“Fightin’ Long Atter I Is Gone”:
Opposing Agendas in the Georgia Federal Writers’ Project Slave Narratives
Denise Kane
California State University, San Marcos
Department of History
© 2014
CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY SAN MARCOS
THESIS SIGNATURE PAGE
THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULLFILLMENT
OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE
MASTER OF ARTS IN
HISTORY
THESIS TITLE: "Fightin' Long Alter I Is Gone": Opposing Agendas in the Georgia Federal Writers'
Project Slave Narratives
AUTHOR:
Denise Kane
DATE OF SUCCESSFUL DEFENSE:
April 23,2014
THE THESIS HAS BEEN ACCEPTED BY THE THESIS COMMITTEE IN
PARTIAL FULLFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS
IN HISTORY.
Dr. Jill Watts_
THESIS COMMITTEE CHAIR
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Dr. Katherine Hijar
THESIS COMMITTEE MEMBER
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l<*
_
Dr. Catherine Cucinella
THESIS COMMITTEE MEMBER
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U
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F/ATEf1
Abstract
From 1936 to 1938, the Federal Writers’ Project (FWP) interviewed over two thousand
former slaves about their experiences under slavery. Since the interviews took place during the
Depression, the ex-slaves also shared details about the Depression in the interviews. The Georgia
FWP narratives also reveal information about 1930s race relations. In the majority of the
interviews, a white FWP interviewer conducted the interview with the ex-slave. To a great
degree, white ideas about race in this period shaped the interview. In analyzing the FWP
narratives of Georgia, it becomes evident that the conflicting agendas of the FWP interviewers
and ex-slaves dominated the interviews. The white FWP interviewers strove to maintain the Jim
Crow ideology and supposed racial superiority of whites by censoring criticisms expressed by
the ex-slaves, and manipulating the content of the original interviews. In contrast, black
interviewers sought to show the ex-slaves as equals, as intelligent, and as worthy of assistance
during the Depression. Meanwhile, the ex-slaves had their own agendas. Elderly African
Americans had been especially hard hit during the Depression. Elderly ex-slaves often sought to
reveal the shortcomings of New Deal and relief programs in helping blacks. The elderly exslaves sought much needed information and food, and chose to barter for these items with the
FWP interviewers in exchange for an interview. Even though previous scholars have almost
exclusively used the FWP slave narratives to understand slavery, using the narratives to explore
the Depression reveals the tense race relations of the 1930s dominated by Jim Crow,
disenfranchisement, and inequality.
Keywords: Federal Writers’ Project slave narratives, elderly African Americans, Great
Depression, Race Relations, Georgia
2
Contents
Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………………...4
Introduction……………………………………………………………………………...5
Chapter One…………………………………………………………………………….27
Chapter Two……………………………………………………………………………52
Chapter Three…………………………………………………………………………..84
Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………….112
Appendix A……………………………………………………………………………115
Appendix B……………………………………………………………………………118
Appendix C……………………………………………………………………………119
Notes on Sources………………………………………………………………………148
Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………...151
3
Acknowledgements
The idea for this thesis began eight years ago when I was introduced to the Federal
Writers’ Project Slave Narratives in a history of slavery course taught by Dr. Jill Watts. I had no
idea that a small paper would kick off an eight year exploration of the narratives, which would
culminate in my master’s thesis. A special thank you to everyone who made this thesis possible:
Dr. Jill Watts – Thank you for introducing me to the FWP slave narratives. Your knowledge of
the narratives enabled them to speak their truth to me during this project. I appreciated your
support, encouragement, and expertise.
Dr. Katherine Hijar and Dr. Catherine Cucinella – Thank you for your willingness to serve on
my thesis committee. I greatly appreciated your enthusiasm, suggestions, and advice.
Dr. Alyssa Sepinwall – Thank you for your continued motivation as I navigated my thesis. Your
expertise on historiography and finding my “I say” greatly improved my thesis.
