Slave Narratives

Federal Writers’ Project. WPA Slave Narratives. Web. 2007-2024. The WPA Slave Narratives must be used with care. There is, of course, the problem of confusion in memory resulting from (73+ years) of the participants. In addition, inexperienced interviewers sometimes pursued question lines related to their own interests and perspectives and attempted to capture the colloquialism of the informant’s speech. The interviews provide fascinating insight and surprisingly candid information, however.

Slave Narrative of Angeline Lester

Interviewer: Frank M. Smith Person Interviewed: Angeline Lester Location: Youngstown, Ohio Place of Residence: 835 West Federal Street Story and Photo by Frank M. Smith Ex-Slaves Mahoning County, Dist. #5 Youngstown, Ohio The Story of MRS. ANGELINE LESTER, of Youngstown, Ohio. Mrs. Angeline Lester lives at 836 West Federal Street, on U.S. Route #422, in a very dilapidated one story structure, which once was a retail store room with an addition built on the rear at a different floor level. Angeline lives alone and keeps her several cats and chickens in the house with her. She was born on the … Read more

Slave Narrative of Andy Odell

Person Interviewed: Andy Odell Location: Nashville, Tennessee PLace of Birth: Spring Hill, Tennessee Age: 96 Place of Residence: 1313 Pearl Street, Nashville, Tennessee “I wuz bawn east ob Spring Hill, Tennessee. I dunno in w’at y’ar, but I wuz a ful’ grown man w’en I wuz freed. (This will make him about 96 years old.). I wuz an onlies’ chile en I nebber knowed mah daddy. Mah mammy wuz sold ‘way fum me. She ma’ied a man named Brown en dey had seven chillun.” “At fust I ‘longed ter Marster Jim Caruthers. W’en his daughter ma’ied Fount Odell, I wuz … Read more

Slave Narrative of Andrew Simms

Person Interviewed: Andrew Simms Location: Sapulpa, Oklahoma Age: 80 My parents come over on a slave ship from Africa about twenty year before I was born on the William Driver plantation down in Florida. My folks didn’t know each other in Africa but my old Mammy told me she was captured by Negro slave hunters over there and brought to some coast town where the white buyers took her and carried her to America. She was kinder a young gal then and was sold to some white folks when the boat landed here. Dunno who they was. The same thing … Read more

Slave Narrative of Andrew Simms

Slave Narrative of Andrew Moss

Person Interviewed: Andrew Moss Location: Knoxville, Tennessee Place of Birth: Wilkes County, Georgia Date of Birth: 1852 “One ting dat’s all wrong wid dis world today,” according to Andrew Moss, aged negro, as he sits through the winter days before an open grate fire in his cabin, with his long, lean fingers clasped over his crossed knees, “is dat dey ain no ‘prayer grounds’. Down in Georgia whar I was born,-dat was ‘way back in 1852,-us colored folks had prayer grounds. My Mammy’s was a ole twisted thick-rooted muscadine bush. She’d go in dar and pray for deliverance of de … Read more

Slave Narrative of Andrew Boone

Interviewer: T. Pat Matthews Person Interviewed: Andrew Boone Location: Wake County, North Carolina. Harris Farm. Age: 90 years Occupation: Worked in show business I been living in dese backer barns fifteen years. I built this little shelter to cook under. Dey cut me off the WPA cause dey said I wus too ole to work. Dey tole us ole folks we need not put down our walkin’ sticks to git work cause dey jes’ won’t goin’ to put us on. Well, I had some tomatoes cooked widout any grease for my breakfast. I had a loaf of bread yesterday, but … Read more

Slave Narrative of Anderson Whitted

Interviewer: Emily Hobson Person Interviewed: Anderson Whitted Location: Rockville, Indiana Place of Birth: Orange County, North Carolina Age: 88 Special Assignment Emily Hobson Dist. #3 Parke County INTERVIEW WITH ANDERSON WHITTED, COLORED EX-SLAVE, OF ROCKVILLE, INDIANA Mr. Whitted will be 89 years old next month October 1937. He was born in Orange County, North Carolina. His mother took care of the white children so her nine children were very well treated. The master was a Doctor. The family were Hickory Quakers and did not believe in mistreating their slaves, always providing them with plenty to eat, and clothing to wear … Read more

