In some areas of the U.S., a kind of arrangement of semi-indentured servitude continued into the late 1920’s. I knew one gentleman, a good friend of mine long ago, who left it behind - he just walked away in 1956.
I know currently another gentleman whose father stayed on the job as his father before him, and his father before him, as the family were accustomed to it. My friend said goodbye to his father and that way of life, and joined the U.S. Marines during WW-II.
I suspect that much of one’s involvement with the kind of service/work that existed in the wake of slavery, depended upon the kind of work and the community - old connections and relations. For some people, the community was close. Slavery was gone, but a kind of service and way of life remained.
Some of the ancients could, and probably have a right to say, that they recollect it as the end of slavery ... as it trailed in the wake of the slavery that their parents and/or grandparents probably had experienced.
I am Scot. Jacobite rebellion. Stay and be hanged or come to US. As A slave