Mom, Dad, and Dawn – I would not have completed this thesis without your love, support, and
encouragement. Thank you for everything – and I do mean everything.
Jason – Thank you for your patience and love. No more excuses to spend time together.
To All of the Amazing Librarians – A special thank you to all of the librarians at NARA, Library
of Congress, the various Georgia archives, the EOP, and CSUSM that helped me during the
course of this project. I applaud your knowledge, eagerness to help, and happy demeanor.
Friends – Thank you for your continued support, feedback, and informal counseling sessions.
Malia and Ruby – Thank you for your kisses, smiles, and goofiness. I promise – more ball
tossing, less computer time.
Bailey, Sasha, Shaq –Thank you for your early support of the project, before age and illness
called you away much too soon.
4
Introduction
Ex-slave Anderson Furr was “reclining comfortably in a cane-backed chair, with his
walking stick conveniently placed across his knees” when Federal Writers’ Project (FWP)
interviewer Sadie B. Hornsby approached the “small frame house on the rear of the lot” between
1936 and 1937.1 Hornsby described Furr as wearing a “costume consist[ing] of a battered old
black felt hat, a dingy white shirt, dark gray pants, and scuffed black shoes.”2 Hornsby’s goal
was to get Furr to talk about his experiences in slavery. Her opening question did just that. She
asked Furr “if he remembered the days when the North was fighting the South for his freedom.”3
Furr’s response encapsulates the struggles of elderly ex-slaves during the Depression. He stated:
“’Member fightin’! Why, Lady! Dey ain’t never stopped fightin’ yit. Folks has been a-fightin’
ever since I come in dis world, and dey will be fightin’ long atter I is gone.”4
The Great Depression began in 1929 and lasted until 1942.5 African Americans were the
worst hit by the Depression. In the first year after the Depression began, the unemployment rate
for blacks was approximately thirty-eight percent.6 In the second year of the Depression,
unemployment rates amongst black rose to approximately fifty to seventy-five percent.7 Not only
did blacks lose jobs as a result of business failures, but they also lost jobs to whites. With wages
now equal between blacks and whites, there was no reason to hire African Americans over
whites.8 The situation would prove even more dire for elderly African Americans who were
1
George P. Rawick, ed., The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography, vol. 12 (Georgia), Part 1 (Westport,
Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Company, 1972), 345.
2
Rawick, The American Slave, vol. 12 (Georgia), Part 1, 345.
3
Ibid.
4
Ibid.
5
Cheryl Lynn Greenberg, To Ask For An Equal Chance: African Americans in the Great Depression (New York:
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2009), ix-xii.
6
Greenberg, To Ask For An Equal Chance, 21.
7
Ibid., 25. The unemployment rate in Atlanta in 1934 was estimated at seventy percent.
8
Ibid., 27-29.
5
either unable to work or were passed over for jobs as a result of their age. In most cases, the New
Deal was not helpful to African Americans as a result of racial discrimination in the states where
relief was disseminated.9
At the same time that blacks were suffering through the Depression, the Works Progress
Administration (WPA) created the Federal Writers’ Project (FWP). One of the FWP projects was
to interview ex-slaves. From 1936 to 1938, the FWP completed “interviews with more than
2,000 former slaves conducted in seventeen states,” including Alabama, Arkansas, Florida,
Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio,
Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.10 Of these, approximately 290 exslaves were interviewed as part of the Georgia FWP ex-slave narrative project.11 The primary
goal of the narrative project was to gather information about the ex-slaves’ experiences in
slavery. However, the interviews were completed during the Depression, and many details
related to Depression-era conditions made their way into the narratives.
This thesis will analyze the FWP Georgia slave narratives to ascertain the conditions of
elderly African Americans from 1936-1938. Elderly African Americans were often the worst hit
during the Depression as a result of discrimination from New Deal and relief programs. To date,
conditions of elderly blacks during the Depression have not received much coverage by
historians. While the ex-slave narratives have been primarily used to study slavery, they reveal
much about the Depression. Studying the lives of elderly African Americans, as told through the
slave narratives, allows for the exploration of the FWP’s operations, the agenda of the
interviewers and ex-slaves, and the methodologies of quantitative and qualitative data analysis.
