Slave Narrative of Emoline Satterwhite

Interviewer: G. Leland Summer
Person Interviewed: Emoline Satterwhite
Date of Interview: May 19, 1937
Location: Newberry, South Carolina

“I am bad-sick woman, in bed and can’t hardly talk and can’t ‘member much. I was born near Broad River in de Blair section. I belonged in slavery to de Blair family. My mudder and papa was Grace and Samuel Blair, and dey belonged to Capt. Blair. When dey was sold, I was put in de house wid a good free nigger woman to raise me and to stay ’till de war was over. Den I come to de Blair house, and helped around de house. My sisters could card, spin and weave, and I helped dem wid it. I didn’t have but one dress. When it got dirty, I went down to de creek and washed it and put it against de lims to dry, but I had to put it back on before it got good dry.

“When I got old enough, I worked in de field, hoeing and picking cotton.”


Surnames:
Blair, Satterwhite,

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.

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