Army orders kept freedmen working on plantations. Most commentators of the day actually supported the idea of yearlong contracts for agricultural work.
The Freedmen's Bureau - reports compiled at the National Archives
KEPORT OF CAEL SCHURZ ON THE STATES OF SOUTH CAROLINA, GEORGIA, ALABAMA, MISSISSIPPI, AND LOUISIANA.
Free to work : labor law, emancipation, and reconstruction, 1815-1880 / James D. Schmidt
Benjamin F. Jonas, The Reconstruction Period in Louisiana, from 1895-1877, 1 S. L. REV. 739 (1902).
Many will find the views in this address to be repugnant. It is included to show the strong opposition that freedmen faced when trying to assert their rights.