9
Ibid., 43.
George P. Rawick, ed., The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography, Supplement, Series 1, vol. 3 (Georgia),
Part 1 (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1977), ix.
11
Many of the ex-slave interviews included combined or family interviews. Thus, there were several people
included in the interview and some may not have been ex-slaves.
10
6
New insights into the strengths and weaknesses of the slave narratives as a historical source are
unearthed as a result of investigating the lives of elderly African Americans during the
Depression.
This thesis will argue that the FWP ex-slave narratives reveal much regarding race
relations between blacks and whites in the 1930s. Both the ex-slaves and the FWP interviewers
had conflicting agendas. The ex-slaves sought much needed assistance during the Depression. To
that end, the ex-slaves used the FWP interviews as a medium through which to protest the
shortcomings of the New Deal and demand relief. In doing so, the ex-slaves challenged the racial
status quo even though they lived under a structure of paternalism held over from slavery. The
white FWP interviewers attempted to thwart the ex-slaves’ agenda through censorship and
manipulation of the content of the narratives in order to perpetuate white racial hierarchy and
ideology. In contrast, black interviewers sought to present African Americans as intelligent and
equal to whites. Black interviewers also went out of their way to provide assistance to the elderly
ex-slaves. Thus, the white interviewers’ agenda was challenged not only by the ex-slaves, but
also by the black FWP interviewers.
The historiography that is relevant to the slave narratives begins with George P. Rawick’s
publication From Sundown to Sunup: The Making of the Black Community, which served as the
introduction to Rawick’s publication of the original slave narratives titled The American Slave: A
Composite Autobiography (1972). In The American Slave, the slave narratives were published
“exactly as they were, complete with penciled-and inked-in corrections and alterations.”12 In
From Sundown to Sunup, Rawick was the first historian to point out that the narratives reveal
information about the Depression. He stated: “Often the informant’s situation at the time
12
Rawick, The American Slave, Supplement, Series 1, vol. 3 (Georgia), Part 1, ix.
7
interviewed has considerable bearing on his personal memory of slavery.”13 Rawick felt that the
Depression likely caused ex-slaves to analyze their experience of slavery more positively than it
may have actually been.14 Rawick also highlighted that the ex-slave narratives were published
with the original editorial marks. He states that these markings expose “style and bias” variations
between the interviewers.15 While Rawick acknowledges the possibility of using the ex-slave
narratives to study the Depression, subsequent discussion centers on using the narratives to
explore slavery.
In his 1972 review of the FWP slave narratives entitled “Getting to Know the Slaves,”
historian Eugene Genovese noted that the narratives “suffer from grave limitations, which, if one
is not aware of them, can produce historical romance or bad history.”16 Genovese argued that one
of the main limitations of the narratives was the age of the ex-slaves when interviewed. He
asserted that the ex-slaves were elderly, and since an extended period of time had passed since
slavery, the narratives were influenced by the ex-slaves’ lives after slavery.17 Since the ex-slaves
were remembering events from seventy years earlier, memory issues abounded. However,
Genovese did acknowledge that the narratives could prove useful. He noted:
The narratives are especially valuable in understanding Reconstruction and the sufferings
and hopes of the Southern black community during the Depression of the 1930s. The
repeated references to Franklin D. Roosevelt and to New Deal legislation deserve close
attention from social historians of twentieth-century America.18
Thus, even though the narratives may present issues when studying slavery, they hold promise
for studying the Depression.
13
George P. Rawick, From Sundown to Sunup: The Making of the Black Community (Westport, Connecticut:
Greenwood Publishing Company, 1972), xvii.
14
Rawick, From Sundown to Sunup, xvii.
15
Ibid.
16
Eugene D. Genovese, review of The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography, by George P. Rawick, The New
York Review, September 21, 1972: 17.
