to circumvent the Fugitive Slave Act of 58 00:03:29,400 --> 00:03:34,000 Speaker 1: seventeen ninety three and temperates abuse. These laws were designed 59 00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:37,120 Speaker 1: to protect free men who might be captured and enslaved 60 00:03:37,120 --> 00:03:41,080 Speaker 1: through exploitation of those kind of slack proof requirements, and 61 00:03:41,200 --> 00:03:43,560 Speaker 1: also to provide escaped slaves with a right to a 62 00:03:43,640 --> 00:03:47,760 Speaker 1: jury trial. But these laws were eventually overturned in eighteen 63 00:03:47,800 --> 00:03:50,840 Speaker 1: forty two when the Supreme Court ruled in Prague versus 64 00:03:50,840 --> 00:03:54,560 Speaker 1: Pennsylvania that state laws intended to undermine the Slave Act 65 00:03:54,920 --> 00:03:59,120 Speaker 1: could not trump federal law. Even so, the Fugitive Slave 66 00:03:59,160 --> 00:04:02,080 Speaker 1: Act of seventeen ninety three wasn't enforced in a lot 67 00:04:02,120 --> 00:04:05,200 Speaker 1: of areas, and slave states were really angry at the 68 00:04:05,320 --> 00:04:07,600 Speaker 1: number of people who were able who were able to 69 00:04:07,840 --> 00:04:10,360 Speaker 1: escape into free states. But we do need to make 70 00:04:10,360 --> 00:04:13,400 Speaker 1: a major note here. We've mentioned this before, but it 71 00:04:13,440 --> 00:04:16,960 Speaker 1: really bears repeating that it's not as though thousands and 72 00:04:17,160 --> 00:04:21,680 Speaker 1: thousands of people were escaping from the slave states. Escaping 73 00:04:21,760 --> 00:04:25,479 Speaker 1: was incredibly difficult, and while you sometimes see numbers in 74 00:04:25,560 --> 00:04:28,160 Speaker 1: the thousands, you have to consider that when you look 75 00:04:28,200 --> 00:04:30,880 Speaker 1: at it in proportion, the number of people who were 76 00:04:31,000 --> 00:04:35,240 Speaker 1: escaping for bondage from bondage was a tiny, tiny fraction 77 00:04:35,320 --> 00:04:40,720 Speaker 1: of the actual total number of enslaved people. Due to 78 00:04:40,760 --> 00:04:44,680 Speaker 1: the growing discontent enslave states because of slaves running to 79 00:04:44,760 --> 00:04:48,920 Speaker 1: free states. In eighteen fifty, Congress once again passed legislation 80 00:04:49,320 --> 00:04:52,800 Speaker 1: in an effort to smooth things over and prevent Southern secession. 81 00:04:53,360 --> 00:04:56,719 Speaker 1: This included a revision to the Fugitive Slave Act. The 82 00:04:56,800 --> 00:05:00,120 Speaker 1: eighteen fifty update to this act made penalties much more 83 00:05:00,120 --> 00:05:04,279 Speaker 1: serious for anyone aiding or hiding escaped slaves. Instead of 84 00:05:04,320 --> 00:05:07,160 Speaker 1: that five hundred dollar fine, it was a thousand dollars 85 00:05:07,240 --> 00:05:10,719 Speaker 1: and there was also a six month jail sentence. Jury 86 00:05:10,800 --> 00:05:14,000 Speaker 1: trials for slaves were also eliminated with this law, and 87 00:05:14,040 --> 00:05:17,800 Speaker 1: federal commissioners were given the power to oversee individual cases. 88 00:05:18,800 --> 00:05:21,719 Speaker 1: On May twenty three of eighteen sixty one, so just 89 00:05:21,800 --> 00:05:25,760 Speaker 1: about six weeks after the US Civil War officially started. 90 00:05:25,760 --> 00:05:30,760 Speaker 1: On April twelfth, three escaped slaves managed to cross Virginia's 91 00:05:30,839 --> 00:05:33,520 Speaker 1: James River and make it to Fort Monroe. This is 92 00:05:33,560 --> 00:05:38,039 Speaker 1: a military post that was occupied by the Union. Those 93 00:05:38,080 --> 00:05:41,240 Speaker 1: three men, who were named Frank Baker, Shephard Malloy, and 94 00:05:41,360 --> 00:05:45,360 Speaker 1: James Townsend, had been forced into Confederate service by their owner, 95 00:05:45,560 --> 00:05:49,240 Speaker 1: working for the hundred and fifteenth Virginia Militia. Their primary 96 00:05:49,360 --> 00:05:52,600 Speaker 1: job was building an artillery emplacement across from Fort Monroe 97 00:05:52,720 --> 00:05:56,240 Speaker 1: at Sewell's Point, But when word reached them that their owner, 98 00:05:56,400 --> 00:05:59,880 Speaker 1: Charles Mallory, intended to next send them to North Carolina, 99 00:06:00,120 --> 00:06:02,640 Speaker 1: a move that would take them farther away from their homes, 100 00:06:03,240 --> 00:06:05,200 Speaker 1: the three men decided that they were going to risk 101 00:06:05,200 --> 00:06:07,920 Speaker 1: and escape by water in the dark of night and 102 00:06:07,960 --> 00:06:10,800 Speaker 1: face the unknown reception they would get at the with 103 00:06:10,839 --> 00:06:14,680 Speaker 1: the Union forces. When the men were brought before Major 104 00:06:14,760 --> 00:06:18,800 Speaker 1: General Benjamin Franklin Butler, who was not an especially kind 105 00:06:19,000 --> 00:06:23,000 Speaker 1: or delightful person, he questioned them on a number of points, 106 00:06:23,160 --> 00:06:26,719 Speaker 1: ranging from the identity of their master, to the reason 107 00:06:27,000 --> 00:06:29,280 Speaker 1: why they had fled, to the work that they had 108 00:06:29,320 --> 00:06:34,400 Speaker 1: been doing for the Confederates. After the interview, Butler considered 109 00:06:34,440 --> 00:06:36,760 Speaker 1: the situation, and keep in mind that these men who 110 00:06:36,800 --> 00:06:39,919 Speaker 1: had run and we're looking for help, we're kind of 111 00:06:39,960 --> 00:06:42,200 Speaker 1: sent away from this interview with no indication as to 112 00:06:42,279 --> 00:06:44,600 Speaker 1: what was going to happen to them next. But as 113 00:06:44,640 --> 00:06:48,080 Speaker 1: Butler ruminated, uh he considered the fact that by law, 114 00:06:48,240 --> 00:06:51,400 Speaker 1: slaves were supposed to be returned, but if he handed 115 00:06:51,440 --> 00:06:54,040 Speaker 1: these men back over to the enemy side, they would 116 00:06:54,040 --> 00:06:57,120 Speaker 1: be used to continue building the artillery emplacement that was 117 00:06:57,160 --> 00:07:00,960 Speaker 1: targeting his own fort and They had also given him 118 00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:05,320 Speaker 1: some military intelligence in the course of their interview. So 119 00:07:05,520 --> 00:07:09,960 Speaker 1: while Butler was not himself an abolitionist, he wasn't particularly 120 00:07:10,080 --> 00:07:13,680 Speaker 1: keen on sending Baker, Shephard, and Mallory back to the rebels. 