Joseph,

What I have come across in the 1850 Census record for my great great great great grandfather was a coal miner. I have also read "Slaves without Masters: The Free Negro in the Antebellum South" by Ira Berlin which gave me some idea what people did for a living. I can use my imagination a little and say that my ancestors were landscapers, farmers and seamstresses to name a few. Another book I found useful was "Afro-Virginian History and Culture" edited by John Saillant. These two books took a few months to get but it was worth the wait. I read "Foul Means" by Anthony J. Parent and "Notorious in the Neighborhood" by Joshua Rothman just to try to understand what was going on in Virginia and found the read very useful for other things.