Former slaves actively resisted contract labor that smelled of a return to slavery.

Evidence

In the increase in the terms of the contracts, some smelled the scent of slavery. A few laborers claimed they would rather “live in the woods their whole life” than sign three-year contracts, and in some towns the registers in which the contracts were to be signed were ripped up. — Dubois, Laurent, Avengers of the New World_ The Story of…, 770

Categorization

• SHARE: For anyone interested in labor resistance: evidence that post-emancipation contract terms were read by laborers themselves as proto-slavery.