Jon Kukla's request for documentary evidence might be partially resolved
if one went to the source (the population schedules) and looked up the
race of the census taker. How many people on this forum who have access
to Ancestry.com or other sources, would be interested and willing to
spend a few hours checking out the schedules for a few southern counties
in 1870? What would be a valid statistical random sample for, say,
Georgia which I estimate had about 120-130 counties in 1870? Would it
be 10? 15? (I'm not a statistician but somebody out there knows the
answer). Suppose 11 people volunteered to each take one Confederate
state, look up a valid sample of county enumerators, check their race
and report their results here. You might at least get a rough idea
about who the census takers were though more work would have to be done
to discover who was ex-slave and who was originally free. Yes, I
understand there are many other considerations - but here's one way to
harness the power of this forum by working together on an interesting
hypothesis! Such an effort might lead into a variety of different
avenues. Who knows? I'll volunteer some time. Any other takers?
Mitch Lichtenberg
On 10/29/2010 10:13 AM, Jon Kukla wrote:
> Before the list erupts in a flurry of "Was not!" "Was so!" posts, it would
> be nice to see a response to my and Leslie Anderson's fair and reasonable
> queries about actual evidence for statements made about the administration
> of the 1870 census:
> L.A. : So the question remains unanswered. Are you aware of sources?
> Does anyone on the list know of documentation that supports the assertion
> that "In 1870, most census takers were often former slaves"?
>
> J.K.: I'm (still) curious about the documentary evidence for the statement
> that "In 1870,
> most census takers were often former slaves....."
>
> Jon Kukla
> ________________
> www.JonKukla.com<http://www.jonkukla.com/>
> Online interview : http://www.virginiavoice.org/celebrity.html
>
>
>
> On Thu, Oct 28, 2010 at 5:35 PM, Craig Kilby<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> There were plenty of literate and educated people of color in 1870.
>>
>> Craig
>>
>> On Oct 28, 2010, at 9:14 AM, JEFFREY D SOUTHMAYD wrote:
>>
>>> Seems unlikely since the vast majority of slaves were illiterate and
>> could neither read nor write.
>>>
>>> JDS
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