For the first time, I have had to include possible 'Jim Crow' experiences in a family narrative.

Recently Selma helped me gain access to the Freedmen Bureau records for Ashley County, Arkansas. Specifically, I found an entry in 1867, that references my paternal ggggrandmother's niece, Mariah Jane Tucker, who filed a complaint against her white employer contending that he failed to pay her full wages for 6 months work. The matter was later settled.

I have also wondered why the marriage certificate of my ggggrandmother's son, Thomas Cash, who married Elizabeth McMillen in Ashley County, Arkansas in April, 1870, was filed in Dallas County, Arkansas. The Freedmen Bureau records for 1867, indicate at length, that the Clerk of Court for Ashley County refused to file the marriage certificates for freed blacks because he felt it contravened State law. I surmise that his recalcitrance lasted until at least 1870.

I am truly grateful to Selma for providing me access to the Freedmen Bureau Records and a glimpse of my family's history and Jim Crow experiences.