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The Federal Writer's Project interviewed former slaves in 1937-1938, depositing the life histories in The Library of Congress. Twenty-seven of those Ohio interviews did not get to LC, and are only available here.
originally posted by: Boadicea
From the Ohio Historical Society, these are the first-person stories of former slaves:
The Federal Writer's Project interviewed former slaves in 1937-1938, depositing the life histories in The Library of Congress. Twenty-seven of those Ohio interviews did not get to LC, and are only available here.
I've only read a few so far, but of the ones I have read, each one is both heart-breaking and heart-warming in its own way. I would have expected more bitterness and condemnation, but no. (They are obviously more forgiving than I am!) They tell of their life as slaves, of being sold, of losing their families forever, of going to fight in the war and of learning they'd been freed... One told the story of a slave owner's daughter falling in love and running off with a former slave, moving to Canada when her father disowned her and forbade her to return... and she never did. It's rather surreal reading them, to think of what these people went through, to think of what one human could do to another human, what was par for the course then but absolutely unfathomable today.
originally posted by: BlueJacket
...amazing testament to human spirit. I need alot longer to absorb...
originally posted by: Siddharta
I would like to add some positive words here.
But I am utterly speechless right now.
originally posted by: aboutface
a reply to: Boadicea
Thanks so much for the reference! I've read a few of the ladies' stories, and my overall impression is that they were tough women.
The thing that strikes me at the moment is that they all said they were owned, as though it was the acceptable term for them to use. Even though they wanted their freedom, they knew their owners had papers to prove ownership.
The skills they learned in carpentry, in the kitchen and in the fields helped them to find employment after they got their freedom. Some bought land and built themselves a small home. It's very moving.
I just wish the interviews had been longer and more detailed rather than a summary of their life. Did you read the story of the woman who was buried in the ground with jewelry and when someone began digging in order to steal the jewelry, the woman rose up and chased after the digger? Tall tale or not, that's what I mean when I say the interviews were too short.
originally posted by: zazzafrazz
Thank you so much. I recently did a "slave history" tour in the south, and it led me to go on a bit of a bender reading about it all.
The slavery issue in the US leads me to believe that the Constitution is not as steadfast article of the people as people flash in your face today. "All men are created equal" Such a contradiction, I'm not sure how anyone was ever OK with it being in there, and living with slavery and then heavy discrimination against African Americans. Written in 1789, in the constitutions 250 odd history about 200 years of it was blatantly ignored.
Same goes for womens' rights really.
Anyhoo, an observation not an indictment.
originally posted by: 3n19m470
a reply to: yorkshirelad
Don't forget about corporate slavery. I'm not saying it is ANYTHING like what the negroe and irish slaves went through or the "human trafficking" of today. It's just another form of slavery, and the lesser of two evils is still evil.
originally posted by: DexterRiley
These stories are fascinating. Notice that the writers tried to capture the exact speech used by the former slaves, rather than recording the information using then-current grammar and spelling. I think this is frowned-upon now, but in these cases it was effective in actually capturing the grammar of a unique people with some very unique experiences.
I remember talking to a conservative friend of mine who questioned whether anything worthwhile actually came out of the New Deal's WPA, the parent of the Federal Writers' Project. I gave him some food for thought when I told him about the various slave narratives that were recorded during those days. Some of the information recorded during this project is also very useful in genealogical research, since there wasn't a lot of information recorded about slaves in the antebellum south.
It's interesting that these former slaves, for all of their hardships, didn't bear much hatred toward their former owners. In my interviews of some of the "old folk" who lived through the Jim Crow days, their vitriol is quite palpable. In some respects the post-slavery period was actually worse than the time of slavery.
-dex
originally posted by: Boadicea
ETA: That history tour must have been fascinating. I'd love to hear more about it... especially anything about the Underground Railroad. As a girl, I read everything I could find about it, and it was never enough. The courage and determination of both the slaves and the "conductors" has always been awe-inspiring to me.