17
Genovese, review of The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography, 17.
18
Ibid.
8
In a 1974 review titled “History from Slave Sources,” Scholar C. Vann Woodward
acknowledged: “Confusing and contradictory as they are, [the ex-slave narratives] represent the
voices of the normally voiceless, the inarticulate masses whose silence historians are forever
lamenting.”19 Like Genovese, Woodward also had concerns about the age of the ex-slaves
interviewed. He states that most ex-slaves were children during slavery and did not experience
the “full rigors” of slavery.20 Woodward also found issue with the FWP interviewers noting that
“their biases, procedures, and methods – and the interracial circumstances of the interviews. The
overwhelming majority of the interviewers were Southern whites…Jim Crow etiquette and white
supremacy attitudes prevailed virtually unchallenged in those years.”21 While acknowledging the
impact of the Depression on the narratives, Woodward does not call for increased study of this
period. Instead, he states that the narratives would be useful for the study of emancipation and
Reconstruction.22
In 1975, John W. Blassingame further critiqued the ex-slave narratives in his article
“Using the Testimony of Ex-Slaves: Approaches and Problems.” Blassingame stated that while
previous scholars found the narrative collection “representative of the total slave population, less
biased, and less distorted,” that he did not agree.23 Blassingame asserted that historians did not
know how to work with the interviews as an historical source. 24 He questioned the impact of the
interview setting on facilitating “accurate communication and recording” of the narratives since
the interviews were conducted during the Depression.25 Blassingame pointed out that the racial
19
C. Vann Woodward, “History From Slave Sources,” review of The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography,
by George P. Rawick, The American Historical Review 79, no. 2 (Apr. 1974): 475.
20
Woodward, “History From Slave Sources,” 473.
21
Ibid.
22
Ibid., 475.
23
John W. Blassingame, “Using the Testimony of Ex-slaves: Approaches and Problems,” The Journal of Southern
History 41, no. 4 (Nov. 1975), 480.
24
Blassingame, “Using the Testimony of Ex-slaves: Approaches and Problems,” 480-481.
25
Ibid., 481.
9
setting of the interview made dialogue between blacks and whites difficult.26 He also felt the exslaves were “naturally guarded (and often misleading) in their responses” due to the geographic
location and “depend[ence] on whites to help them obtain their old-age pensions.”27 Blassingame
critiqued the FWP interviewers for “master[ing] so little of the art and science of interviewing.”28
However, there was no standard in place for oral history interviews in the 1930s. While the Oral
History Association was founded in 1966, best practices for oral history interviewing were not in
place until 1989.29 The Georgia FWP interviewers operated without modern guidelines. Despite
their lack of experience, Blassingame did praise members of Georgia’s FWP, stating that the
“Georgia collection is one of the most reliable of the WPA volumes: most of the informants had
actually been slaves…”30
In 1977, George P. Rawick published the second series of ex-slave narratives. After
noticing that some states had barely any narratives at the Library of Congress, Rawick “surmised
either that the project had been deliberately curtailed by those who did not want such material in
existence or that the bulk of the collection had never been sent to the national offices of the
Federal Writers’ Project in Washington, as they should have been, and might still be somewhere
in [the states].”31 Rawick visited the archives of various states and contacted archivists to locate
missing narratives. Rawick located additional Georgia narratives at the Archive of Folk Song at
the Library of Congress and at the University of Georgia.32 In total, 600 additional pages of
26
Ibid.
Ibid., 482.
28
Ibid., 483.
29
“About OHA,” Oral History Association, accessed September 20, 2013, http://www.oralhistory.org/about/;
“Principles and Best Practices,” Oral History Association, accessed September 20, 2013,
http://www.oralhistory.org/about/principles-and-practices/.
30
Blassingame, “Using the Testimony of Ex-slaves: Approaches and Problems,” 488.
31
Rawick, The American Slave, Supplement, Series 1, vol. 3 (Georgia), Part 1, xi.
