Jourdon Anderson's letter

After the reconstruction, slavery was not permitted. The 13th Amendment ended slavery, meaning that people who owned slaves had to let them be free and live their lives without repercussions. A former slave owner reached out to his former slave

inquiring about a job opportunity. 

His Reply

In “Jourdon Anderson Writes His Former Enslaver” (1865) Jourdan Anderson received a letter from the person who owned him and his family before the Reconstruction. The letter was an offer to have Jourdon and his family come back to work for him. Mr. Anderson wrote a letter back to his former owner, thanking him for the offer. In the letter there were also details of The Anderson family’s success. Jourdan Anderson described his happiness as “I am doing tolerably well here.” Jourdan Anderson then describes what his family is currently doing. After the reconstruction, they were able to get jobs at a hospital, and their children were able to attend school. 

Humble Response

Throughout the letter Jourdon Anderson did not show any bitterness or disgust, but he showed kindness and forgiveness. Anderson states that he still cared about his former owner by saying this in the letter, “Although you shot at me twice before I left you, I did not want to hear of your being hurt, and am glad you are still living”. Even though he was a slave to a person who wanted to kill him, he still showed his worry for him. Jourdon Anderson also asked his former owner to pay him and his wife for all of the years that they worked as his property to prove that their former owner was a man of his word to treat the former slave family correctly. Even though Jourdon Anderson cared for his former owner, he was still skeptical about what could go wrong with accepting the job opportunity, “Mandy says she would be afraid to go back without some proof that you were disposed to treat us justly and kindly”. This showed that even with the 13th Amendment in place, slaves were still bound to be discriminated against and treated unjust.