Old homesteading ways persisted in freedom colonies. Life there was often lived, sometimes even until after World War Two, in one- and two-room log houses that would have looked familiar to Texans a century prior. The rural life in these communities was a hard-working, waste-not want-not lifestyle of subsistence farming and thrift. Women often cooked family meals in a dutch oven over an open fire, in the fireplace in the cold months, and outside in the hot ones. Cotton, corn, and sometimes sugar cane, which held up well to flooding, were common cash crops, while farmers also focused on subsistence crops. Corn was favored, as it could, and did, serve as both. Children were expected to do their fair share, and livestock remained semi-feral, as freedom colonies often had free range customs long past the time when the rest of Texas had erected fences. Large jobs provided the community with opportunities to socialize, as neighbors pulled together an a system that is known anthropologically as complex reciprocity.
Schools were established early in freedom colonies, and were often held in the church. The children of the Canaan community would have been education together at Canaan Baptist Church. While some communities erected purpose-built schools, it wasn’t uncommon for students to continue to receive their education in church buildings up until the integration of the Texas public school system in the last half of the 1950s.
Regardless of the other facilities in a freedom colony, churches served as the core and anchor of each settlement. Immediately following Emancipation, churches often changed locations, with congregations sometimes meeting in private homes or under brush arbors. By the 1880s and 1890s, however, the location of congregations became more fixed, often anchored to growing cemeteries. At this point, new churches were sometimes formed, or old ones split, occasionally as a result of internal conflict. However, even given the occasional conflict, freedom colony churches cooperated to an outstanding degree. Congregations often rotated churches each Sunday for “pastoral days”, which would also usually coincide with a visit from a travelling minister, to ensure that each church had enough congregational support to ensure its needs were met. Church was an all-day affair. Preparations usually began the night before, with cooking and laundry. Travel to the designated church that day could be a lengthy endevour, and many residents would walk barefoot to ensure their shoes were clean for the service. Residents would usually share a meal, sometimes two, together, and perhaps even an evening service, before making the long journey back to their homes.