32
Ibid., xii.
27
10
Georgia narratives were located.33 Some of the materials were previously unseen narratives
while “others were different versions of narratives in the Library of Congress collection.”34
In the introduction for the new series, Rawick addressed critiques of the narrative
collection. Most notably, he refuted some of the comments made by Blassingame. Rawick stated
that he never said that the narrative collection was “more representative of the total slave
population, less biased, and less distorted.”35 Rawick also took issue with Blassingame’s
statement that historians were not able to work with the interviews.36 Rawick stated that
historians should not have issues with using the slave narratives since they were often schooled
in using such material.37 However, Rawick argued the slave narratives had three limitations.
First, he did not think they should be used to study speech patterns of African Americans.38
Second, Rawick felt that the narratives would not be adequate for quantitative analysis of some
historical areas, but that they “may well be useful in this fashion for other matters.”39 Third,
Rawick stated that the narratives should not be utilized in studying “predetermined” topics, and,
instead, should “lead to fresh questions, new insights, [and] a new historiography of slavery.”40
In 1977, Thomas F. Soapes addressed the conflicting viewpoints of historians on the
FWP narratives in his article “The Federal Writers’ Project Slave Interviews: Useful Data or
Misleading Source.” After distilling the viewpoints of Rawick, Blassingame, and Genovese,
Soapes asserts that the narratives are “no more or no less reliable than other types of historical
33
Ibid.
Ibid.
35
Blassingame, “Using the Testimony of Ex-slaves: Approaches and Problems,” 480; Rawick, The American Slave,
Supplement, Series 1, vol. 3 (Georgia), Part 1, xxvii.
36
Blassingame, “Using the Testimony of Ex-slaves: Approaches and Problems,” 480-481; Rawick, The American
Slave, Supplement, Series 1, vol. 3 (Georgia), Part 1, xxvii.
37
Rawick, The American Slave, Supplement, Series 1, vol. 3 (Georgia), Part 1, xxvii.
38
Ibid, xxix.
39
Ibid., xxxi.
40
Ibid., xxxv- xxxix.
34
11
data, for all sources can be confusing and contradictory, biased and misleading.”41 Soapes notes
that Eugene Genovese’s Roll, Jordan, Roll corroborates the ex-slave narratives with other
historical sources, like plantation records.42 Soapes concludes that the ex-slave narratives “are
also a useful reminder to historians that advanced age and the passage of time do not
automatically cancel the potential usefulness of an interview.”43 Since much information could
be verified, age was less a factor in influencing the outcome of a narrative.
In 1977, Paul D. Escott’s Slavery Remembered: A Record of Twentieth-Century Slave
Narratives utilized quantitative data analysis to assess the slave narratives. Escott sought to
“present a systematic, not merely impressionistic, analysis of the slave narratives.”44 Escott
created eighty-one topics to analyze in his study, and was able to use the computer information
to compile data for one topic, compare multiple topics, or examine certain phenomena.45 Escott
acknowledged that pure objectivity was not possible.46 While Escott’s work focused heavily on
slavery, a few of his categories for analysis covered the Depression. They include: “the former
slave’s age at retirement, the former slave’s estimated age at retirement if exact age is
unobtainable, the amount of land owned by the former slave, whether the former slave lived with
relatives at the time of the interview, the number of people in that household, sources of outside
aid for the former slave, and institutions to which the former slave belonged.”47 Based on his
data, Escott concluded that the ex-slaves worked beyond typical retirement ages.48 Escott also
found that many ex-slaves would later live with family members. Escott concludes that “as [the
41
Thomas F. Soapes, “The Federal Writers’ Project Slave Interviews: Useful Data or Misleading Source,” The Oral
History Review 5 (1977): 38.
42
Soapes, “The Federal Writers’ Project Slave Interviews: Useful Data or Misleading Source,” 36.
43
Ibid., 38.
44
Paul D. Escott, Slavery Remembered: A Record of Twentieth-Century Slave Narratives (Chapel Hill: The University
of North Carolina, 1979), 183.