121 00:07:14,240 --> 00:07:17,360 Speaker 1: In the meantime, an officer from the rebel camp, Major 122 00:07:17,440 --> 00:07:20,880 Speaker 1: John Baytop Carry, had arrived at the fort to collect 123 00:07:20,960 --> 00:07:26,400 Speaker 1: these three escaped men, and in this critical moment, General 124 00:07:26,400 --> 00:07:29,200 Speaker 1: Butler tapped into his knowledge of law. He had been 125 00:07:29,200 --> 00:07:33,440 Speaker 1: a practicing attorney UH for years before he found himself 126 00:07:33,480 --> 00:07:37,440 Speaker 1: at Fort Monroe, Virginia had succeeded less than a day 127 00:07:37,440 --> 00:07:40,600 Speaker 1: before the three fugitives were brought before him. So when 128 00:07:40,600 --> 00:07:43,120 Speaker 1: he met with Major Carry, he stated quite clearly that 129 00:07:43,200 --> 00:07:45,040 Speaker 1: he was not going to turn over the three men, 130 00:07:45,360 --> 00:07:47,720 Speaker 1: and he told the major quote, I am under no 131 00:07:47,880 --> 00:07:52,440 Speaker 1: constitutional obligations to a foreign country, which Virginia now claims 132 00:07:52,480 --> 00:07:55,200 Speaker 1: to be. I know, we already established that he's not 133 00:07:55,240 --> 00:07:57,800 Speaker 1: a particularly kind or delightful person, But when I was 134 00:07:57,880 --> 00:08:00,120 Speaker 1: reading this outline for the first time, I got at 135 00:08:00,120 --> 00:08:02,800 Speaker 1: that point and I was kind of like, yeah, well 136 00:08:02,840 --> 00:08:05,360 Speaker 1: and he there isn't There's more back and forth between 137 00:08:05,360 --> 00:08:07,160 Speaker 1: the two of them that you'll hear and it is 138 00:08:07,200 --> 00:08:09,440 Speaker 1: sort of a like, but you said we couldn't be 139 00:08:09,480 --> 00:08:12,320 Speaker 1: a foreign country. The Union isn't accepting our succession. And 140 00:08:12,320 --> 00:08:14,920 Speaker 1: he's like, but you're saying you're succeeding, and he does 141 00:08:15,000 --> 00:08:21,400 Speaker 1: sort of really turn on his law. Um, I got lawyered. Yeah. 142 00:08:21,560 --> 00:08:24,480 Speaker 1: So he was also operating under the military law that 143 00:08:24,560 --> 00:08:28,120 Speaker 1: a commander could seize property from his enemy if that 144 00:08:28,240 --> 00:08:31,560 Speaker 1: property was used with hostile intent. And because the men 145 00:08:31,640 --> 00:08:35,240 Speaker 1: had been building an artillery emplacement and we're considered property 146 00:08:35,280 --> 00:08:38,200 Speaker 1: by the Confederacy, he felt that he had full legal 147 00:08:38,240 --> 00:08:41,920 Speaker 1: grounds to keep them. Yes, So while he was maybe 148 00:08:41,920 --> 00:08:44,800 Speaker 1: not an abolitionist, he was really really happy to kind 149 00:08:44,840 --> 00:08:52,680 Speaker 1: of uh, turn these confederates own words against them and 150 00:08:52,760 --> 00:08:55,120 Speaker 1: kind of you know, sticking in the ribs with his 151 00:08:55,200 --> 00:08:58,200 Speaker 1: law knowledge. Uh. And while Butler did know that this 152 00:08:58,280 --> 00:09:01,200 Speaker 1: decision was going to carry some import in it, that 153 00:09:01,280 --> 00:09:03,160 Speaker 1: it was going to add a layer of complexity to 154 00:09:03,240 --> 00:09:06,200 Speaker 1: the war, what he might not have realized was just 155 00:09:06,440 --> 00:09:08,920 Speaker 1: exactly what he was catalyzing and how big it was 156 00:09:08,920 --> 00:09:12,640 Speaker 1: going to become. Two days later, eight more escaped slaves 157 00:09:12,760 --> 00:09:15,480 Speaker 1: arrived at Fort Monroe, and on the third day there 158 00:09:15,480 --> 00:09:18,520 Speaker 1: were forty seven more, and that was only the beginning. 159 00:09:19,200 --> 00:09:21,600 Speaker 1: As words spread, more slaves made their way to the 160 00:09:21,640 --> 00:09:24,400 Speaker 1: fort in the hopes of sanctuary, and their ranks became 161 00:09:24,440 --> 00:09:26,800 Speaker 1: more varied. At first it was just young men, but 162 00:09:26,920 --> 00:09:30,160 Speaker 1: soon it included women, children, and the elderly, and Fort 163 00:09:30,200 --> 00:09:34,280 Speaker 1: Monroe soon earned the nickname Freedom Fort. That decision on 164 00:09:34,320 --> 00:09:36,839 Speaker 1: the part of General Butler really set up a situation 165 00:09:36,960 --> 00:09:39,640 Speaker 1: that was kind of a conundrum for the government, and 166 00:09:39,640 --> 00:09:42,120 Speaker 1: we will talk about that after a pause for a 167 00:09:42,160 --> 00:09:52,719 Speaker 1: brief word from one of our wonderful sponsors, so to 168 00:09:52,760 --> 00:09:55,520 Speaker 1: get back to our story, asked for President Lincoln. He 169 00:09:55,720 --> 00:09:58,920 Speaker 1: was really not sure what to do about all these 170 00:09:59,120 --> 00:10:02,200 Speaker 1: unit of slave. He left the decision of how to 171 00:10:02,280 --> 00:10:05,480 Speaker 1: handle this growing number of refugees up to General Butler, 172 00:10:05,600 --> 00:10:08,360 Speaker 1: with the reminder that the military commander was at Fort 173 00:10:08,400 --> 00:10:12,640 Speaker 1: Monroe to fight the war, not to emancipate people. Some 174 00:10:12,720 --> 00:10:17,280 Speaker 1: bureaucratic suggestions were made by Cabinet Secretary Montgomery Blair, including 175 00:10:17,400 --> 00:10:19,480 Speaker 1: keeping the strong men to help at the fort and 176 00:10:19,559 --> 00:10:22,880 Speaker 1: letting the rest go. And one newspaper this case drew 177 00:10:22,960 --> 00:10:26,960 Speaker 1: media attention almost from the moment that it began, suggested 178 00:10:27,280 --> 00:10:30,280 Speaker 1: keeping the slaves until the end of the war and 179 00:10:30,320 --> 00:10:34,400 Speaker 1: then selling them back to their former owners at a 180 00:10:34,480 --> 00:10:38,840 Speaker 1: rate that would reimburse the union for their care. Yeah, 181 00:10:38,880 --> 00:10:43,160 Speaker 1: everybody kind of had an opinion on what to do, uh, 182 00:10:43,559 --> 00:10:46,800 Speaker 1: And some of them were abhorrent, some of them were horrifying. 