In 1856, five years before the Civil War, Richard Bryan freed his slaves, educated them, deeded land, and shared profits.
At war's end, Yankees wanted to use his success to promote their own agenda. He refused, and they turned on him.
The era of Reconstruction quickly became a brutal nightmare for those who refused demands to join the political party favored by the Northern conquerors.
Once the Reconstruction era ended, the family's vast acreage had been reduced by punitive taxes to a mere fraction of its pre-war size. Ongoing day-to-day survival still required difficult and, now, oftentimes, legally questionable decisions.