#2 - Jourdon Anderson: To My Old MASTER

This week on Letter Rip, we dive into one of the greatest slow-burn roast letters in American history, written by a freed slave to the guy who literally shot him twice. In 1865, Jourdon Anderson, now a free man living in Ohio, received a letter from his former master, Colonel P.H. Anderson, begging him to return to the plantation. Yes, the same man who enslaved him for 32 years, separated families, and attempted murder via musket, thought a friendly little reunion might be in order.

What followed is a masterpiece in restraint, sarcasm, and retroactive salary negotiation. Jourdon’s response? Calm, cutting, and casually savage. He opens by expressing surprise that his ex-master wasn’t hanged by the Union, and ends by requesting $11,680 in backpay plus interest itemized. He also throws in a “P.S.: Tell the guy who stopped you from killing me I said thanks.”

This isn’t just a letter, it’s a lesson in clapping back while sipping tea. Tune in for a breakdown of the original “eat my a**” moment in emancipation history. And yes, the host is a white guy with a podcast mic trying to explain slavery, what could go wrong? 

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