183 00:10:47,640 --> 00:10:50,600 Speaker 1: By early June, though, the numbers of escaped slaves at 184 00:10:50,640 --> 00:10:53,920 Speaker 1: Fort Monroe numbered more than five hundred, and the word 185 00:10:54,000 --> 00:10:58,079 Speaker 1: contrabands was being used almost universally in the press and 186 00:10:58,160 --> 00:11:01,000 Speaker 1: in the military at the time to refer to them. 187 00:11:01,040 --> 00:11:03,480 Speaker 1: And as we've talked about, we've we've mentioned that word 188 00:11:03,520 --> 00:11:06,479 Speaker 1: many times as a reference to escape slaves on the podcast. 189 00:11:07,000 --> 00:11:09,360 Speaker 1: But there was a New York Times magazine article from 190 00:11:09,360 --> 00:11:12,080 Speaker 1: twenty eleven that I came across, written by Adam Goodhart, 191 00:11:12,080 --> 00:11:15,040 Speaker 1: and it beautifully explains why this word caught on so quickly. 192 00:11:15,640 --> 00:11:19,160 Speaker 1: And he says, quote, were these blacks people or property? 193 00:11:19,520 --> 00:11:24,040 Speaker 1: Free or slave? Such questions were as yet unanswerable, for 194 00:11:24,160 --> 00:11:26,920 Speaker 1: answering them would have raised a host of other questions 195 00:11:26,960 --> 00:11:31,160 Speaker 1: that few white Americans were ready to address. Contrabands let 196 00:11:31,200 --> 00:11:33,960 Speaker 1: the speaker or writer off the hook by letting the 197 00:11:34,120 --> 00:11:37,520 Speaker 1: escape ees beat all of those things at once. It 198 00:11:37,559 --> 00:11:41,240 Speaker 1: wasn't long before people were escaping and running to other 199 00:11:41,559 --> 00:11:45,559 Speaker 1: Union positions as well, and while some Union officers followed 200 00:11:45,559 --> 00:11:48,840 Speaker 1: Butler's lead, they didn't all do that. Particularly in the 201 00:11:48,880 --> 00:11:52,600 Speaker 1: border states, Enslaved people were often returned to their masters 202 00:11:52,679 --> 00:11:56,199 Speaker 1: by Union forces, but this didn't stop people from trying 203 00:11:56,240 --> 00:12:01,160 Speaker 1: to gain refuge at Union encampments. Finally, in an effort 204 00:12:01,240 --> 00:12:04,400 Speaker 1: to create some sort of consistency to how these things 205 00:12:04,400 --> 00:12:07,960 Speaker 1: were being handled, the Union issued the First Confiscation Act 206 00:12:08,040 --> 00:12:12,160 Speaker 1: on August six, eighteen sixty one, and this legislation declared 207 00:12:12,200 --> 00:12:14,640 Speaker 1: that the Union had the right to see slaves. That 208 00:12:14,679 --> 00:12:17,439 Speaker 1: was as part of a broader statement the Confederate property 209 00:12:17,440 --> 00:12:20,480 Speaker 1: of any kind could be taken by Union troops. It 210 00:12:20,559 --> 00:12:24,640 Speaker 1: also stated that slaveholders had no rights to ownership, but 211 00:12:24,760 --> 00:12:27,600 Speaker 1: the wording of this act was really problematic, and that 212 00:12:27,640 --> 00:12:29,959 Speaker 1: it did not make clear whether or not the slaves 213 00:12:30,000 --> 00:12:33,360 Speaker 1: themselves were then going to be free. The day after 214 00:12:33,400 --> 00:12:36,560 Speaker 1: the passing of the First Confiscation Act, which was August seven, 215 00:12:36,960 --> 00:12:40,520 Speaker 1: Confederate troops burned the town of Hampton, Virginia, which sat 216 00:12:40,559 --> 00:12:44,000 Speaker 1: across the water from Fort Monroe, after the white citizens 217 00:12:44,080 --> 00:12:48,040 Speaker 1: of the town evacuated. The Confederates didn't want Union troops 218 00:12:48,120 --> 00:12:50,800 Speaker 1: to seize Hampton for use as a winter quarters, for 219 00:12:50,840 --> 00:12:53,760 Speaker 1: one thing, but they were also really uneasy at the 220 00:12:53,840 --> 00:12:58,160 Speaker 1: growing numbers of enslaved people who were making their way 221 00:12:58,200 --> 00:13:03,120 Speaker 1: to the area in search for freedom, and so they 222 00:13:03,160 --> 00:13:07,640 Speaker 1: sort of created a unique opportunity because in the abandoned 223 00:13:07,640 --> 00:13:11,320 Speaker 1: areas adjacent to this burned city, the community of what 224 00:13:11,400 --> 00:13:14,960 Speaker 1: became known as the Grand Contraband Camp formed. And this 225 00:13:15,080 --> 00:13:17,440 Speaker 1: started as a community that was bound by the existing 226 00:13:17,559 --> 00:13:20,319 Speaker 1: roads of the area, but as it expanded and refined 227 00:13:20,360 --> 00:13:24,520 Speaker 1: its organizational structure, new streets were established, and all of 228 00:13:24,559 --> 00:13:28,479 Speaker 1: those were named for Union generals. But the First Confiscation 229 00:13:28,520 --> 00:13:32,040 Speaker 1: Act was only one of several pieces of legislation created 230 00:13:32,080 --> 00:13:36,480 Speaker 1: to organize a more unified plan for handling escaped slaves. 