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.
Interviewer: Miss Maude Barregan Person Interviewed: Carrie Nancy Fryer Location: Augusta, Georgia Age: 72 An angular, red-skinned old Negro women was treading heavily down the dusty sidewalk, leaning on a gnarled stick and talking to a little black girl. A “sundown” hat shaded a bony face of typical Indian cast and her red skin was […]
Interviewer: Miss Irene Robertson Person Interviewed: Carrie Bradley Logan Bennett Age: 79 plus Location: Helena, Arkansas “I was born not a great piece from Mobile but it was in Mississippi in the country. My mother b’long to Massa Tom Logan. He was a horse trader. He got drowned in 1863—durin’ of the War, the old
Interviewer: Rogers Person Interviewed: Caroline Hammond Location: Baltimore, Maryland Place of Birth: Anne Arundel County MD Date of Birth: 1844 Place of Residence: 4710 Road, Baltimore, MD Interview at her home, 4710 Falls Road, Baltimore, Md. “I was born in Anne Arundel County near Davidsonville about 3 miles from South River in the year 1844.
Interviewer: Robert C. IrvinPerson Interviewed: Carl BooneLocation: Anderson, IndianaPlace of Birth: Marion County, KentuckDate of Birth: 1850Place of Residence: 801 West 13th Street, Anderson, Madison County, Indiana Submitted by: Robert C. Irvin District No. 2 Noblesville, Ind. SLAVES IN MADISON COUNTY CARL BOONE Anderson, Indiana This is a story of slavery, told by Carl Boone
Interviewer: Harry Jackson Person Interviewed: Candus Richardson Location: Indiana Place of Residence: 2710 Boulevard Place Age: 90 Federal Writers’ Project of the W.P.A. District #6 Marion County Harry Jackson EX SLAVE STORY MRS. CANDUS RICHARDSON [HW: Personal Interview] Mrs. Candus Richardson, of 2710 Boulevard Place, was 18 years of age when the Civil War was
Interviewer: Sadie B. Hornsby Person Interviewed: Callie Elder Location: Athens, Georgia Callie lives with her daughter, Cornelia, in a 6-room house near the crest of a hill. Their abode is a short distance from the street and is reached by steep stone steps. In response to the call for Callie, a tall mulatto woman appeared.
Interviewer: Anna Pritchett Person Interviewed: Callie Bracey Location: Indianapolis, Indiana Place of Residence: 414 Blake Street Federal Writers’ Project of the W.P.A. District #6 Marion County Anna Pritchett 1200 Kentucky Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana FOLKLORE MRS. CALLIE BRACEY-DAUGHTER [of Louise Terrell] 414 Blake Street Mrs. Callie Bracey’s mother, Louise Terrell, was bought, when a child, by
Interviewer: Beaulah Sherwood Hagg Person Interviewed: Boston Blackwell Age: 98 Location: 320 Plum, North Little Rock, Arkansas Make yourself comfoble, miss. I can’t see you much ’cause my eyes, they is dim. My voice, it kinder dim too. I knows my age, good. Old Miss, she told me when I got sold—”Boss, you is 13—borned
Interviewer: Alfred Farrell Person Interviewed: Bolden Hall Location: Live Oak, Florida Age: 83 Occupation: Field Worker Bolden Hall was born in Walkino, Florida, a little town in Jefferson County, on February 13, 1853; the son of Alfred and Tina Hall. The Halls who were the slaves of Thomas Lenton, owner of seventy-five or a hundred
Interviewer: Caldwell Sims Person Interviewed: Bob Young Date of Interview: November 10, 1937 Location: Jonesville, South Carolina Date of Birth: March 15, 1862 Age: 75? “March 15, 1862 is de date I allus takes when folks axes how old is you. Dat’s de best, to follow one date, den no argument don’t follow. “Some see’d
Person Interviewed: Bob Maynard Location: 23 East Choctaw, Weleetka, Oklahoma Place of Birth: Marlin, Texas, Falls County Age: 79 I was born near what is now Marlin, Texas, Falls County. My father was Robert Maynard and my mother was Chanie Maynard, both born slaves. Our Master, Gerard Branum, was a very old man and wore
Interviewer: Mrs. Bernice Bowden Person Interviewed: Bob Benford Age: 79 Location: 209 N. Maple Street, Pine Bluff, Arkansas “Slavery-time folks? Here’s one of em. Near as I can get at it, I’se seventy-nine. I was born in Alabama. My white folks said I come from Perry County, Alabama, but I come here to this Arkansas
Interviewer: Mary A. Hicks Person Interviewed: Blount Baker Location: 106 Spruce Street, Wilson, North Carolina An interview with Blount Baker, 106 Spruce Street, Wilson, North Carolina. Yes’um, I ‘longed ter Marse Henry Allen of Wilson County an’ we always raise terbacker. Marse Henry wus good ter us so we had a heap of prayer meetin’s
Interviewer: Beulah Van Meter Person Interviewed: Billy Slaughter Location: Jeffersonville, Indiana Place of Birth: Kentucky Date of Birth: Sept. 15, 1858 Beulah Van Meter District 4 Clark County BILLY SLAUGHTER 1123 Watt St. Jeffersonville Billy Slaughter was born Sept. 15, 1858, on the Lincoln Farm near Hodgenville, Ky. The Slaughters who now live between the
Interviewer: W. W. Dixon Person Interviewed: Bill Williams Location: Winnsboro, South Carolina Age: 82 Bill Williams lives on the Durham place, nine miles east of Winnsboro, S.C., on the warm charity of Mr. Arthur M. Owens, the present owner. He is decrepit and unable to work. “I was born a slave of old Marster John
Interviewer: Mary A. Hicks Person Interviewed: Bill Crump Location: Raleigh, North Carolina Age: 82 I reckon dat I wus borned in Davidson County on de plantation of Mr. Whitman Smith, my mammy’s marster. My daddy wus named Tom an’ he ‘longed ter Mr. Ben Murry fust an’ later ter Mr. Jimmy Crump. Daddy wus named
Interviewer: Martin Richardson Person Interviewed: Bill Austin Location: Greenwood, Florida Bill Austin – he says his name is NOT Williams – is an ex-slave who gained his freedom because his mistress found it more advantageous to free him than to watch him. Austin lives near Greenwood, Jackson County, Florida, on a small farm that he
Person Interviewed: Betty Robertson Location: Fort Gibson, Oklahoma Age: 93 I was born close to Webbers Falls, in the Canadian District of the Cherokee Nation, in the same year that my pappy was blowed up and killed in the big boat accident that killed my old Master. I never did see my daddy excepting when
Interviewer: Lauana Creel Person Interviewed: Elizabeth Jones Location: 429 Oak Street, Evansville, Indiana Ex-Slave Stories District No. 5 Vanderburgh County Lauana Creel THE STORY OF BETTY JONES 429 Oak Street, Evansville, Ind. From an Interview with Elizabeth Jones at 429 Oak Street, Evansville, Ind. “Yes Honey, I was a slave, I was born at Henderson,
Interviewer: William Webb Tuttle Person Interviewed: Betty Guwn Location: Muncie, Indiana Place of Birth: Kentucky Date of Birth: March 25, 1832 Place of Residence: 1101 East Second Street Muncie, Indiana Submitted by: William Webb Tuttle District No. 2 Muncie, Indiana NEGRO SLAVES IN DELAWARE COUNTY MRS. BETTY GUWN MRS. HATTIE CASH, DAUGHTER, residing at 1101
