What did slaves in the United States do after Emancipation?

Many tested their freedom by leaving their slave owners to go in search of lost relatives.

Some adventurers took off with no special destination in mind. But few of the freed slaves (or freedmen, as they were called) had the experience or skills to begin an independent life.

Most could not read or write, and did not even know how to use money. In many cases, sharecropping replaced slavery.