This study supports and builds on historical literature on antebellum agriculture in the Inner Bluegrass by providing a greater emphasis on the central role played by black slaves. It goes further to examine the transition from a slave to a free society and the choices made by emancipated African Americans in the early years of this transition. The overall conclusion, that African Americans were central to Inner Bluegrass agriculture, through their labor and their choices, applies equally to the antebellum and postbellum eras.