

To My Old Master (1865) - jkuria
http://www.lettersofnote.com/2012/01/to-my-old-master.html

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gruseom
The article is a little wrong to link to the Emancipation Proclamation,
because Lincoln specifically exempted Tennessee from that. According to the
easiest links to dig up on Google [1,2], Tennessee was the only state to free
its slaves by popular vote and didn't do so until February 1865, less than six
months before Jourdon dictated his letter and certainly well after he had left
the farm, since the letter makes clear that was 1864 at the latest. That
explains why Anderson (the master) shot at him when he was leaving: he hadn't
actually been emancipated yet. What it doesn't explain is how he got his "free
papers" in Nashville in 1864. Since Nashville was obviously in Tennessee too,
why would he have been any more emancipated there? My bet is it had something
to do with joining or supporting the war effort. Tennessee was under Union
control.

Another thing I didn't know: the Governor of Tennessee at the time was Andrew
Johnson, who became president after Lincoln was killed.

1\. <http://www.tnhistoryforkids.org/stories/emancipation> — this web page
says it's "for kids"; one wishes all web pages were so informative.

2\. <http://www.afrigeneas.com/states/tn/>

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jkuria
I thought he actually wrote the letter and was impressed how well written it
was for someone who had no formal education.

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ekianjo
It was dictated, so not written alone, obviously.

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gruseom
This one is also worth reading. In fact, it's hard to forget.

<http://www.lettersofnote.com/2012/11/wretched-woman.html>

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blux
Great, great read.

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hcarvalhoalves
Priceless. He was such a gentleman on the letter.

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RobotCaleb
Was there ever a response?

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RobotCaleb
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan_Anderson#Aftermath>

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talmir
Wow, the relatives are still angry he didnt come back. What the heck is wrong
with those people? :O

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lsb
He asks for almost $12000, in a lump sum, with interest added, in 1865
dollars, which is roughly $200k in 2013 dollars.

As a lump sum.

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jfb
In recompense for 32 years of chattel slavery, any dollar amount would be a
laughable pittance.

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svachalek
Actually, 52 years since he is including 20 years for his wife as well. Comes
out to $3846/person/yr in today's dollars if the above calculation is correct,
which is _considerably_ lower than what I'd sell myself into slavery for.

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etrain
But, and this is where it gets really messed up - $4k/person/year is
significantly more than current global median income. Last I checked (around
2007), this is about $850/year. (Yeah, if you're reading this website, you are
insanely lucky).

Of course, this doesn't take into account things like income disparity between
countries and so on - that is, median income in Bangladesh is very different
than the US today, but this was Antebellum south, at a time when America was
still a developing country.

All this to say - maybe $4k/year was a "fair price."

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yen223
I'm from a developing third-world country. $4k/year is our minimum wage. It's
hardly a fair price for 32 years of service.

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KorvinSzanto
Why is this on hackernews?

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nmridul
Because it teaches you how not to treat your workers.

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jfb
I think that any comparisons between wage labor and slavery are simply
category errors.

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elemenohpee
Ok, many people think otherwise and have written at length about it.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wage_slavery> You can't simply label something a
category error and call it a day.

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jfb
"I think". That many people think that there is a fruitful analogy to be drawn
between chattel slavery and wage labor has _no bearing_ on whether I think
it's a sensible comparison to draw.

