So the title says it all....I think? I grew up on Hilton Head Island, SC and there was a small area called mitchellville. Supposedly it was the first town of freed l slaves in the South, and part of the “Port Royal Experiment.” The history was always murky and the town did a bad job of promoting it. So what can someone tell me about it and where can I go to read and learn more?
The Port Royal Experiment had begun during the Civil war in 1861 after the Union forces had captured the Sea Islands. Fleeing away, the residents had left about 10,000 slaves of African descent. Union General McClennan declared the residents "contraband" meaning they wouldn't have to be returned to the planters as property and would be placed under the jurisdiction of the US Department of the Treasury.
The "experiment" was to determine whether black freedmen would be able to fit in the framework of Free Labor. Essentially an experiment for their inclusion as free citizens in American society. Several groups had come down namely the Gideonites and the northern capitalists. The former group were missionaries from New York that were abolitionist and had descended to establish schools and religious missions. The goal was to "unlearn them from the vices, habits, and associations of their former lives [as slaves]". The Northern Capitalist came to bring the concept of Free Labor to the newly freedmen in an attempt to prove its superiority to slavery.
From there on, they would be paid wages for their labor. With the Lockean idea being prevalent at the time (simply put, if you work on the land, you can own it...), many African Americans simply found it absurd and demanded to own the land instead. In 1863 with emancipation, the experiment ended with the black freedmen proving they could work efficiently. Redistribution policies and Sherman's Field Order 15 allowed the freed people to own land. Unfortunately, the lands included in the Sherman Reserves (land along the Atlantic coast in SC, GA and FL) were given back to the former white owners provided they paid taxes and were pardoned. Andrew Johnson was quite keen on offering the southern states a quick restoration into the Union.
Sources: Pierce E. L., "The Negroes at Port Royal: Report of E. L. Pierce, Government Agent, to the Hon. Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury", 1862
Parten, Ben. "The Port Royal Experiement." Essential Civil War Curriculum Virginia Tech. Web. Accessed on 2 October 2019
"Reconstruction", The American Yawp. Standford University Press. Web. Accessed on 2 October 2019