About 8 miles from where I live in NW Ga is Chubbtown, originally a town of free (i.e. not enslaved) Blacks founded sometime during or before the Civil War.

https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=kUlOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ShQEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6802%2C2879757

"Chubbtown was originally composed of a general store, blacksmith shop, grist mill, distillery, syrup mill, saw mill, wagon company, cotton gin, casket (coffin) company and several farms, all owned and operated by the Chubb family." (Wikipedia)

Obviously these African Americans learned these (and no doubt other) skills without the benefit of enslavement.