Manns Medium

On the plantation there was a power structure like that which still exists today.  There were the masters or landowners and doing their biding was the overseers who made sure that all the rules, regulations and policies set down by the masters were carried out by the slave.  Then of course there was the slave, the laborer, the worker, the true backbone of the prosperity of the landowner and consistent employment of the overseer. In a much better world, the master would always intelligently choose which crops should garner him and his family the best price that year and whether the grounds could handle it.  The smart ones made sure that their overseers did not go beyond the point of respect toward the very reason he and his family was able to live so well.  The smart overseer would insure that the policies, rules and regulations passed down by the master were adhered to but they would do so with the retaining of dignity of the slave in mind.  Many of the goo...

                                                                   Introduction       In the days following the Civil War and Reconstruction, the South would endure a change that was welcomed by some but despised by many.   Many former masters or plantation owners were left in a quandary when the backbone of what made their fields profitable and their status elevated was free to now leave and search out a place in the world for them and their families.   Some owners decided that they would make former slaves an offer that they could not refuse.   They offered them a share of what they grew on the farm and along with mo...