Slave Narrative of Anderson Furr

Interviewer: Sadie B. Hornsby Person Interviewed: Anderson Furr Location: Broad Street, Athens, Georgia Anderson Furr’s address led the interviewer to a physician’s residence on Broad Street, where she was directed to a small frame house on the rear of the lot. The little three-room cottage has a separate entrance from Pulaski Street. Three stone steps lead from the street to the narrow yard which is enclosed by a low rock coping. Anderson rents only one room and the remainder of the house is occupied by Annie Sims and her husband, George, who works at the Holman Hotel. Reclining comfortably in … Read more

Slave Narrative of Analiza Foster

Interviewer: Mary A. Hicks Person Interviewed: Analiza Foster Location: 1120 Sound Blount Street, Raleigh, North Carolina Location of Birth: Person County NC Age: 68 An interview with Analiza Foster, 68 of 1120 South Blount Street, Raleigh, North Carolina. I wuz borned in Person County ter Tom Line an’ Harriet Cash. My mammy belonged ter a Mr. Cash an’ pappy belonged ter Miss Betsy Woods. Both of dese owners wuz mean ter dere slaves an’ dey ain’t carin’ much if’en dey kills one, case dey’s got plenty. Dar wuz one woman dat I hyard mammy tell of bein’ beat clean ter … Read more

Slave Narrative of Amy E. Patterson

Interviewer: Lauana Creel Person Interviewed: Amy Elizabeth Patterson Location: Evansville, Indiana Place of Birth: Cardiz, Trigg County, Kentucky Date of Birth: July 12, 1850 Place of Residence: 512 Linwood Avenue, Evansville, Indiana Age: 87 Ex-Slave Stories District #5 Vanderburgh County Lauana Creel MEMORIES OF SLAVERY AND THE LIFE STORY OF AMY ELIZABETH PATTERSON The slave mart, separation from a dearly beloved mother and little sisters are among the earliest memories recalled by Amy Elizabeth Patterson, a resident of Evansville, Indiana. Amy Elizabeth, now known as “Grandmother Patterson” resides with her daughter Lula B. Morton at 512 Linwood Avenue near Cherry … Read more

Slave Narrative of Amsy O. Alexander

Interviewer: Samuel S. Taylor Person Interviewed: Amsy O. Alexander Location: 2422 Center Street, Little Rock, Arkansas Age: 74 Occupation: Track laborer, Track foreman, Railroad builder [HW: Helps Build Railroad] “I was born in the country several miles from Charlotte in Macklenberg, County, North Carolina in 1864. “My father’s name was John Alexander and my mother was Esther McColley. That was her maiden name of course. “My father’s master was named Silas Alexander and my mother belonged to Hugh Reed. I don’t know just how she and my father happened to meet. These two slaveholders were adjoining neighbors, you might say. … Read more

Slave Narrative of America Morgan

Interviewer: Anna Pritchett Person Interviewed: America Morgan Location: Indiana Place of Birth: Ballard County, Kentucky Date of Birth: 1852 Place of Residence: 816 Camp Street Federal Writers’ Project of the W.P.A. District #6 Marion County Anna Pritchett 1200 Kentucky Avenue FOLKLORE MRS. AMERICA MORGAN-EX-SLAVE 816 Camp Street America Morgan was born in a log house, daubed with dirt, in Ballard County, Kentucky, in 1852, the daughter of Manda and Jordon Rudd. She remembers very clearly the happenings of her early life. Her mother, Manda Rudd, was owned by Clark Rudd, and the “devil has sure got him.” Her father was … Read more

Slave Narrative of Amelia Jones

Interviewer: Perry Larkey Person Interviewed: Amelia Jones Location: North London, Kentucky Place of Birth: Manchester, KY Age: 88 Concerning slaves of this section of the country, I will quote experiences and observation of an old negro lady who was a slave, Mrs. Amelia Jones, living in North London, Kentucky. “Aunt Amelia” as she is known around here is eighty-eight years of age, being sixteen years of age at the close of the Civil War. Mrs. Jones says, “I will tell as best I can remember, I was born eighty-eight years ago in Manchester, Ky. under a master by the name … Read more

