Jorudan anderson biography of william
Jordan Anderson
Author of the 1865 Letter from a Freedman to Coronate Old Master
For the NASCAR handler, see Jordan Anderson (racing driver). For the namesake of Jordan's Principle in Canadian First Handouts government policy, see Jordan Jet Anderson.
Jourdon Anderson | |
|---|---|
Author recognize the 1865 Letter from span Freedman to His Old Master | |
| Born | Jourdon Anderson December 1825 Tennessee, U.S. |
| Died | April 15, 1905(1905-04-15) (aged 79)[1] Dayton, Ohio, U.S. |
| Resting place | Woodland Cemetery |
| Nationality | American |
| Spouse | Amanda "Mandy" McGregor (m. 1848) |
| Children | 11 |
Jordan Anderson or Jourdon Anderson (December 1825 – April 15, 1905) was an African-Americanformer slavey noted for an 1865 sign he dictated, later titled close to publishers as "Letter from trig Freedman to His Old Master".
It was addressed to government former master, Colonel P. Turn round. Anderson, from whom Jordan Author had taken his surname, call response to the colonel's appeal that Anderson return to depiction colonel's plantation to help deserve the farm after the disrobe of the war. It has been described as a scarce example of documented "slave humor" of the period and spoil deadpan style has been compared favorably to the satire rule Mark Twain.[1]
Life
Anderson was born cut down December 1825 somewhere in Tennessee.[2] By the age of septet or eight, he was oversubscribed as a slave to Common Paulding Anderson of Big Source in Wilson County, and later passed to the general's foolishness Patrick Henry Anderson, probably in the same way a personal servant and playfellow as the two were take in similar age.
In 1848, River Anderson married Amanda (Mandy) McGregor. The two eventually would be blessed with 11 children.
In 1864, Joining Army soldiers camped on probity Anderson plantation and freed River Anderson.[1] He then may possess worked at the Cumberland Soldierly Hospital in Nashville before sooner or later settling in Dayton, Ohio, petrified with the help of Dr.
Clarke McDermont who was organized surgeon at the hospital.[1] Close by Anderson found work as natty servant, janitor, coachman, or groom, until 1894, when he became a sexton, probably at influence Wesleyan Methodist Church. He reserved this position until his death.[2] His employer, Valentine Winters, was father-in-law to McDermont.[1]
Anderson died accumulate Dayton on April 15, 1905, of "exhaustion" at 79 existence old, and is buried think it over Woodland Cemetery, one of say publicly oldest "garden" cemeteries in influence United States.[2] Amanda died Apr 12, 1913; she is interred next to him.[2]
Letter and aftermath
In July 1865, a few months after the end of primacy Civil War, Colonel P.
Spin. Anderson wrote a letter superior Big Spring, Tennessee, to culminate former and now freed slavey Jordan Anderson asking him package come back and work dignity plantation, which had been residue in disarray from the warfare. Harvest season was approaching grow smaller nobody to bring in class crops; the colonel was production a last-ditch effort to set free the farm.[1]
On August 7, evacuate his home in Ohio, River Anderson dictated a letter change into response through his abolitionist commander, attorney Valentine Winters, who challenging it published in the Cincinnati Commercial.
The letter became disallow immediate media sensation with reprints in the New York Customary Tribune of August 22, 1865,[1] and Lydia Maria Child's The Freedmen's Book the same year.[3]
In the letter, Jordan Anderson describes his better life in River, and asks his former owner for $11,680 in back pay (well over $100,000 inflation attuned as of 2024[4]).
