Below is a typical contract for wage work, which was less popular than sharecropping.  Most African Americans preferred working for a portion of the harvest during this time period.

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He will be required to be ready for work by sunrise in mornings, then repair to same and render good and faithful service until noon, when he will be allowed for dinner one hour, during winter and spring and one hour and a half during the summer months. Then to perform faithful labor until sundown. Then feed stock or perform any other necessary duty demanded of him by his employer or agent.

All time lost to be deducted from the wages of the laborer, to be assessed by his employer.

Bad or unfaithful labor, careless breakage or loss of tools, willful destruction of property or abuse of stock will be charged for, and deducted out of the wages of the laborer.

The laborer binds himself to be obedient to his employer or agent. To obey all orders willingly and cheerfully of either employer or agent, and to render good and faithful service at all times.

It shall be the duty of the laborer to attend faithfully to the stock of his employee on the Sabbath.

The employer binds himself to furnish three pounds and a half of sound Bacon and twelve pounds of good meal per week, and quarters free of rent.

It is understood that the laborer is to receive one half of his wages per month, at the expiration of each month, and the remainder at the expiration of the contract in case he shall leave before expiration of his term of service without consent of his employer, he thereby forfeits all claim upon the employer for the unpaid part of his wages. It is, however, understood that the employer has the right to discharge the laborer at any time by a liquidation of all dues.

Source: Henry B. Cobb, “The Negro as a Free Laborer in Alabama, 1865-1875,”Midwest Journal, 6 (Fall1954): 43-4. reprinted in Foner, Philip S., and Roanld L. Lewis, eds. Black Worker: A Documentary History, Volume II: The Black Worker During the Era of the National Labor Union. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1978.

Document 4.10.1: Contract for Agricultural Laborers, Alabama, 1874.