{"id":48369,"date":"2019-02-28T14:29:26","date_gmt":"2019-02-28T19:29:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=48369"},"modified":"2023-09-01T13:30:58","modified_gmt":"2023-09-01T17:30:58","slug":"born-in-slavery-slave-narratives-from-the-federal-writers-project-1936-1938","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/born-in-slavery-slave-narratives-from-the-federal-writers-project-1936-1938.html","title":{"rendered":"Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers\u2019 Project, 1936-1938"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/em><\/strong>: In this article, Gena Philibert-Ortega writes about an important resource for African American history and genealogy: slave narratives recorded by the Federal Writers\u2019 Project. Gena is a genealogist and author of the book \u201cFrom the Family Kitchen.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Oral histories can be an important source for family historians. They provide context and information in a way that no other record can, especially for groups whose experience is not well-represented in the written record.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: ex-slave Wes Brady, 4 December 1937. Credit: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The WPA<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Works Progress Administration, later renamed the Works Projects Administration (WPA), was one of the programs that made up President Franklin D. Roosevelt\u2019s \u201cNew Deal\u201d in 1933. The Works Progress Administration employed out-of-work Americans in various trades to do diverse work projects. Only in existence for eight years, the WPA employed approximately 8.5 million workers.<\/p>\n

The WPA was responsible for a multitude of projects, including building roads, bridges, and other infrastructure. Humanities projects were also part of the WPA, hiring artists and writers. The Federal Writers\u2019 Project was responsible for various publications that are now beneficial to family historians.<\/p>\n

Federal Writers\u2019 Project<\/strong><\/p>\n

As part of the WPA, in 1936 employees of the Federal Writers\u2019 Project were sent to 17 states to write the life stories of ordinary people. Four of those states (Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and Virginia) documented the stories of African Americans who had previously been enslaved. In 1937 the projects in the other 13 states were instructed to also collect the stories of formerly enslaved men and women. This effort ended in 1939 when the Writer\u2019s Project lost its funding. (1)<\/p>\n

The end result of those interviews, Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers’ Project, 1936-1938<\/em>, \u201ccontains more than 2,300 first-person accounts of slavery and 500 black-and-white photographs of former slaves\u201d and is available online from the Library of Congress<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The digitized collection from the Library of Congress is organized by the state where the interview took place and the interviewee\u2019s name. When searching the index, it\u2019s important to remember that the person interviewed may have been enslaved in a different state than where they lived at the time of the interview.<\/p>\n

WPA employees not only documented their interviews, but in some cases they took photos of the interviewee and their home (other images in this collection includes receipts and gravestones). Perusing the index will provide you not only the name of those interviewed, but the name of the interviewer and cities where interviews took place. States included are: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.<\/p>\n

Interview Examples<\/strong><\/p>\n

For family historians these interviews are important. They not only include biographical and genealogical details, but they include information about the area, the time period, and the community. While your family may not be represented in these interviews, the interviews still provide important information about experiences your ancestors shared.<\/p>\n

Steve Connally<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: ex-slave Steve Connally, age 90, c. 1937. Credit: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Steve Connally was 90 years old and living in Texas when a WPA writer interviewed him.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: Steve Connally slave narrative. Credit: Library of Congress, Federal Writers\u2019 Project.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He and his mother had been enslaved by Tom Connally, a member of the Georgia state legislature who was the grandfather of United States Senator Tom Connally (1877-1963). The family was originally from Georgia but moved to Texas after the American Civil War. Steve\u2019s mother Mandy was the Connally\u2019s cook, so some of his interview involves describing food \u2013 including how they kept butter, milk, and cream cold. Connally\u2019s interview sparked a short newspaper article in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Fort Worth, Texas), 8 September 1937, page 11<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Henry Clay Moorman<\/strong><\/p>\n

As you search this collection of interviews it\u2019s important to remember that although they are categorized by state and name, where the person lived at the time of the interview may be totally different from where they lived while enslaved. Such is the case of the Franklin, Indiana, interview with Henry Clay Moorman, who was enslaved as a child until the age of 12 in Kentucky on the James Moorman plantation.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: Henry Clay Moorman slave narrative. Credit: Library of Congress, Federal Writers\u2019 Project.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Henry Moorman recalls his life on the plantation and gives insight into child rearing duties, stating that he and the slave owner\u2019s child were the same age, and his mother and the other enslaved women acted as wet nurses. He also says that some of the white women acted as midwives for the enslaved women. Of interest to genealogists is his recollection of the cemeteries on the plantation, one for the family and the other for the slaves. He also provides information on slave weddings, including the fact that slaves often married partners from other plantations.<\/p>\n

Mrs. M. S. Fayman<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mrs. Fayman\u2019s story is different from many of the others in this collection. She explains that \u201cI was born in St. Nazaire Parish in Louisiana, about 60 miles south of Baton Rouge, in 1850. My father and mother were Creoles, both of them were people of wealth and prestige in their day and considered influential.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: M. S. Fayman slave narrative. Credit: Library of Congress, Federal Writers\u2019 Project.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

She goes on to explain she was attending a private school when she was kidnapped at about age 10 by a white man who transported her to Kentucky. She was taken to a slave trader\u2019s home and because she spoke only French, she was made to tutor his children until she escaped in 1864. She provides details of her family tree including her parents\u2019 names (Henri de Sales and Marguerite Sanchez de Haryne), and that her \u201cgrandmother was a Haitian Negress, grandfather a Frenchman. My father was Creole.\u201d After she returned home in 1864, she completed high school, graduated from college, taught French and eventually marred a teacher.<\/p>\n

Using the Collection<\/strong><\/p>\n

Some things to consider as you peruse this collection. Each interview is different \u2013 so the information and how it was documented varies throughout the collection. One criticism of the interviews is that, because the interviewers were white, the African Americans being interviewed modified their accounts. Some have argued that these interviews provide a \u201ctoo positive view of slavery and plantation life. (2) Understandably, those interviewed were hesitant to tell their story to a white stranger. In fact, a few of the interviews I read remarked that the interviewee didn\u2019t want to talk about anything unpleasant about slavery.<\/p>\n

Keep in mind that these interviews reflect the time period. There are racist statements made by interviewers, and in some cases they attempted to document exaggerated and stereotypical speech patterns. These WPA workers were not experienced folklorists and these interviews reflect that.<\/p>\n

One last point: historical newspapers also include stories of the formerly-enslaved. Newspapers tell the stories of some of those who were interviewed by the WPA, or who experienced a milestone \u2013 including living well into the 20th century.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Knoxville News-Sentinel (Knoxville, Tennessee), 4 October 1936, page 11<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The WPA interviews are available in various formats aside from the digitized copies on the Library of Congress website. For example, several books have been published that include these interviews, such as:<\/p>\n