“I was born a slave about 1848, in Hickmon County, Tennessee,” said Aunt Adeline who lives as care taker in a house at 101 Rock Street, Fayetteville, Arkansas, which is owned by the Blakely-Hudgens estate. Aunt Adeline has been a slave and a servant in five generations of the Parks family. Her mother, Liza, with […]
One of the most remarkable cases ever tried in the North Carolina courts was the case of The State vs. Will. It was the most important case on the subject of slavery and fixed a slave’s right to defend himself against the cruel and unjust punishment of a master. It was decided at the December
The year 1870 is one of the years that will go down in history as one of great social and political significance, and it well marks the culmination and the decline of the Ku Klux organization. Never before, nor perhaps since, was there a time when prejudice and feeling, intermingled with crime, ran so rampant
If I was born the year of freedom or the year before my mammy didn’t know. Her name was Betty Ivery and pappy’s name was Louis Ivery, belonging to old Newt Titsworth who had a big plantation somewheres in Arkansas, but I don’t know what the name of the town. Only thing I know that
I was born in New Orleans, but don’t remember anything about that place for I was sold to Master Jack Dunn when a little boy and moved to Paris, Texas. Master Jack and his wife, Suda, owned four pretty big farms around Paris and he was kept busy all the time going around to each
Person Interviewed: Eliza Whitmire Location: Vinita, Oklahoma Date of Birth: 1833 Age: 102 My name is Eliza Whitmire. I live on a farm, near Estella, where I settled shortly after the Civil War and where I have lived ever since. I was born in slavery in the state of Georgia, my parents having belonged to
Person Interviewed: Hula Williams Place of Birth: Arkansas Date of Birth: July 18, 1857 My mammy use to belong to the Burns plantation back in old Mississippi; that was before I was born, but the white overseer, a man named Kelly, was my father, so my mammy always said. She stayed with the Burns’ until
Person Interviewed: R. C. Smith Occupation: Prophet One morning in May I heard a poor rebel say; “The federal’s a home guard Dat called me from home…” I wish I was a merchant And could write a fine hand, I’d write my love a letter So she would understand. I wish I had a drink
Williams doesn’t know the year of his birth or the place, but he remembers of being “taken” from a plantation somewhere around Pontotoc, Mississippi, when he was a young fellow and here’s the way he tells it. I was a great big boy when the Civil War was going on, so I remember some things
Person Interviewed: Sarah Wilson Place of Birth: Summers County, Tennessee Date of Birth: 1851 Age: 86 I was born in 1851, makes me 86 years old. I was born in Middle Tennessee, Summers County. My mother was put on a block and sold from me when I was a child. I don’t remember my father
Person Interviewed: Milton Starr Date of Birth: February 24, 1858 I was born a slave, but was not treated like other slaves and my folks never told me anything about slavery. So there is very little I can tell of those days. My birthplace was in the old Flint District of the Cherokee Nation; the
Person Interviewed: Eva Strayhorn Place of Birth: Johnson County, Clarksville, Arkansas When I was a child in Arkansas we used to go to camp-meetings with the white folks. We went right along by they side till we got to church and we set down on the back seat. We took part in all the services.
Person Interviewed: J. W. Stinnett Place of Birth: Grayson County, Prairie Grove, Texas Date of Birth: 1863 What with raising nine grandchildren whose mammy is dead, this old head of mine has too many troubles to remember much about them slave days, but anyways I was born in 1863, at a place in Grayson County, Texas,
Person Interviewed: Johnson Thompson Place of Birth: Texas Date of Birth: December 1853 Just about two weeks before the coming of Christmas Day in 1853, I was born on a plantation somewheres eight miles east of Bellview, Rusk County, Texas. One year later my sister Phyllis was born on the same place and we been
Grandfather was a Alabama slave. His master had a lot of boys who were named Tom so as Grandfather took care of the cows all the time when he was a boy they started to calling him “Cow Tom” when they wanted him. Each boy called according to his work to keep them all from
Person Interviewed: Victoria Taylor Thompson Age: 80 My mother, Judy Taylor, named for her mistress, told me that I was born about three year before the war; that make me about 80 year old so they say down at the Indian Agency where my name is on the Cherokee rolls since all the land was
Person Interviewed: Jim Threat Place of Birth: Talidiga County, Alabama Date of Birth: September 1851 We all sung dat song and had a lot of fun singing it but it was true jest the same. Dat was one of the things dat the niggers dreaded most, was a patteroller. Slaves would have a little party
Lucinda Vann, born between 92 and 100+ years old, recounts her life on the Vann plantation in Webbers Falls, Oklahoma, where she was born to enslaved parents in the master’s bedroom during an emergency. Raised in the Vann household, Lucinda describes a plantation managed by wealthy Cherokee owners Jim and Jennie Vann, boasting decent conditions for slaves, who were well-fed, finely dressed, and participated in plantation festivities. Lucinda had a favored horse, Black Hock, gifted by Missus Jennie, with earnings saved for her. Post-war, Lucinda, reflecting on the social inequalities, elected to join the Catholic church and later attempted to flee to Mexico during turmoil, only to return to a depleted plantation. The narrative captures a blend of personal triumphs amid the harsh realities of slavery, retaining a deeply ingrained cultural heritage and the complexities of identity and belonging in post-Civil War America.
Do I remember slavery? Who could forget these lash prints on my back. Some time I set here and look at my wife and think Lord help me look what I live through. Me and my wife had a car wreck early last year, that made her lose her mind so she just sings all
Person Interviewed: Charles Willis Place of Birth: Lawrence County, Mississippi I found Mr. Willis seated on the front porch eating lemon drops out of a bag. He consumed the whole bag during the interview which lasted about 3 hours. He talked slowly and between his sucks on the lemon drops. He is hard of hearing
