Leroy Humbler searching for his son, Lee Andrew Humbler

“Leroy Humbler searching for his son, Lee Andrew Humbler,” Information Wanted Ad, Louisville Daily Journal (Louisville, KY), August 8, 1865, Last Seen: Finding Family After Slavery, accessed September 23, 2020, http://informationwanted.org/items/show/3627.

What do you notice? What do you wonder?

The first thing that we can notice about this ad is the title “Information Wanted,” a title that gets right into the meat or reason why this ad is being posted, it also means that whoever posted this ad onto the newspaper for Leroy Humbler knows what they are going in term of grabbing the readers attention. Secondly, notice how short this ad is. It’s only four sentences long but it expresses strong emotions of distress and worries of a father about his son. The length of this ad is about the right amount that would not make its readers fall asleep or skip it because it looks too long or boring to read. Not only that, it’s unlikely for most of the people in America, at this point, to be able to read a lot anyway. In addition to that, underneath the title, the words, “a colored boy,” is typed in bold along with the child’s name. Those words can do one or two things to the readers. (1) Shut off their attention to the ad immediately. (2) Let them know that someone needs help. Because how often do a color man post ads in the newspaper during the 1860s, if they weren’t asking for help. Another thing that can be noted is that Leroy Humbler has his address underneath his name so that people that decide to help him out would have an idea of where to find or contact him if they needed to. It was one of the things that I saw was missing on some of the other ads that were essentially searching for lost family members as well.

One of the things that stood out in this ad was fact that there was no mention of the mother of Lee Andrew Humbler and Sam Henry. You would think that something like “I will...give my warmest thanks for information that will lead to his recovery,” would be said or told to be written by the mother instead of the father. Now questions to ponder about after you had the first look at this ad are: How did Lee Andrew Humbler and Sam Henry get separated after being carried off by rebels? How did Sam Henry find his way back? How much time did it take for Sam to find his way home? How old are Lee Andrew and Sam Henry? What does Leroy Humbler, the children’s father, do for a living since he said that he would “pay a liberal reward” for returning his son? Were the Humbler able to find their son in the end? How many people went on a search or help look for Leroy’s son?

Time/Place:

This ad dates back to August 8, 1865, during the time of the Reconstruction and the end of the Civil War, and was posted on the newspaper in the state of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Georgia. At the beginning of 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment was approved, and it “abolished slavery throughout the entire Union.” But of course, not everyone is happy with this decision so some decide to not respect that amendment. President Abraham Lincoln spoke up about slavery and its direct connection to the United States’ history and Civil War in his “inaugural address of 1865.” After the Confederates’ surrender, the president was shot by John Wilkes Booth (a famous actor). At the same time, before the Civil War ended, African Americans were still trying to escape from “slavery cultivated and negotiated relationships with white authorities in order to live freely— as American citizen.” Groups of women were applying for the assistance of provost marshal to try to gain custody of their children who’ve been stranded. Everything was chaotic, making it easy for raids to occur to weaken and take advantage of African Americans.

In addition to all of that, congress established the Freedmen’s Bureau in March of 1865, to provide former slaves and whites suffering from the effects of the Civil War, that last to the end of 1868. Then when Johnson became the 17th president all of the slave properties were taken away from them again instead of being restored. Everything that African Americans earned was then lost again. It was a roller coaster trip for African Americans.

Implications/Conclusion:

Leroy Humbler’s ad reveals one of the tragic aftermaths of the Civil War and how African Americans were still trying to figure out how to situate themselves while America is still fixated about slavery and taking advantage of African Americans. To compensate for the Confederacy's loss in the Civil War, “attacks” were put into action on those involved in supporting the abolishment of slavery. Raiding towns and kidnapping children were ways to separate family members after the war to remind the African Americans that nothing changes after the war. They are still powerless, and the white Americans will always find a way to remain in power or in control of the African Americans or those who were once slaves.

After taking a closer look at what was going on around 1865, it can be easily said that Lee Andrew Humbler and Sam Henry would be separated in the mix of the raid, no matter the people or destination they were dragged to, because the rebels probably wanted the African Americans’ families to continue to feel fear and that they have not yet won their freedom even when the war was over, and the thirteenth amendment was approved so that slavery was abolished. They could never get away from the hands of the whites.

Now let's hear your take on this event in American history.

Word Cloud Question:

Why would people separate African Americans after the Civil War?