45
Escott, Slavery Remembered, 183-184.
46
Ibid., 184.
47
Ibid., 185.
48
Ibid., 171.
12
ex-slaves] neared the end of their lives, however, even some of the most ingratiating former
slaves tended to become more demanding and to reveal [during the interview] that their humility
was an investment from which they expected a return.”49 While Escott did reach some broad
conclusions about the ex-slaves during the Depression, his focus on this time period was limited,
and offers no lengthy discussion of the ex-slaves’ lives during the Depression.
The reviews of Escott’s Slavery Remembered were mixed. Some historians were
impressed with Escott’s use of computer quantification for his thesis and felt this application was
“innovative.”50 George P. Rawick noted Escott’s “exhaustive statistical survey…affirms much of
the recent work on American slavery based on the slave narratives.”51 Other historians were
critical of Escott’s methodology and use of the slave narratives. Some historians felt Escott’s
“conclusions…[were] too broad” and “less novel than he thinks.”52 Peter Kolchin asserted that
Escott did not sufficiently analyze the narratives and instead took the narratives at “face
value…”53 Jerrold Hirsch noted that Escott “fails to examine how [the interviewers’] methods,
assumptions, compulsions, and goals shaped and became part of the interview.”54 Finally, Ron C.
Tyler found fault with Escott’s quantitative analysis limiting the human story by not including
49
Ibid., 172.
Joe Gray Taylor, review of Slavery Remembered: A Record of Twentieth-Century Slave Narratives, By Paul D.
Escott, The Journal of American History 66, no. 4 (Mar. 1980): 939; Robert J. Cottrol, review of Slavery
Remembered: A Record of Twentieth-Century Slave Narratives, by Paul D. Escott, The Journal of Economic History
40, no. 1 (Mar. 1980): 218.
51
George P. Rawick, review of Slavery Remembered: A Record of Twentieth-Century Slave Narratives, by Paul D.
Escott, The American Historical Review 85, no. 2 (Apr. 1980): 466.
52
Jere W. Roberson, review of Slavery Remembered: A Record of Twentieth-Century Slave Narratives, by Paul D.
Escott, The Journal of Southern History 46, no. 1 (Feb. 1980): 116; Peter Kolchin, review of Slavery Remembered: A
Record of Twentieth-Century Slave Narratives, by Paul D. Escott, The Florida Historical Quarterly 59, no. 1 (Jul.
1980): 105.
53
Peter Kolchin, review of Slavery Remembered, 106.
54
Jerrold Hirsch, review of Slavery Remembered: A Record of Twentieth-Century Slave Narratives, by Paul D. Escott,
Reviews in American History 8, no. 3 (Sep. 1980): 315.
50
13
the names of the ex-slaves.55 Thus, the historians were not completely sold on the idea of
incorporating quantitative analysis in an examination of the slave narratives.
In 1984, Norman R. Yetman returned to a qualitative stance and analyzed the
historiography of slavery and the use the slave narratives in his article “Ex-Slave Interviews and
the Historiography of Slavery.”56 Like Genovese, Blassingame, and Soapes, Yetman also
addressed the problem of age and the narratives. He stated: “Personal recollection of the past is
always a highly subjective phenomenon, one continually susceptible to modification and
distortion.”57 Yetman asserts that as a result of age and the interview taking place during the
Depression, the ex-slaves viewed the past more positively than what may have actually been.58
As a result of their circumstances at the time of the interview, Yetman believes the ex-slaves
“replied to questions with flattery and calculated exaggeration in an effort to curry the
interviewer’s favor.”59 For Yetman, two questions emerge when reading the narratives: “[F]irst,
whether the interviewers were able to elicit candid responses from their informants and, second,
whether what the informant said was accurately recorded.”60 To that end, Yetman acknowledges
that the interviewers edited the interviews.61 Finally, Yetman also felt that “blacks were not fully
candid or refused to tell a complete story to white interviewers, resulting in a kind of self-
55
Ron C. Tyler, review of Slavery Remembered: A Record of Twentieth-Century Slave Narratives, by Paul D. Escott,
The Southwestern Historical Quarterly 84, no. 4 (Apr. 1981): 472.
