What you do on Hiring Day - you do all year

[JustAnotherGen]

https://thegrio.com/2020/01/01/new-year-day-slavery/

According to TIME, New Year’s Day or Jan. 1 was often referred to as “Hiring Day” or “Heartbreak Day.” What does that mean? On that day, many enslaved Black people anxiously waited to see if they would be rented out to another family or household. This would, in turn, separate them from their families. This, as an alternative to selling a slave, was practice all too familiar during the time of chattel slavery. These transactions took place in town squares, on courthouse steps and on the side of country roads.

The enslaved would enter contracts for various amounts of time throughout the year, but there were many that began on New Years Day and lasted for up to a year. TIME reported that those who resisted would have faced whippings and/or jail time.

“‘Hiring Day’ was part of the larger economic cycle in which most debts were collected and settled on New Year’s Day,” Historian Alexis McCrossen said.

[walkingman]

1. Very interesting - it changes my whole perception of New Year's Day - how horrible.

[jimfields33]

2. I'm so glad my relative going back to 1700 were from New York and Pennsylvania

The south was just horrid.

[cbabe]

3. Slavery in the north: numerous sources online.

Northern slave states included: NY, NJ, PA, CT, RI.

Northern slave holding plantations existed as late as 19th century.

North enforced fugitive slave laws.

[JustAnotherGen]

4. ditto cbabe

Where I live in NJ - was a hotbed of slavery. Hell - Southerners sent their sons to Princeton because it was *safe* for their beliefs.