Interesting letter from former slave to former master

Just saw this on Yahoo, here's the original website.

http://www.lettersofnote.com/2012/01/to-my-old-master.html

I did too!

Anybody else's BS detector twitching a little bit?

No.

Afraid so, but, so far, I find that it can neither be proven, nor dis-proven.

Here's someone who has done some census work on the people named:

http://message.snopes.com/showpost.php?s=d200f4ca9bd68f31ec580633b9b68049&p=1587448&postcount=11

RobertP has a point, things do spread across the internet and we lose sight of the original source. That website had a link to the New York Daily Tribune where the letter was printed for the 2nd time. The letter was apparently dictated and how much the writer altered or influenced the text would be impossible to say. Phrases like "there is nothing to be gained on that score" I believe would not come naturally to some who was illiterate. However, the letter may express his feelings, despite the rephrasing.


http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7035/6790780585_466117fe88_o.jpg

Nice letter, written somewhat in the style of Mark Twain. I had to chuckle at the last bit, especially.

My first instinct was to dispute the authenticity of the document, since it seems too literate to have come so recently from a former slave. But then again, it might have been dicated to someone who could write well (the letter refers to an attorney in who's name the money should be sent). That might account for the "clean up" of the language and literacy of the author.

Yes, I'm not sure what the doubtful part is. That it actually appeared in a period newspaper? That seems to be true.

That the people involved actually existed? That also seems true, based on the census information.

That the ex-slave dictated the letter exactly word-for-word as it stands? I definitely doubt that.

That the ex-slave expressed those sentiments and the person he was dictating to reworded it in an acceptable style? It seems reasonable, especially since a real name was used. It seems odd a random white humorist would have researched the name of an ex-slave and a master, just to create a bit of humorous filler for a newspaper, at a time when making up funny names was just as common a tradition, if not more so, and few people at the time would have even known whether the names referred to real people or not. I also expect that the ironic humor might have been part of the original dictator's attitude.

What makes you believe that he was illiterate? It was not a rarity to find an ex-slave who had been taught to read and write while enslaved.

Probably because the original letter as printed in the Daily Tribune (linked from the link in the OP) was prefaced by this:

""The following is a genuine document. It was dictated by the old servant, and contains his ideas and forms of expression. -- Cincinnati Commercial."

Ok, I missed that. Thanks for pointing it out. I agree that the letter was dictated, rephrased, and likely written as suggested by rhp, by the attorney who was listed in the letter. Even so, it does not offer any evidence that the ex-slave was illiterate.

I confirmed the census information on Ancestry. In the census, Jordan cannot read or write, and Amanda, his wife, can only read, but, their children attend school in the records shown.

Good enough. Thank you.

Not mine.