During theslave era, legal marriages were not permitted in Georgia. Enslaved peopledeveloped their own ceremonies to solemnize their unions such as "Jumpingthe Broom".

Followingthe Civil War there was a rush to have legal marriages. Enslaved familieswith no last names often passed on their first names to their childrenin the same manner as last names.
 
 

Tintype from the Benson Family Album
(Courtesy of Willis Hakim Jones)

Tintype from the Benson Family Album
(Courtesy of Willis Hakim Jones)
 
 
 

A Savannah Family

More faces from the album of the
A. J. Benson family of Savannah
during several decades following
the Civil War
(All images courtesy of Willis Hakim Jones)
Click the pictures to see larger versions, thequality of which was limited by the age and wear of the images
 
 

Rural Scenes byWilliam Wilson
Courtesy of the Georgia Historical Society, WilliamWilson Collection
 
 

Slave Quarters at the Hermitage Plantation,near Savannah, ca. 1890
In the decades after the Civil War, many AfricanAmericans found themselves living in the quarters built by and for theirenslaved ancestors.
(Courtesy of the Georgia Historical Society,William Wilson Collection)

Susan’s Hut, ca. 1890
Note the children playing with the homemade wheelbarrowin the foreground.
(Courtesy of the Georgia Historical Society,William Wilson Collection)

Former Slaves at St. Catherine’s Island,ca. 1890
(Courtesy of the Georgia Historical Society,William Wilson Collection)