After Slavery
...ew system, for adapting would be their key to survival. The Blacks who were freed were undoubtedly, grateful and extremely happy. With their freedom they began to search for other ways to feel more like a free person; for example they found their own names that were different from the ones given to them by their masters. They searched for their loved ones who were taken from them and legalized their marriages. Freed blacks went searching for better opportunities Many African Americans that had engaged in plantation agriculture during slavery continued in some kind of farm work. They sought out land ownership as a symbol of their freedom, but because many whites both in the south and north did not want to sell land to the African Americans, they were forced to work out new relationships (Sharecropping) with their former slave masters. The determination of the newly freed African Americans was best illustrated in the development and organization of their churches. The African American community established African Methodist Episcopal churches throughout the county. The church was the single most import...