Burden(2)

The men whom the narrative refers to as "the two Burdens from Missouri" (199) would probably be called "carpetbaggers" by the white population of Yoknapatawpha, and are probably officially both agents of the local Freedmen's Bureau. These agencies were set up by the federal government in the defeated South to help the emancipated slaves understand and establish their rights, including (if they were adult males) the right to vote. Faulkner tells the story of how Colonel Sartoris confronts and kills them to prevent black men from voting in three different fictions; in Light in August, where they are ancestors of one of the major characters, they are identified as a grandfather and grandson who are both named Calvin Burden.