John Cocke (1805-1885), a plantation owner in Marengo, Greene, and Sumter Counties, Alabama, relied on enslaved labor. After the war, many workers stayed on as hired help under a labor contract. This group of documents provides a general picture of the transition from enslavement to paid labor based on the example of one such worker, Manerva Cocke.

Manerva was thought to be about 38 years old in 1863, putting her birth year at around 1825. Her receipts often include payment for her daughter Harriet's labor as well, indicating Harriet was a minor. (She is, for example, listed in the post-war labor contract alongside her mother but was not a signatory to it.) 

In 1850, according to the U.S. Federal Census Slave Schedule, John Cocke owned 53 people, 30 male and 23 female. Their ages ranged from 1 to 57, but more than half were under the age of 18. The number of enslaved people owned by John Cocke had risen to 82 in 1860,  evenly divided in terms of gender. They were aged 1 to 66, and exactly half were under the age of 18. 

According to the Selected Federal Census Non-Population Schedule for 1860, John Cocke owned 1200 acres of land valued at $6000. The farm reported 1000 bushels of corn and 125 bales (400 lbs each) of ginned cotton.

Click on the items below to view the image and information about the document, including a transcription.

Questions to consider:

1. What details, if any, you can learn about Manerva's life, from these financial documents? What other kinds of documents might be useful in reconstructing her history?
2. Where do these documents reveal a change in power dynamics between whites and freed people? Where do they show continuing structures of oppression?