Federal Writers’ Project. WPA Slave Narratives. Web. 2007.
Person Interviewed: Sylvia Watkins Location: Nashville, Tennessee Place of Birth: Bedford County TN Age: 91 Place of Residence: 411 14th Avenue N., Nashville, Tennessee I’se said ter be 91 y’ars ole. I wuz young w’en de War wuz goin’ on. I wuz bawn in Bedford County. Mah mammy wuz named Mariah. She had six chillun […]
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
Interviewer: G. Leland Summer Person Interviewed: Susie Riser Date of Interview: May 17, 1937 Location: Newberry, South Carolina Place of Birth: Dutch Fork, South Carolina “I was born near Broad River in de Dutch Fork of Newberry County. I was a slave of Cage Suber. He was a fair master, but nothing to brag about.
Interviewer: William B. Allison Person Interviewed: Susan Snow Location: Meridian, Mississippi Place of Birth: Wilcox County, Alabama Date of Birth: 1850 Age: 87 “Aunt Sue” Snow, a rather small and profusely wrinkled 87-year-old ex-slave, lives in the Negro quarters of the South Side in Meridian. In spite of her wild escapades, her reputation for honesty
Interviewer: T. Pat Matthews Person Interviewed: Susan High Location: 519 Haywood Street, Raleigh, North Carolina Age: 70 My name is Susan High. I wus born in June. I am 70 years old. My mother wus named Piety an’ she belonged to de ole man Giles Underhill before de surrender. My father he wus George Merritt
Interviewer: Byer York Person Interviewed: Susan Dale Sanders Location: Louisville, Kentucky Place of Birth: Spencer County KY Place of Residence: #1 Dupree Alley, Louisville, Kentucky The following is a story of Mrs. Susan Dale Sanders, #1 Dupree Alley, between Breckinridge and Lampton Sts., Louisville, an old Negro Slave mammy, and of her life, as she
Interviewer: Sadie B. Hornsby Person Interviewed: Susan Castle Location: Athens, Georgia On a beautiful morning in April, the interviewer found Susan sitting in the door of her cabin. When asked if she would like to talk about the old plantation days, she replied; “Yes Ma’am, I don’t mind tellin’ what I know, but for dat
Interviewer: Chas. McCullough Person Interviewed: Susan Bledsoe Location: 12th St. S. E., Canton, Ohio Place of Birth: Gilee County TN Date of Birth: August 15, 1845 “I was born on a plantation in Gilee County, near the town of Elkton, in Tennessee, on August 15, 1845. My father’s name was Shedrick Daley and he was
Person Interviewed: Stephen McCray Location: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Place of Birth: Huntsville County, Alabama Date of Birth: 1850 Age: 88 Occupation: Fisherman I was born in Huntsville County, Alabama, right where the Scottsboro boys was in jail, in 1850. My parents was Wash and Winnie McCray. They was the mother and father of 22 chillun.
Interviewer: Miss Irene Robertson Person Interviewed: Spencer Barnett (blind) Location: Holly Grove, Arkansas Age: 81 Occupation: Brakeman on freight train, Farmed, Worked in timber, He sold “shuck mats” and “bottomed” chairs “I was born April 30, 1856. It was wrote in a old Bible. I am 81 years old. I was born 3 miles from
Interviewer: Miss Irene Robertson Location: Forrest City, Arkansas Age: 77 “I was born near Knoxville, Georgia. My mother was a professional pastry cook. She was a house woman during slavery. She was owned by Lewis Hicks and Ann Hicks. They had Saluda, Mary, Lewis, and Oscar. “Mother was never sold. Mr. Hicks reared her. She
Interviewer: Pearl House Person Interviewed: Sophia Word Location: Kentucky Date of Birth: February 2, 1837 Age: 99 The following story of slave days is the exact words of one who had the bitter experience of slavery. Sophia Word, who is now ninety-nine years of age, born February 2, 1837. She tells me she was in
Interviewer: Caldwell Sims Person Interviewed: Silas Smith Date of Interview: November 12, 1937 Location: Gaffney, South Carolina “Lawsey, honey chile, how does I know jes’ when I was born. All sech as dat don’t mean nothing to us old slave time darkies. De mis’tus say, ‘Silas, you sho was thirteen years old when dat ‘Federate
Interviewer: Martin Richardson Person Interviewed: Shack Thomas Location: South Jacksonville, Florida Age: 102 Shack Thomas, Centenarian Beady-eyed, grey-whiskered, black little Shack Thomas sits in the sun in front of his hut on the Old Saint Augustine Road about three miles south of Jacksonville, 102 years old and full of humorous reminiscences about most of those
Interviewer: Miss Irene Robertson Person Interviewed: Selie Anderson Location: Holly Grove, Arkansas Age: 78 Occupation: House girl “I was born near Decatur, Alabama and lived there till I was fifteen years old. Course I members hearin’ em talk bout Mars Newt. I named fur my ma’s old mistress—Miss Selie Thompson and Mars Newt Thompson. Pa
Interviewer: Margaret Bishop Person Interviewed: Scott Mitchell Location: Breathitt County, Kentucky As told by Scott Mitchell, a former slave: Scott Mitchell, claims his age as somewhere in the 70’s but his wool is white on the top of his head. Negroes don’t whiten near as quickly as white people, evidently he is nearly 90, or
Person Interviewed: Scott Martin Location: Tennessee Place of Birth: Sumner County TN Age: 90 Place of Residence: 438 Fifth Ave., No. “I’se 90 y’ars ole and wuz bawn in slavery in Sumner County, Tennessee and I b’long to Marster Dr. Madison Martin an’ mah Misses Mary. And I wuk’d wid de stock an’ wuz de
Interviewer: James Immel Person Interviewed: Sarah Woods Burke Location: Washington County, Ohio Place of Birth: Grayson County, West Virginia Age: 85 “Yessir, I guess you all would call me an ex-slave cause I was born in Grayson County, West Virginia and on a plantation I lived for quite a spell, that is until when I
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
Interviewer: Alfred Farrell Person Interviewed: Sarah Ross Location: Live Oak, Florida Born in Benton County, Mississippi nearly eighty years ago, Sarah is the daughter of Harriet Elmore and William Donaldson, her white owner. Donaldson was a very cruel man and frequently beat Sarah’s mother because she would not have sexual relations with the overseer, a