56
Yetman had an earlier article published before Rawick’s publications. It provides background information, not
critique. See: Norman R. Yetman, “The Background of the Slave Narrative Collection,” American Quarterly 19, no. 3
(1967): 537-553.
57
Norman R. Yetman, “Ex-Slave Interviews and the Historiography of Slavery,” American Quarterly 36, no. 2
(1984): 187.
58
Yetman, “Ex-Slave Interviews and the Historiography of Slavery,” 187.
59
Ibid.
60
Ibid.
61
Ibid.
14
censorship” as a result of “the etiquette of Southern race relations.”62 Thus, Yetman concluded
that the conditions of the interview affected the content of the interview.
In 1996, Donna J. Spindel used a psychological approach when examining the FWP
narratives in her article, “Assessing Memory: Twentieth-Century Slave Narratives
Reconsidered.” Spindel addresses the critiques of the ex-slave narratives on the basis of memory.
She asserted that many historians have not performed a psychological analysis of the
narratives.63 Spindel explores the different psychological approaches to memory. One issue for
memory was “context dependency” when recalling events, which means placing a person in the
environment where the event took place or replicating the historical event. As a result, “an
unhappy present situation can lead to the selective recall of unhappy events of the past.”64
Spindel asserts that “given the oppressive nature of slave life and the depressed conditions of
many ex-slave informants during the era of segregation, the operation of context dependency
seems to suggest that the memories expressed in the interviews may well have been selective,
and thus, untrustworthy as historical records.”65 Further, Spindel states that higher levels of
education lead to better recall, which could have affected the ex-slaves’ memory.66 Spindel also
reports that the elderly in good health had better memory.67 Spindel ultimately concludes that
“since psychologists are still grappling with the problem of long-term human
memory…[historians] need to be more realistic about the reliability of these documents; they
62
Ibid., 188.
Donna J. Spindel, “Assessing Memory: Twentieth-Century Slave Narratives Reconsidered,” The Journal of
Interdisciplinary History 27, no. 2 (1996): 253.
64
Spindel, “Assessing Memory: Twentieth-Century Slave Narratives Reconsidered,” 255.
65
Ibid., 256.
66
Ibid.
67
Ibid.
63
15
must come to terms with the fact that research into memory provides only a weak empirical basis
for trusting the interviews.”68
In 2001, Sharon Ann Musher analyzed the Mississippi duplicate slave narratives in her
article “Contesting ‘The Way the Almighty Wants It’: Crafting Memories of Ex-Slaves in the
Slave Narrative Collection.” Musher goes farther than other historians critiquing the FWP
narratives by focusing on the role of the FWP. Musher “trace[d] how the national project
reinforced essentialist assumptions while state and local officials, such as those in Mississippi,
edited and rewrote the slave narratives based on three unstated principles: paternalism,
authenticity, and readability.”69 Musher found that the edits made to the narratives reinforced
paternalism during slavery. Editors rearranged and inserted information into narratives that
“suggest that slaves were not masters of their own destinies but rather depended on their
masters…”70 Musher argues that the edits made to the ex-slave narratives reveal more about the
editors than the ex-slaves.71 Further, Musher states that the editors “removed evidence of the
unequal power dynamic between the interviewer and interviewee by deleting references to a
prior relationship between the interviewers and ex-slaves, interviewers’ questions, and the exslaves’ acknowledgements of their interviewers.”72 The deletion of these attributes, according to
Musher, places more emphasis on the “literary qualities of the interviews above their veracity.”73
Musher cautions researchers to “approach the ex-slave interviews warily, studying the biases that
shaped them and cross-referencing the information they contain against other sources” because
68
Ibid., 260.