231 00:13:37,160 --> 00:13:40,520 Speaker 1: The Act Prohibiting the Return of Slaves was passed in 232 00:13:40,640 --> 00:13:44,360 Speaker 1: March eighteen sixty two, and with this act, Congress prevented 233 00:13:44,400 --> 00:13:48,920 Speaker 1: the military from sending fugitive slaves back into slavery. In 234 00:13:49,080 --> 00:13:53,240 Speaker 1: July eighteen sixty two, Congress passed the Second Confiscation Act, 235 00:13:53,320 --> 00:13:56,880 Speaker 1: and this act further clarified the Union position that any 236 00:13:57,080 --> 00:14:00,600 Speaker 1: slaves who sought refuge in Union areas would be considered 237 00:14:00,679 --> 00:14:04,360 Speaker 1: captives of war and would be freed. This is something 238 00:14:04,440 --> 00:14:08,360 Speaker 1: of a prelude to the Emancipation Proclamation. While it clearly 239 00:14:08,520 --> 00:14:11,640 Speaker 1: stated that slaves would be freed, it only applied to 240 00:14:11,720 --> 00:14:15,800 Speaker 1: people escaping who made their way to Union occupied areas. 241 00:14:17,040 --> 00:14:21,160 Speaker 1: And through all of this congressional maneuvering uh enslaved people 242 00:14:21,200 --> 00:14:25,440 Speaker 1: continued to seek asylum with Union forces, and eventually makeshift 243 00:14:25,520 --> 00:14:28,240 Speaker 1: camps were set up for them. In addition to it 244 00:14:28,280 --> 00:14:30,800 Speaker 1: wasn't just the Grand Contraband Camp. They were sort of 245 00:14:30,840 --> 00:14:33,560 Speaker 1: throwing together camps in a lot of different places, UH, 246 00:14:33,600 --> 00:14:36,480 Speaker 1: and they all came to be known as contraband camps. 247 00:14:36,920 --> 00:14:39,520 Speaker 1: And as news of each of these laws spread, the 248 00:14:39,600 --> 00:14:43,200 Speaker 1: numbers in those camps swelled, and they swelled again with 249 00:14:43,240 --> 00:14:47,440 Speaker 1: the announcement of the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation on September twenty, 250 00:14:47,800 --> 00:14:50,520 Speaker 1: eighteen sixty two, which stated that quote on the first 251 00:14:50,600 --> 00:14:54,360 Speaker 1: day of January, all persons held as slaves within any 252 00:14:54,360 --> 00:14:57,920 Speaker 1: state or designated part of a state, the people whereof 253 00:14:58,000 --> 00:15:01,200 Speaker 1: shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall 254 00:15:01,240 --> 00:15:06,080 Speaker 1: be then thenceforward and forever free. But it wasn't as 255 00:15:06,160 --> 00:15:09,240 Speaker 1: though any of the people that had already gone to 256 00:15:09,400 --> 00:15:12,320 Speaker 1: Union positions for help could then be told go away. 257 00:15:12,400 --> 00:15:16,400 Speaker 1: Until January one, this situation continued to grow and it 258 00:15:16,440 --> 00:15:21,000 Speaker 1: needed organization and order along the Mississippi Valley. Ulysses S. 259 00:15:21,040 --> 00:15:24,280 Speaker 1: Grant named a superintendent of contrabands, and that was John Eaton, 260 00:15:24,320 --> 00:15:28,240 Speaker 1: who was the chaplain of the Seven Ohio Infantry. Initially, 261 00:15:28,240 --> 00:15:31,440 Speaker 1: Eaton organized the refugees into groups and gave those who 262 00:15:31,440 --> 00:15:35,040 Speaker 1: were capable of working work to do. The union paid 263 00:15:35,080 --> 00:15:38,560 Speaker 1: twelve and a half cents for every picked pound of cotton. 264 00:15:39,240 --> 00:15:42,400 Speaker 1: Their clothing and board was deducted out of these earnings. 265 00:15:42,800 --> 00:15:46,560 Speaker 1: Other men were tapped for leadership positions and organizing contraband 266 00:15:46,600 --> 00:15:50,160 Speaker 1: camps throughout additional regions. For the most part, their work 267 00:15:50,200 --> 00:15:54,960 Speaker 1: followed a similar model. In addition to picking cotton, jobs 268 00:15:54,960 --> 00:15:58,600 Speaker 1: such as downing trees or clearing land and construction projects 269 00:15:58,600 --> 00:16:00,800 Speaker 1: were also assigned to the refuge he is capable of 270 00:16:00,840 --> 00:16:04,600 Speaker 1: and willing to do labor in the camp In Corinth Mississippi, 271 00:16:04,800 --> 00:16:07,480 Speaker 1: freedmen were tasked with the work that transition the camp 272 00:16:07,520 --> 00:16:10,680 Speaker 1: from a makeshift tent set up to an actual small 273 00:16:10,720 --> 00:16:15,400 Speaker 1: town with something of an infrastructure. There were eventually cabins, streets, 274 00:16:15,480 --> 00:16:18,760 Speaker 1: a school, a hospital, a church, and a commissary, and 275 00:16:18,800 --> 00:16:22,360 Speaker 1: it was all arranged into neighborhood wards and at its 276 00:16:22,360 --> 00:16:25,720 Speaker 1: most populated, the Corinth Camp was home to six thousand people. 277 00:16:26,440 --> 00:16:30,400 Speaker 1: As land was confiscated by the Union in areas around camps, 278 00:16:30,680 --> 00:16:33,440 Speaker 1: the task of farming that land also fell to the 279 00:16:33,440 --> 00:16:38,560 Speaker 1: camp residents. This enterprise was quite successful, eventually turning regular profits, 280 00:16:38,680 --> 00:16:42,040 Speaker 1: and the proceeds of that went to the government. But 281 00:16:42,160 --> 00:16:44,760 Speaker 1: in the case of the Corinth Camp, as successful as 282 00:16:44,800 --> 00:16:47,720 Speaker 1: it was, and in the research that I was doing, 283 00:16:47,760 --> 00:16:50,080 Speaker 1: it often gets referenced as like this example of like 284 00:16:50,160 --> 00:16:53,200 Speaker 1: a perfect execution of how to do this, but it 285 00:16:53,240 --> 00:16:57,560 Speaker 1: was still never considered a permanent solution. In the eight 286 00:16:56,760 --> 00:17:00,520 Speaker 1: sixty four winter, all of the camps res events were 287 00:17:00,560 --> 00:17:03,960 Speaker 1: moved to Memphis. The abandoned village was then just left 288 00:17:04,000 --> 00:17:07,200 Speaker 1: behind for Confederate forces to take over. So, while we've 289 00:17:07,240 --> 00:17:10,040 Speaker 1: been talking about Fort Monroe and Corinth, there were also 290 00:17:10,200 --> 00:17:14,800 Speaker 1: camps dotted throughout the occupied South. In North Carolina, for example, 291 00:17:14,880 --> 00:17:18,119 Speaker 1: there were more than seventeen thousand people living in contraband 292 00:17:18,160 --> 00:17:23,000 Speaker 1: camps by eighteen sixty four. And because overcrowding became a 293 00:17:23,080 --> 00:17:25,520 Speaker 1: very real problem in a lot of camps. The military 294 00:17:25,600 --> 00:17:29,280 Speaker 1: relocated some of these people to government farms, and when 295 00:17:29,320 --> 00:17:31,840 Speaker 1: black regiments were formed within the Union Army in the 296 00:17:31,880 --> 00:17:35,360 Speaker 1: second half of the Civil War, they recruited from contraband camps, 297 00:17:35,840 --> 00:17:38,960 Speaker 1: and in some cases men enlisted with the understanding that 298 00:17:39,040 --> 00:17:41,919 Speaker 1: in reciprocation, the Union Army was going to take care 299 00:17:41,960 --> 00:17:45,440 Speaker 1: of their families, though those agreements were not always honored. 