OCTOBER 22 "KEEPING YOUR WORD"
Booker T. Washington describes meeting an ex-slave
from Virginia in his book Up From Slavery : "I found that this
man had made a contract with his master, two or three years previous to the
Emancipation Proclamation, to the effect that the slave was to be permitted to
buy himself, by paying so much per year for his body; and while he was paying
for himself, he was to be permitted to labor where and for whom he pleased.
"Finding that he could secure better wages in Ohio , he went there.
When freedom came, he was still in debt to his master some three hundred
dollars. Notwithstanding that the Emancipation Proclamation freed him from any
obligation to his master, this black man walked the greater portion of the
distance back to where his old master lived in Virginia , and placed the last dollar, with
interest, in his hands.
In talking to me about this, the man told me that he
knew that he did not have to pay his debt, but that he had given his word to
his master, and his word he had never broken. He felt that he could not enjoy
his freedom till he had fulfilled his promise."
Comments
Post a Comment