Slave Narrative of Jessie Rowell

Person Interviewed: Jessie Rowell
Location: Dade County, Florida

Jessie Rowell, 331 NW 19th St., Miami, Florida was born in Mississippi, between Fossburg and Heidelberg, on the Gaddis plantation.

“My grandmother worked in the house, but my mother worked in the field hoeing or picking cotton or whatever there was to do. I was too little to work.

“All that I can ‘member is, that I was just a little tot running ’round, and I would always watch for my mother to come home. I was always glad to see her, for the day was long and I knew she’d cook something for me to eat. I can ‘member dat es good as ’twas yestiday.

“We ‘stayed on’ after Freedom. Mother was give wages then, but I don’t know how much.”


Surnames:
Gaddis, Rowell,

Collection:
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.

1 thought on “Slave Narrative of Jessie Rowell”

  1. Hi, My name is Patricia Rowell; I have been doing research on my family history. My 2nd Great Grandfather is Alford Rowell (birth 18 Aug 1851 in Farriorville, Bullock County, Alabama) and his father is Paul Rowell (Birth abt. 1820 in Mathews County, Alabama). I’m trying to get more information on them whether its bad or good. I just want to trace back their stories and origins. The Rowell family tree has me feeling stuck. Were their 2 sets of Rowells’ tree lines in Alabama and Mississippi? Can you help me? My email is prtravel@msn.com.

    Reply

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