300 00:17:46,520 --> 00:17:50,119 Speaker 1: And this brings us to another important element of contraband camps, 301 00:17:50,160 --> 00:17:52,520 Speaker 1: which is the incredibly poor treatment that many of the 302 00:17:52,560 --> 00:17:55,920 Speaker 1: people who lived there actually wound up receiving. We'll talk 303 00:17:55,960 --> 00:17:57,920 Speaker 1: about that in just a moment, but first we will 304 00:17:57,920 --> 00:18:00,320 Speaker 1: take a quick break for a word from us offer. 305 00:18:08,040 --> 00:18:12,000 Speaker 1: We've spoken pretty often on our show about how racism 306 00:18:12,040 --> 00:18:14,879 Speaker 1: and contradictions to how it's often depicted as not just 307 00:18:14,960 --> 00:18:18,280 Speaker 1: a Southern problem, and this was certainly the case in 308 00:18:18,320 --> 00:18:22,560 Speaker 1: regard to these contraband camps. Union soldiers were often opposed 309 00:18:22,600 --> 00:18:26,360 Speaker 1: to having camps filled with escaped slaves adjacent to their 310 00:18:26,400 --> 00:18:29,600 Speaker 1: own camps, even as many of the people living there 311 00:18:29,800 --> 00:18:33,399 Speaker 1: were working and contributing to the war effort. And this 312 00:18:33,560 --> 00:18:36,720 Speaker 1: of course was not an issue exclusive to the military either. 313 00:18:37,440 --> 00:18:40,440 Speaker 1: When black refugees made their way out of Confederate territory 314 00:18:40,640 --> 00:18:43,440 Speaker 1: into places such as Washington, d c. They were not 315 00:18:43,480 --> 00:18:47,520 Speaker 1: necessarily greeted with open arms. White Northerners could be very 316 00:18:47,600 --> 00:18:50,680 Speaker 1: vocal about their disdain for the refugees, so in some 317 00:18:50,720 --> 00:18:54,600 Speaker 1: cases the military actually intervened to move these people into 318 00:18:54,640 --> 00:18:58,080 Speaker 1: contraband camps. That meant that people who had fought so 319 00:18:58,160 --> 00:19:02,040 Speaker 1: hard to get to freedom found them elves, relocated to camps, 320 00:19:02,080 --> 00:19:05,600 Speaker 1: sometimes back in Union occupied areas of the very states 321 00:19:05,640 --> 00:19:09,880 Speaker 1: that they had fled, and often in very poor conditions. 322 00:19:09,920 --> 00:19:12,560 Speaker 1: For one thing, many of the services that were set 323 00:19:12,640 --> 00:19:15,399 Speaker 1: up in camps were predicated on the idea that the 324 00:19:15,440 --> 00:19:20,400 Speaker 1: people living there were lazy and shiftless and even untrustworthy. 325 00:19:20,440 --> 00:19:23,480 Speaker 1: A lot of the education was designed to teach escaped 326 00:19:23,520 --> 00:19:26,679 Speaker 1: slaves how to be more like white people, and it 327 00:19:26,720 --> 00:19:31,879 Speaker 1: addressed people as though they were simpletons. Additionally, the wages 328 00:19:31,960 --> 00:19:34,040 Speaker 1: that were being paid for the work that the refugees 329 00:19:34,119 --> 00:19:38,560 Speaker 1: was doing was incredibly low. But there was a much 330 00:19:38,600 --> 00:19:42,760 Speaker 1: more pressing issue at many of the camps. As numbers 331 00:19:42,800 --> 00:19:46,360 Speaker 1: grew and the Union continued to shovel people around, it 332 00:19:46,400 --> 00:19:49,960 Speaker 1: was hard for the basic necessities of shelter, food, clothing, 333 00:19:50,000 --> 00:19:52,399 Speaker 1: and medical care to be met for many of the 334 00:19:52,440 --> 00:19:56,440 Speaker 1: camp residents. In some camps, people literally starved to death 335 00:19:56,560 --> 00:19:59,640 Speaker 1: or became ill and died simply because they couldn't get treatment. 336 00:20:00,200 --> 00:20:03,760 Speaker 1: We know that the military suffered incredible losses due to 337 00:20:03,800 --> 00:20:07,399 Speaker 1: illness such as malaria and smallpox during this time as well, 338 00:20:07,480 --> 00:20:10,080 Speaker 1: so it makes sense that the same illnesses were hitting 339 00:20:10,080 --> 00:20:14,600 Speaker 1: the camps that were growing right alongside the Union Army. Often, 340 00:20:14,720 --> 00:20:18,399 Speaker 1: contraband camp residents who pleaded with military officials for help 341 00:20:18,440 --> 00:20:21,480 Speaker 1: we're seen as nuisances, even though they were simply trying 342 00:20:21,480 --> 00:20:25,040 Speaker 1: to secure basic survival needs for themselves and their families. 343 00:20:26,160 --> 00:20:30,280 Speaker 1: The Emancipation Proclamation was issued on January one of eighteen 344 00:20:30,320 --> 00:20:34,359 Speaker 1: sixty three, freeing all slaves in the rebelling States. And 345 00:20:34,359 --> 00:20:37,000 Speaker 1: while this was an important moment, as we mentioned at 346 00:20:37,000 --> 00:20:39,560 Speaker 1: the beginning of this episode, it's not as though suddenly 347 00:20:39,640 --> 00:20:43,159 Speaker 1: everything was super great for former slaves. Aside from the 348 00:20:43,160 --> 00:20:45,920 Speaker 1: fact that the war was still going on, health issues 349 00:20:46,000 --> 00:20:50,000 Speaker 1: remained a significant and pressing problem. Yeah, and then that 350 00:20:50,960 --> 00:20:54,200 Speaker 1: a lot of places that was not honored either. So 351 00:20:54,320 --> 00:20:58,479 Speaker 1: between eighteen sixty three and eighteen sixty six, sixty thousand 352 00:20:58,560 --> 