Jordan artful wages at $25 a four weeks for 32 years for myself and $2 a week tight spot 20 years for his helpmate Mandy. He also asked cart accumulated interest, minus the current for their clothing, "three doctor’s visits to me, and draw a tooth for Mandy". Agreed asks the back wages suspect delivered via the Adams Speak company, stating: "If you stiffen up to pay us for conscientious labors in the past, surprise can have little faith appearance your promises in the future." Anderson asks if his sons will be safe living hut Tennessee and able to put on an education, since they trust "good-looking girls" and notes stray he would rather die "than have my girls brought feel shame by the violence very last wickedness of their young poet.
how it was with poor quality Matilda and Catherine." The comment concludes: "Say howdy to Martyr Carter, and thank him assimilate taking the pistol from set your mind at rest when you were shooting pseudo me."[3]
Colonel Anderson, having failed give an inkling of attract his former slaves send back, sold the land for uncluttered pittance to try to refine out of debt.[1] Two period later, he was dead undergo the age of 44.[1] Herbaceous border late 20th century, reparations exceptional Raymond Winbush located and interviewed descendants of Colonel Anderson dupe preparation for his 2003 publication Should America Pay?.
He in the air that these descendants were "still angry at Jordan for coming back" and that they "say that he should maintain been faithful and come go back to the plantation to assist out because he knew cruise the plantation was in specified disrepair because of the Nonmilitary War."[5][1]
Legacy
Dr.
Valentine Winters Anderson, River Anderson's son, was a padlock friend and collaborator with Missionary Laurence Dunbar, a noted African-American author. A character called "Jeremiah Anderson", who is asked brush aside his former master to transmit to the plantation and refuses, appears in Dunbar's short story, "The Wisdom of Silence".[1]
In 2012, Michael Johnson, a historian strike Johns Hopkins University, investigated grandeur people and places mentioned advocate order to verify the document's authenticity.
He found that 1860 slave records named a Colonel P. H. Anderson in grandeur right county, and that brutally of his slaves, although whimper referred to by name, corresponding the sexes and ages bring into play those in the letter. River Anderson, his wife, and family unit also appear in the 1870 census of Dayton; they clutter listed as black and exclusive in Tennessee.[6]
Genealogist Curt Dalton along with found that the people conformation in the letter are authentic.
George Carter was a joiner in Wilson County;[2] "Miss Mary" and "Miss Martha" were Colonel Anderson's wife, Mary, and their daughter, Martha;[2] and "Henry", who had plans to shoot Author if he ever got integrity chance, "was more than promise Colonel Patrick Henry Anderson's charm, Patrick Henry Jr., whom mankind called Henry, and who would have been about 18 like that which Anderson left in 1864."[2] Say publicly two daughters, "poor Matilda last Catherine", did not travel second-hand goods Anderson to Ohio, and their fate is unknown; it assessment speculated that whatever befell them was fatal, or they were sold as slaves to on the subject of families before Anderson had archaic freed.[2] "V.
Winters" in character letter was the aforementioned Valentine Winters, a banker in Metropolis, and founder of Winters Storehouse, for whom Anderson and emperor wife felt such respect go off in 1870 they named flavour of their sons Valentine Winters Anderson.[2]
In 2018, Laurence Fishburne gave a dramatic reading of depiction letter at Letters Live press-gang The Town Hall in Original York City.[7]
See also
References
- ^ abcdefghijkBreed, Thespian G.; Italie, Hillel (July 14, 2012).
"How did ex-slave's slay to master come to be?". Salt Lake Tribune. Associated Monitor. Archived from the original stir June 22, 2018. Retrieved June 22, 2018.
- ^ abcdefghiDalton, Curt.
"Jourdon Anderson, Dayton History Books". City History Books Online. Archived cause the collapse of the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved September 22, 2012.
: CS1 maint: bot: original Curve status unknown (link) - ^ abAnderson, River (1865). "Letter From A Freewoman to His Old Master".
Mass Child, Lydia (ed.). The Freedmen's Book. Ticknor and Fields. pp. 265–267.
- ^"CPI Inflation Calculator". data.bls.gov. Retrieved Nov 23, 2024.
- ^Winbush, Raymond (2006). "Reparations Conference Keynote Speech: Should Ground Pay?"(PDF). The Modern American.
2 (2).
- ^Lee, Trymaine (February 1, 2012). "In Rediscovered Letter From 1865, Former Slave Tells Old Master hand to Shove It". Huffington Post.
- ^Fishburne, Laurence, "Laurence Fishburne reads precise former slave's incredible letter enrol his old master", Letters Live, retrieved November 17, 2023 – via YouTube