My ancestor saw what was coming and sold his slaves before the war. He didn't want to be the one to turn them out into the world with nothing. A lot of slaves stayed in the area and did the same work they always did. I know of one who was a midwife until the very early 1900s. Others worked in factories, at least until they saved enough money to buy some land or to move up north. We were never enemies like the TV says. Everyone worked together, ate together, wore the same kind of clothes, etc.

Here's a classic photo illustrating how blacks were doing in the 1930s. This is a government photo taken by Dorothea Lange. The store burned down recently, but I went there and took a lot of photos just before that.

https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/pnp/fsa/8b33000/8b33900/8b33922v.jpg