Jordan Anderson was an African-American former slave born in 1825 and died in 1907. He’s noted for a letter he wrote, known as, "Letter from a Freedman to His Old Master".
It was addressed to his former master, Colonel P. H. Anderson, in response to the Colonel's request that Jordan return to the plantation to help restore the farm after the disarray of the war. It has been described as a rare example of documented "slave humor" of the period, and it's deadpan style has been compared to the satire of Mark Twain.
He was born and raised in Tennessee and sold to Colonel P.H. Anderson when he was only 7 or 8 years old. In his famous note that he sent the Colonel in 1865, not long after the Civil War, he asked for 52 years back pay as proof of good faith. The letter became a media sensation and was quickly published in a book.