Missouri's abolition of slavery

On this day in 1865 Missouri's slaves were granted their freedom. Because Missouri was a Union state, it was not affected by the national Emancipation Proclamation signed by Lincoln two years earlier therefore; the state had to carry out its own emancipation program. Reportedly, when the ordinance passed, spectators in the room went wild with applause, swung their hats, waved their handkerchiefs, stamped, clapped, and cheered.

The James-Samuel family, like many Clay County families, did own slaves and this would have meant changes for them and their farm. They may have owned between 7 and 11 slaves in 1865. We can't be entirely sure because slave schedules (like a census that only includes age, sex and race) were taken only every 10 years, the last being 1860.

After 1865, a slave woman, Charlotte was said to have stayed on as a housekeeper until her death. It is unknown when she died. We know that she and three of her children were present when the Pinkerton raid on the house took place in 1876. Her son Ambrose likely assisted Frank & Jesse's flight from lawmen following the 1869 Gallatin bank robbery. He reportedly opened the barn doors so that they could run their horses at top speed straight out of the barn. Her son Perry (who is believed to have been fathered by Reuben Samuel, step-father to Frank & Jesse James) worked on the farm until he married in 1893. He then returned to the farm and the only home and family he had every known after his wife died in 1897 or 98. He remarried and again left the farm in 1900. We do not know how many other slaves owned by the James-Samuel family stayed on as hired hands after emancipation as documentation is hard to come by.

After the Civil War, Clay County was left economically devastated. There were few job opportunities for freed slaves. Many moved elsewhere and by 1870 the African American population in the county was down to half of what it was in 1860. Those who remained typically retained the jobs they had held as slaves. They worked as farm hands or domestics for their former owners.

For many freed slave communities, such as White Oak (the North Kansas City area originally named Strawberry Hill), the Reconstruction was about working together for survival. The community cooperated to educate their children and feed the elderly. Women formed missionary societies and went from house to house, providing meals, quilts and clothing.

By the end of the Civil War, the American Missionary Association (AMA) had established schools for African-American children in seven Missouri towns, Kansas City, Independence, Warrensburg, Jefferson City, St. Louis and Corondelet (south of St. Louis). By 1870 they had established schools in Richmond, Fulton, Ironton, Lebanon, Osceola, Palmyra, Spring Valley and Westport.

This area of Missouri was often divided on issues of race and slavery, from the Boarder Wars that preceeded the Civil War, through the Reconstruction period, right up to Brown vs. the Board of Education in 1954. Many whites, even before the official emancipation, treated African Americans with respect and equality, especially those whites that were in the same dire straits and shared the same impoverished communities with freed slaves. Others weren't so quick to switch gears. For instance, the Clay County Courthouse did not fly the Union flag from 1861 to 1912 even though the war had ended in 1865. Confederate sympathies were so strong in this area post-war that it could be yet another contributing factor to the drop in the African American population from 1860 to 1870. Not to mention that these sympathies contributed to the actions of certain infamous outlaws...

If you're interested in learning more about slavery in Missouri, there is a documentary called Negroes to Hire by Kansas City Filmmaker, Gary Jenkins. I've seen the DVD for sale in a few area locations including the National Archives in Kansas City. The Kansas City public library has copies available and you can find it on Amazon.com as well. Finally, the Freedoms Frontier National Heritage Area organization will be showing Negroes to Hire at the Bruce Watkins Cultural Heritage Center on Saturday, February 12th from 6:00pm to 8:00pm.