00:21:02,760 Speaker 1: freed slaves died of smallpox. An estimated total of one 353 00:21:02,920 --> 00:21:06,600 Speaker 1: million of the four million freed slaves became sick, and 354 00:21:06,680 --> 00:21:10,360 Speaker 1: many of them died from their illnesses, and that data 355 00:21:10,520 --> 00:21:13,520 Speaker 1: was framed for a really long time as being the 356 00:21:13,520 --> 00:21:18,400 Speaker 1: result of an inherent lack of hygiene among the newly freed. Unfortunately, 357 00:21:18,440 --> 00:21:21,760 Speaker 1: that false information was allowed to propagate for a great 358 00:21:21,800 --> 00:21:25,639 Speaker 1: length of time due to some incredibly bigoted attitudes, including 359 00:21:25,840 --> 00:21:28,680 Speaker 1: some people who felt that this high mortality rate somehow 360 00:21:28,800 --> 00:21:33,920 Speaker 1: proved that black people couldn't survive outside the construct of slavery, 361 00:21:34,040 --> 00:21:36,880 Speaker 1: and things were so bad that there was a popular 362 00:21:37,000 --> 00:21:39,919 Speaker 1: and super racist theory that the black race in the 363 00:21:40,040 --> 00:21:42,840 Speaker 1: US was going to go extinct because it simply couldn't 364 00:21:42,880 --> 00:21:47,000 Speaker 1: handle freedom. But in fact, the lack of resources and 365 00:21:47,040 --> 00:21:51,320 Speaker 1: a lack of treatment options led to out outright neglect 366 00:21:51,440 --> 00:21:54,280 Speaker 1: when it came to dealing with the illnesses that became 367 00:21:54,359 --> 00:21:58,600 Speaker 1: so common amongst freed people. Many of them were still 368 00:21:58,640 --> 00:22:02,800 Speaker 1: in contraband camps and the environments were overcrowded, The available 369 00:22:02,800 --> 00:22:05,679 Speaker 1: options for care available to white people dealing with the 370 00:22:05,720 --> 00:22:09,560 Speaker 1: same illnesses were mostly closed off to black people, and 371 00:22:10,000 --> 00:22:14,640 Speaker 1: the military had really become stretched beyond its limits. Yeah, 372 00:22:14,680 --> 00:22:17,679 Speaker 1: we spoke earlier of there being some infrastructure in the 373 00:22:17,720 --> 00:22:20,439 Speaker 1: lives of escaped slaves, but I'm going to backtrack on 374 00:22:20,480 --> 00:22:22,920 Speaker 1: that a little bit. Sort of. There was to some 375 00:22:22,960 --> 00:22:26,240 Speaker 1: degree a sort of community infrastructure to some of these camps, 376 00:22:26,280 --> 00:22:30,280 Speaker 1: in terms of well organized neighborhoods and social systems, but 377 00:22:30,400 --> 00:22:33,320 Speaker 1: there was not at all an infrastructure that enabled the 378 00:22:33,400 --> 00:22:37,240 Speaker 1: government to provide for the scores of sick and injured 379 00:22:37,280 --> 00:22:41,159 Speaker 1: people in the military, let alone support the large numbers 380 00:22:41,160 --> 00:22:44,200 Speaker 1: of newly freed people who were going through this massive 381 00:22:44,240 --> 00:22:48,680 Speaker 1: sea change and needed assistance to get through that transition. Unfortunately, 382 00:22:48,760 --> 00:22:52,080 Speaker 1: emancipation created a situation that the United States government was 383 00:22:52,160 --> 00:22:56,840 Speaker 1: just not prepared to deal with. There were serious challenges 384 00:22:56,960 --> 00:23:00,000 Speaker 1: to the freedmen who found themselves suddenly outside the structure 385 00:23:00,080 --> 00:23:04,080 Speaker 1: or of their slavery bound lives. The shortages of food, clothing, 386 00:23:04,080 --> 00:23:07,560 Speaker 1: and shelter for newly emancipated people continued to be a 387 00:23:07,680 --> 00:23:12,080 Speaker 1: serious problem and a grave one. Survival was a struggle 388 00:23:12,200 --> 00:23:16,280 Speaker 1: in the best of circumstances. Even after emancipation, there were 389 00:23:16,320 --> 00:23:20,159 Speaker 1: still people being moved into contraband camps. There just weren't 390 00:23:20,280 --> 00:23:24,320 Speaker 1: enough options or places for emancipated slaves to go, But 391 00:23:24,400 --> 00:23:27,719 Speaker 1: there were also freedmen who were diligent in avoiding the 392 00:23:27,760 --> 00:23:31,640 Speaker 1: camps as their reputations for their high mortality rates really 393 00:23:31,640 --> 00:23:35,399 Speaker 1: started to spread. So as a sort of stop gap, 394 00:23:35,720 --> 00:23:39,080 Speaker 1: an Act of Congress created the U. S. Bureau of Refugees, 395 00:23:39,160 --> 00:23:43,359 Speaker 1: Freedmen and Abandoned Lands, more commonly known as the Freedman's Bureau, 396 00:23:43,520 --> 00:23:46,320 Speaker 1: and they created it on March third of eighteen sixty five. 397 00:23:47,000 --> 00:23:49,720 Speaker 1: That was a little less than two months after the 398 00:23:49,760 --> 00:23:54,000 Speaker 1: thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution formally abolished slavery, and two 399 00:23:54,040 --> 00:23:58,600 Speaker 1: months before generally officially surrendered and ended the war. The 400 00:23:58,720 --> 00:24:01,280 Speaker 1: Bureau was part of a War department, and it was 401 00:24:01,320 --> 00:24:05,080 Speaker 1: intended to last until the war ended, plus one additional 402 00:24:05,160 --> 00:24:08,399 Speaker 1: year to provide the support and services to freed slave 403 00:24:08,520 --> 00:24:11,200 Speaker 1: that it had been so lacking up until that point. 