Chesnutt's essay, "The Free Colored People of North Carolina," was published in the Southern Workman in March 1902. It tells the history of antebellum free blacks, a history of artisans, workers, and self-sufficient African American that many of Chesnutt's readers did not know. A history still unfamiliar to many.

Click Here for the etext of The Free Colored People of North Carolina taken from the Univeristy of Viriginia's etext center.