A 1900 Census Report

Manuscript Census Returns, U.S. Bureau of the Census, (1900), Robertson County, TN A 1900 Census from district three was created in Robertson County, Tennessee by Jon Wilburn. Mr. Jon Wilburn created this census for the government to keep track of how many people live in one household. A census includes a street and house number, the number of people living in the home, all their ages, if he or she is married, how many children they have, their occupations, and if they were ill at the time the census took place. A census also includes if the people living in a household are blind, deaf, an idiot, disabled, if they went to school during the census year, if they could read or write, and the birthplace of themselves as well as their mother and

Colored people did indeed have families however; they were mostly included into the white family list for being servants. The United States 1900 census created in Robertson County in Tennessee showed that there were mostly colored people included in the census due to servants living and serving at a home. Society in the 1900’s in Robertson County in Tennessee was a time of prosperity. This time period was full of middle class white Americans and low class African Americans. As mentioned before, racism was a huge part of this time period and society was full of racists. There would not be many African Americans on this census due to assisting white middle class families. Although there was no more slavery during the 1900’s, African Americans still served white families; and of course, there was still

Understanding that Reconstruction was during the 1865-1877 time period and that the census being researched is during the 1900 time period, there is a connection between Reconstruction and the 1900 Robertson County Tennessee census. Reconstruction was a time where slavery ended and slaves became free. They however did not stop being “slaves.” They served middle class white families even after Abraham Lincoln gave the Emancipation Proclamation. It was two years after Abraham Lincoln gave his big speech that slavery was pronounced done. African Americans were free and they moved all over the country to begin their new lives. Reconstruction and African Americans have a connection, because Congress announced that whites and blacks could live together in a non-slave society. This is exactly what they did in the 1900’s. Even though the African Americans were no longer living a life in slavery, they still served as them in a way. Congress specifically stated that whites and blacks could live together; they did just that by considering the 1900 Robertson County census. It was at this point considered unlawful to keep African Americans as slaves, so they were now considered “servants.” White people could not hold African Americans against their will, so these colored people served these middle-class families to have a place to stay. White families would give these African Americans a place