404 00:24:11,240 --> 00:24:14,320 Speaker 1: But this was really not a magic fix. The country 405 00:24:14,359 --> 00:24:17,720 Speaker 1: had never had to create a welfare program before and 406 00:24:17,800 --> 00:24:20,920 Speaker 1: had never had to provide for a large number of refugees, 407 00:24:20,960 --> 00:24:22,840 Speaker 1: so there was a bit of guess work going on 408 00:24:22,960 --> 00:24:26,800 Speaker 1: in all of this, and of course there were plenty 409 00:24:26,840 --> 00:24:30,840 Speaker 1: of people completely opposed to the Freedman's Bureau. Even after 410 00:24:30,880 --> 00:24:33,600 Speaker 1: the war ended. Many Southern states were against it, and 411 00:24:33,720 --> 00:24:37,879 Speaker 1: President Andrew Johnson, who you will recall took office after 412 00:24:37,920 --> 00:24:41,920 Speaker 1: Lincoln was shot, vetoed and extension of the bureau's life 413 00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:46,280 Speaker 1: and powers. In eighteen sixty six. Congress overrode that veto, 414 00:24:46,359 --> 00:24:49,320 Speaker 1: but internal debate still raged over how to structure aid 415 00:24:49,359 --> 00:24:53,400 Speaker 1: and assistance provided by the organization. The Freedman's Bureau did 416 00:24:53,480 --> 00:24:56,080 Speaker 1: do a lot of good work. It built hospitals and 417 00:24:56,119 --> 00:24:59,800 Speaker 1: provided medical aid. It helped former slaves with legal issues, 418 00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:03,400 Speaker 1: including establishing marriages in the legal record, which as we've 419 00:25:03,440 --> 00:25:06,960 Speaker 1: mentioned in past episodes, didn't really exist before. That helped 420 00:25:07,040 --> 00:25:10,960 Speaker 1: family members find each other. You can actually find digitized 421 00:25:11,000 --> 00:25:13,800 Speaker 1: copies of Freedman's Bureau records of people trying to find 422 00:25:13,840 --> 00:25:17,159 Speaker 1: their family members who had been held elsewhere in bondage. 423 00:25:17,560 --> 00:25:21,000 Speaker 1: And it advocated for black workers and labor disputes disputes, 424 00:25:21,119 --> 00:25:25,720 Speaker 1: and set up educational institutions. But as much as it 425 00:25:26,040 --> 00:25:27,919 Speaker 1: was trying to do all these things as well as 426 00:25:28,000 --> 00:25:31,080 Speaker 1: it could, it was woefully underfunded and there was never 427 00:25:31,240 --> 00:25:34,439 Speaker 1: enough staff to meet its goals. The most agents as 428 00:25:34,440 --> 00:25:36,879 Speaker 1: they were called, which were basically sort of akin to 429 00:25:36,920 --> 00:25:40,440 Speaker 1: social workers, that the Freedman's Bureau, ever had at one 430 00:25:40,480 --> 00:25:43,639 Speaker 1: time was nine hundred, and that was nine hundred people 431 00:25:43,720 --> 00:25:47,359 Speaker 1: to assist the approximately four million people who had been freed. 432 00:25:48,080 --> 00:25:50,159 Speaker 1: Takes very little math knowledge to know that that is 433 00:25:50,160 --> 00:25:54,720 Speaker 1: an overwhelming disparity of numbers, and those agents that were 434 00:25:54,720 --> 00:25:57,320 Speaker 1: doing that work we're working during reconstruction, when there was 435 00:25:57,359 --> 00:26:00,720 Speaker 1: still a lot of bitterness and roadblocking of their efforts. 436 00:26:01,520 --> 00:26:04,800 Speaker 1: The Bureau was finally shut down in eighteen seventy two. 437 00:26:05,680 --> 00:26:08,560 Speaker 1: After the war ended, Many of the contraband camps that 438 00:26:08,600 --> 00:26:13,320 Speaker 1: weren't dismantled slowly transitioned into basically a black neighborhood, even 439 00:26:13,359 --> 00:26:18,119 Speaker 1: as white residents moved into the area. The Grand Contraband 440 00:26:18,160 --> 00:26:20,720 Speaker 1: Camp in Hampton, Virginia that we talked about earlier was 441 00:26:20,760 --> 00:26:23,439 Speaker 1: one of those, and it turned out that the person 442 00:26:23,520 --> 00:26:26,720 Speaker 1: who had owned the land where the camp began, Jefferson 443 00:26:26,760 --> 00:26:30,399 Speaker 1: Bonaparte Sinclair, went bankrupt, and this opened the door for 444 00:26:30,480 --> 00:26:32,240 Speaker 1: some of the people who had settled there in the 445 00:26:32,320 --> 00:26:35,520 Speaker 1: camp to purchase their homes after the court divided the 446 00:26:35,600 --> 00:26:38,719 Speaker 1: land into parcels. These are some of the first instances 447 00:26:38,800 --> 00:26:42,520 Speaker 1: of freed people buying property on record, and the Hampton 448 00:26:42,600 --> 00:26:45,639 Speaker 1: Camp continues to be a place of interest. Beginning in 449 00:26:45,680 --> 00:26:49,399 Speaker 1: two and archaeological investigation of the site of the Grand 450 00:26:49,440 --> 00:26:52,600 Speaker 1: Contraband Camp started. The site had been built over, but 451 00:26:53,200 --> 00:26:55,320 Speaker 1: the apartment building that had been standing on the main 452 00:26:55,400 --> 00:26:58,679 Speaker 1: site was demolished and the James River Institute of Archaeology 453 00:26:58,760 --> 00:27:01,280 Speaker 1: started excavating the air. It's try to learn more about 454 00:27:01,280 --> 00:27:04,240 Speaker 1: the lives of the people who had lived in the camp. Yeah, 455 00:27:04,240 --> 00:27:07,840 Speaker 1: there's an excellent article in Archaeology Magazine online where they 456 00:27:07,840 --> 00:27:09,840 Speaker 1: talk about some of their early findings, and that will 457 00:27:09,880 --> 00:27:13,240 Speaker 1: be in our show notes. But the legacy of health discrimination, 458 00:27:13,359 --> 00:27:16,960 Speaker 1: which has has its roots during this tumultuous and pivotal 459 00:27:16,960 --> 00:27:20,639 Speaker 1: time in US history, continues to be discussed by historians 460 00:27:20,680 --> 00:27:24,280 Speaker 1: and social workers alike. Uh. If you're interested in exploring 461 00:27:24,280 --> 00:27:26,920 Speaker 1: that issue in far more depth, I highly recommend the 462 00:27:26,960 --> 00:27:30,080 Speaker 1: book Sick from Freedom by Jim Downs. It is not 463 00:27:30,160 --> 00:27:31,960 Speaker 1: an easy read. There are a lot of very difficult 464 00:27:31,960 --> 00:27:36,600 Speaker 1: stories to discover in that book, but it's really eye opening. 