Slave Narrative of Ambrose Douglass

Interviewer: Martin D. Richardson Person Interviewed: Ambrose Douglass Location: Brooksville, Florida Age: 92 In 1861, when he was 16 years old, Ambrose Hilliard Douglass was given a sound beating by his North Carolina master because he attempted to refuse the mate that had been given to him–with the instructions to produce a healthy boy-child by her–and a long argument on the value of having good, strong, healthy children. In 1937, at the age of 92, Ambrose Douglass welcomed his 38th child into the world. The near-centenarian lives near Brooksville, in Hernando County, on a run-down farm that he no longer … Read more

Slave Narrative of Amanda Oliver

Person Interviewed: Amanda Oliver Location: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Place of Birth: Missouri Date of Birth: November 9, 1857 Age: 80 I ‘membuh what my mother say, I was born November 9, 1857, in Missouri. I was ’bout eight years old, when she was sold to a master named Harrison Davis. They said he had two farms in Missouri, but when he moved to northern Texas he brought me, my mother, Uncle George, Uncle Dick and a cullud girl they said was 15 with ‘im. He owned ’bout 6 acres on de edge of town near Sherman, Texas, and my mother … Read more

Slave Narrative of Amanda McCray

Interviewer: Pearl Randolph Person Interviewed: Amanda McCray Location: Madison, Florida Occupation: House servant Mrs. McCray was sitting on her porch crooning softly to herself and rocking so gently that one might easily have thought the wind was swaying her chair. Her eyes were closed, her hands incredibly old and work worn were slowly folding and unfolding in her lap. She listened quietly to the interviewer’s request for some of the “high lights” of her life and finally exclaimed: “Chile why’ny you look among the living fer the high lights?” There was nothing resentful in this expression; only the patient weariness … Read more

Slave Narrative of Amanda E. Samuels

Interviewer: Anna Pritchett Person Interviewed: Amanda Elizabeth Samuels Location: Indiana Age: 80 Place of Residence: 1721 Park Avenue Federal Writers’ Project of the W.P.A. District #6 Marion County Anna Pritchett 1200 Kentucky Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana FOLKLORE AMANDA ELIZABETH SAMUELS 1721 Park Avenue Lizzie was a child in the home of grandma and grandpa McMurry. They were farmers in Robinson County, Tennessee. Her mother, a slave hand, worked on the farm until her young master, Robert McMurry was married. She was then sold to Rev. Carter Plaster and taken to Logan County, Kentucky. The child, Lizzie was given to young Robert. … Read more

Slave Narrative of Alonzo Haywood

Interviewer: Mary A. Hicks Person Interviewed: Alonzo Haywood Location: 1217 Oberlin Road, Raleigh, North Carolina Age: 67 Occupation: Blacksmith The Blacksmith An interview with Alonzo Haywood, 67 years old of 1217 Oberlin Road. On East Cabarrus Street is a blacksmith shop which is a survival of horse and buggy days, and the smiling blacksmith, a Negro, although he has hazel eyes, recounts the story of his father’s life and his own. My father was Willis Haywood and in slavery days he belonged to Mr. William R. Pool. Mr. Pool liked father because he was quick and obedient so he determined … Read more

Slave Narrative of Allen V. Manning

Person Interviewed: Allen V. Manning Location: Tulsa, Oklahoma Place of Birth: Clarke County Mississippi Date of Birth: 1850 Age: 87 Occupation: Sells Milk I always been somewhar in the South, mostly in Texas when I was a young man, and of course us Negroes never got much of a show in court matters, but I reckon if I had of had the chance to set on a jury I would of made a mighty poor out at it. No sir. I jest can’t set in judgement on nobody, ’cause I learned when I was jest a little boy that good … Read more

Slave Narrative of Alice Lewis

Interviewer: Ellen B. Warfield Person Interviewed: Alice Lewis Location: Baltimore, Maryland Place of Birth: Wilkes County, Georgia Age: 84 (Alice Lewis, ex-slave, 84, years old, in charge of sewing-room at Provident Hospital (Negro), Baltimore. Tall, slender, erect, her head crowned by abundant snow white wool, with a fine carriage and an air of poise mud self respect good to behold, Alice belies her 84 years.) “Yes’m, I was born in slavery, I don’t look it, but I was! Way down in Wilkes County, Georgia, nigh to a little town named Washington which ain’t so far from Augusta. My pappy, he … Read more