Federal Writers’ Project. WPA Slave Narratives. Web. 2007.
Person Interviewed: Hula Williams Place of Birth: Arkansas Date of Birth: July 18, 1857 My mammy use to belong to the Burns plantation back in old Mississippi; that was before I was born, but the white overseer, a man named Kelly, was my father, so my mammy always said. She stayed with the Burns’ until […]
Interviewer: Mary A. Hicks Person Interviewed: Herndon Bogan Location: State Prison, Raleigh, North Carolina Place of Birth: Union County, South Carolina Age: 76 (?) Occupation: Houseboy, Night Watch Railroad Tracks An interview with Herndon Bogan, 76 (?) of State Prison, Raleigh, N. C. I wus bawned in Union County, South Carolina on de plantation o’
Interviewer: G. Leland Summer Person Interviewed: Henry Ryan Date of Interview: August 18, 1937 Location: Newberry, South Carolina Place of Birth: Edgefield County SC Date of Birth: (about) 1854 “I was born in Edgefield county, S.C., about 1854. I was the son of Larkin and Cheny Ryan who was the slaves of Judge Pickens Butler
Interviewer: G. Leland Summer Person Interviewed: Henry Ryan Date of Interview: August 18, 1937 Location: Newberry, South Carolina “I live in a rented three-room house with my daughter. I am too old to do much work, but I work where I can get little jobs that I can do. “The slaves did not expect anything
Interviewer: Alfred Farrell Person Interviewed: Henry Maxwell Location: Titusville, Florida Age: 77? Occupation: Field Worker “Up from Slavery” might well be called this short biographical sketch of Henry Maxwell, who first saw the light of day on October 17, 1859 in Lownes County, Georgia. His mother Ann, was born in Virginia, and his father, Robert,
Person Interviewed: Henry F. Pyles Location: Tulsa, Oklahoma Date of Birth: August 15, 1856 Age: 81 That’s how the niggers say old Bab Russ used to make the hoodoo “hands” he made for the young bucks and wenches, but I don’t know. ’cause I was too trusting to look inside de one he make for
Henry Dant, now living with his daughter on Davis Street in Hannibal, was born in slavery on the farm of Judge Daniel Kendrick, south of Monroe City in Ralls County. He is about one hundred and five years old, in possession of all his faculties and is able to move around the house. He seemed to have only hazy recollections, and it was difficult to keep him from wandering from the subject. The following is the story that he told.
Slave Narrative of Henry Dant of Hannibal, Missouri Read More »
Interviewer: William R. Mays Person Interviewed: Henry Clay Moorman Location: Franklin, Indiana Place of Birth: Breckenridge County, Kentucky Date of Birth: Oct. 1, 1854 Place of Residence: 427 W. King St., Franklin, Ind. William R. Mays District 4 Johnson County HENRY CLAY MOORMAN BORN IN SLAVERY IN KENTUCKY 427 W. King St., Franklin, Ind. Henry
Interviewer: Edwin Driskell Person Interviewed: Henry Bland Location: Georgia Age: 80’s Henry Bland is one of the few living ex-slaves who was born on a plantation near Edenton, Ga., in 1851. His parents were Martha and Sam Coxton. In this family group were three other children, two girls and one boy, who was the oldest.
Interviewer: Samuel S. Taylor Person Interviewed: Henry Blake Age: 80, or more Location: Rear of 1500 Scott Street, Little Rock, Arkansas Occupation: Farming and junk, when able [HW: Drove a “Horsepower Gin Wagon”] “I was born March 16, 1863, they tell me. I was born in Arkansas right down here on Tenth and Spring Streets
Interviewer: S. S. Taylor Person Interviewed: Henry Banner Location: County Hospital, Little Rock, Arkansas [HW: Forty Acres and a Mule] “I was sold the third year of the war for fifteen years old. That would be in 1864. That would make my birthday come in 1849. I must have been 12 year old when the
Interviewer: Miss Irene Robertson Person Interviewed: Henry Anthony Location: Biscoe, Arkansas Age: 84 “I was born at Jackson, North Carolina. My master and mistress named Betsy and Jason Williams but my pa’s name was Anthony. My young master was a orderly seargent. He took me wid him to return some mules and wagons. He showed
Interviewer: Virginia Tulley Person Interviewed: Henrietta Jackson Location: Fort Wayne, Indiana Virginia Tulley District #2 Fort Wayne, Indiana EX-SLAVE OF ALLEN COUNTY [MRS. HENRIETTA JACKSON] References: A. Ft. Wayne News Sentinel November 21, 1931 B. Personal interview [TR: There are no ‘A’ and ‘B’ annotations in the interview.] Mrs. Henrietta Jackson, Fort Wayne resident, is
Interviewer: C. E. Wells Person Interviewed: Henry Necaise Location: Nicholson, Mississippi Place of Birth: Harrison County MS Age: 105 Henri Necaise, ex-slave, 105 years old, lives a half-mile south of Nicholson on US 11. Uncle Henri lives in a small plank cabin enclosed by a fence. He owns his cabin and a small piece of
Interviewer: Annie Ruth Davis Person Interviewed: Hector Smith Date of Interview: July 14, 1937 Location: Marion County, South Carolina Age: 79 “I studied en studied what songs would suit, but dem old familiar hymns bout all I know dese days. You see dem old familiar hymns what de spirit sings. It just like I tell
Interviewer: Annie Ruth Davis Person Interviewed: Hector Smith Date of Interview: July 1937 Location: Marion County, South Carolina Age: 79 “I born down here in Wahee Neck. Easter Avant, dat was my mammy en my father name Hector Smith. Coase I ain’ never see him cause he die fore I was born, but dat what
Interviewer: Travis Jordan Person Interviewed: Hector Hamilton Location: North Carolina Age: 90 Ex-Slave 90 Years Dey wuz two General Lee’s, in de ‘Federate War. One los’ his fight, but de other won his. One of dese Generals wuz a white man dat rode a white hoss, an’ de other wuz a mean fightin’ gander dat
Person Interviewed: Hattie Thomas Location: Dade County, Florida Hattie Thomas was six years old when peace was declared. She was ‘borned’ near Custer, Ga. on Bob Morris’ plantation. At the tender age of five, she can remember of helping to care for the other children, some of whom were her own brothers and children, for
Person Interviewed: Harriet Robinson Location: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Place of Birth: Bastrop, Texas Date of Birth: September 1, 1842 Age: 95 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
Interviewer: Pearl Randolph Person Interviewed: Harriett Gresham Location: Jacksonville, Florida Age: 98 Occupation: Field Worker Born on December 6, 1838, Harriett Gresham can recall quite clearly the major events of her life as a slave, also the Civil War as it affected the slaves of Charleston and Barnwell, South Carolina. She was one of a
