Two court documents dated 1870 from Madison County, Tennessee that detail the apprenticeship of a three-year-old African American girl named Jane Malone, and a 14-year-old African American girl named Rebecca, to a man named B.J. Malone. We suspect from their shared surname that the girls’ family was enslaved by B.J. Malone prior to the passage of the 13th amendment,

One court document states that B.J. Malone must instruct Jane Malone in the “duties of house-work” until she is 18. It further stipulates that B.J. must teach her to read and write, provide for her, treat her with humanity, and at the end of her apprenticeship, present her with “one good holiday suit” and $50. The other document details a bond that B.J. must pay that will be returned to him after the apprenticeship of Rebecca is terminated.

Both documents are affixed with revenue stamps. Interesting insight into what became of formerly enslaved people after emancipation.  


[Abraham Lincoln] [Civil War, Union, Confederate] [Abolitionist, Abolition, Slave, Slavery, Emancipation Proclamation, Abraham Lincoln]