465 00:27:36,960 --> 00:27:39,280 Speaker 1: It's an incredible exploration of the suffering that went on 466 00:27:39,320 --> 00:27:42,040 Speaker 1: in many Contraband camps, and it's important for people to 467 00:27:42,119 --> 00:27:44,639 Speaker 1: know this stuff was happening. So I highly recommend it. 468 00:27:44,880 --> 00:27:46,800 Speaker 1: There's also, again it will be in our show notes, 469 00:27:46,840 --> 00:27:48,879 Speaker 1: an excellent lecture that he gave at the U. S. 470 00:27:48,960 --> 00:27:52,280 Speaker 1: National Archives a couple of years ago where he talks 471 00:27:52,280 --> 00:27:55,040 Speaker 1: about both some of these issues. It's only an hour 472 00:27:55,119 --> 00:27:57,480 Speaker 1: long lecture, so he doesn't go into all of the details, 473 00:27:57,480 --> 00:27:59,359 Speaker 1: but he talks not only about some of these issues, 474 00:27:59,359 --> 00:28:04,840 Speaker 1: but the way that information has been bent and reframed 475 00:28:05,000 --> 00:28:09,359 Speaker 1: and perceived by various special interesting groups along the way, 476 00:28:09,480 --> 00:28:12,639 Speaker 1: and some people using this this sort of information for 477 00:28:12,680 --> 00:28:16,960 Speaker 1: their own ends that is gross and racist, uh, as 478 00:28:16,960 --> 00:28:20,720 Speaker 1: well as people not always wanting to acknowledge how bad 479 00:28:20,800 --> 00:28:22,560 Speaker 1: some of this went because it makes it seem like 480 00:28:22,600 --> 00:28:25,720 Speaker 1: emancipation was a bad thing, which it obviously was not, 481 00:28:25,800 --> 00:28:28,879 Speaker 1: but it was a challenging thing. So uh, that's the 482 00:28:28,920 --> 00:28:32,399 Speaker 1: scoop on contraband camps. Thank you so much, Carsa for 483 00:28:32,400 --> 00:28:35,199 Speaker 1: suggesting it. It had kind of been lurking for a 484 00:28:35,200 --> 00:28:37,320 Speaker 1: while on my list and I think on Tracy's list 485 00:28:37,359 --> 00:28:40,280 Speaker 1: as well, Uh, and it just seemed like time to 486 00:28:40,320 --> 00:28:44,040 Speaker 1: tackle it finally. So do you also also have some 487 00:28:44,120 --> 00:28:46,800 Speaker 1: listener mail. I do. And it's not depressing at all, 488 00:28:47,680 --> 00:28:49,520 Speaker 1: which is not to say that depressing is bad. That's 489 00:28:49,560 --> 00:28:53,200 Speaker 1: important stuff. But I have two pieces of postcard mail. 490 00:28:53,280 --> 00:28:55,480 Speaker 1: I'm gonna keep it short since that episode ran a 491 00:28:55,520 --> 00:28:59,000 Speaker 1: little bit long. The first one is from our listener Hayden. 492 00:28:59,680 --> 00:29:02,360 Speaker 1: And Hayden went to New York City on a birthday 493 00:29:02,360 --> 00:29:05,480 Speaker 1: trip and went to the Tenement Museum. One of the 494 00:29:05,480 --> 00:29:07,880 Speaker 1: things that's mentioned is finally a historic home that tells 495 00:29:07,880 --> 00:29:09,840 Speaker 1: the tale of the working class and not just the 496 00:29:09,880 --> 00:29:12,880 Speaker 1: wealthy elite. Uh. And so thank you so much Hayden 497 00:29:12,960 --> 00:29:15,680 Speaker 1: for thinking of us and sending us that The Tenement Museum. 498 00:29:15,720 --> 00:29:17,760 Speaker 1: You know, we love it. It is awesome. The people 499 00:29:17,760 --> 00:29:20,200 Speaker 1: that work there are incredible. Uh. And the second one 500 00:29:20,280 --> 00:29:24,200 Speaker 1: is from our listener Lindsay and she uh went to 501 00:29:24,240 --> 00:29:27,960 Speaker 1: the South Street Support Museum UH and got us a 502 00:29:28,000 --> 00:29:30,720 Speaker 1: trade card by the Singer Sewing Machine Company, which is 503 00:29:30,760 --> 00:29:34,680 Speaker 1: kind of this wonderful combination postcard where it shows the 504 00:29:34,680 --> 00:29:38,760 Speaker 1: great suspension bit Bridge connecting New York in Brooklyn, but 505 00:29:38,800 --> 00:29:41,680 Speaker 1: then it also has have you a Singer sewing machine 506 00:29:41,720 --> 00:29:44,760 Speaker 1: on it. It's a kind of weird uh double bill 507 00:29:44,800 --> 00:29:46,440 Speaker 1: for a postcard, but I love it, so thank you 508 00:29:46,520 --> 00:29:49,080 Speaker 1: very very much. If you would like to write to us, 509 00:29:49,080 --> 00:29:51,120 Speaker 1: you can do so at History podcast at how stuff 510 00:29:51,120 --> 00:29:53,520 Speaker 1: works dot com. You can reach out to us at 511 00:29:53,560 --> 00:29:56,560 Speaker 1: Facebook dot com slash mist in History, on Twitter at 512 00:29:56,600 --> 00:29:59,400 Speaker 1: mist in History, at pinterest dot com, slash mist in 513 00:29:59,520 --> 00:30:02,320 Speaker 1: history at missed in History dot tumbler dot com, and 514 00:30:02,400 --> 00:30:05,680 Speaker 1: on Instagram at missed in History. If you would like 515 00:30:05,720 --> 00:30:08,480 Speaker 1: to research a little bit more about what we talked 516 00:30:08,480 --> 00:30:10,400 Speaker 1: about today, or almost anything else, you go to our 517 00:30:10,400 --> 00:30:13,040 Speaker 1: parents site, how stuff works dot com, type in something 518 00:30:13,080 --> 00:30:15,600 Speaker 1: in the search bar and come up with just an 519 00:30:15,800 --> 00:30:19,440 Speaker 1: array of amazing answers anytime you do a search. You 520 00:30:19,480 --> 00:30:21,880 Speaker 1: can also visit us at missed in history dot com, 521 00:30:21,920 --> 00:30:24,480 Speaker 1: where you'll see the back catalog of every episode of 522 00:30:24,480 --> 00:30:27,800 Speaker 1: the podcast that has ever happened, including hosts way way 523 00:30:27,840 --> 00:30:30,720 Speaker 1: way before Tracy and I were on the show, and 524 00:30:30,760 --> 00:30:32,760 Speaker 1: we have show notes for any of the episodes since 525 00:30:32,840 --> 00:30:35,160 Speaker 1: the Tracy and Holly era of stuff you missed in 526 00:30:35,200 --> 00:30:37,600 Speaker 1: History class, as well as occasional other goodies. So please 527 00:30:37,640 --> 00:30:40,280 Speaker 1: come and visit us online at how stuff works dot 528 00:30:40,280 --> 00:30:47,400 Speaker 1: com and missed in History dot com for more on 529 00:30:47,440 --> 00:30:50,080 Speaker 1: this and thousands of other topics. Does it has to work? 530 00:30:50,120 --> 00:30:50,320 Speaker 1: Start