Sharon Ann Musher, “Contesting ‘The Way the Almighty Wants It’: Crafting Memories of Ex-Slaves in the Slave
Narrative Collection,” American Quarterly 53, no. 1 (2001): 5.
70
Musher, “Contesting ‘The Way the Almighty Wants It’: Crafting Memories of Ex-Slaves in the Slave Narrative
Collection,” 15.
71
Ibid., 18.
72
Ibid., 21.
73
Ibid, 23.
69
16
using edited sources as fact can ultimately distort the history.74 In her study, Musher focused on
the topic of slavery in the narratives and did not comment on the Depression.
While previous scholars analyzed the narratives in the context of slavery, Stephanie J.
Shaw was the first historian to explore the narratives for what they revealed about the
Depression. In 2003, Shaw investigated the narratives for information about the Depression in
her article “Using the WPA Ex-Slave Narratives to Study the Impact of the Great Depression.”
Shaw states that historians’ concerns about using the slave narratives are “valid, but the
preoccupation with them has obscured other important ways we might utilize these documents as
historical records and with substantially more confidence.”75 Shaw explores the Great Migration,
role of gender, labor history, and aging while focusing on the conditions of the ex-slaves during
the Depression.76 Shaw investigates many facets of the Depression; namely hunger, poor living
conditions, rural versus urban conditions, North versus South conditions, work difficulties, relief,
and “generational interdependence” in living with relatives.77 Shaw also notes that “while whites
held the balance of power in southern society, many former slaves created the room to negotiate,
trading the information the interviewer wanted from them for something they wanted.”78
Ultimately, Shaw covers so many topics in her article that she is only able to give each a small
amount of attention. Shaw does acknowledge that the ex-slaves’ “responses beg for more indepth analysis.”79
Since Shaw’s article, historians have not studied the Depression content of the narratives,
and have, instead, continued to explore the subject of slavery in the narratives. A good example
74
Ibid., 25.
Stephanie J. Shaw, “Using the WPA Ex-Slave Narratives to Study the Impact of the Great Depression,” The
Journal of Southern History 69, no. 3 (2003): 626.
76
Shaw, “Using the WPA Ex-Slave Narratives to Study the Impact of the Great Depression,” 628.
77
Ibid., 623-658.
78
Ibid., 651.
79
Ibid., 630.
75
17
is John D. Fair’s 2010 article “The Georgia Slave Narratives: A Historical Conundrum.” Fair
notes that historians have focused on “the condition of the informants at the time of their
interviews during the Depression.”80 Fair counters this by stating that “virtually none of the
masters or anyone else who controlled [the ex-slaves] in their youth were around in the 1930s to
exercise power over them.”81 Fair uses quantitative and qualitative analysis in his study of the
Georgia ex-slave narratives to explore the attitudes of the ex-slaves towards their masters,
overseers, and other whites. He also assesses the attachment of ex-slaves to the slave owners and
the nostalgia expressed by ex-slaves.82 Fair concludes that “most of the ex-slaves seemed
incapable of breaking out of their generational cohort and tended to look backward rather than
forward…”83 With regard to Fair’s quantification of the narratives, he asserts: “In only one
instance in the Georgia narratives, however, is there any mention of the possibility of
government assistance.”84 Fair’s standards for this criterion must have been quite rigid, because
this thesis found more than one instance where government assistance appeared in the ex-slave
narratives. Many times the ex-slaves were not overt in their discussion of government assistance.
This thesis intersects with several of the studies outlined in the historiography. Genovese,
Woodward, Soapes, Yetman, and Spindel voiced concerns about the age of the ex-slaves. The
issue of memory and age are reduced when the narratives are used to investigate the Depression.
The ex-slaves are not remembering events from over seventy years in the past. Instead, the exslaves are relating their current circumstances. Blassingame, Woodward, and Yetman
highlighted the issue of the FWP interviewers’ influence on the content of the slave narratives.
80
John D. Fair, “The Georgia Slave Narratives: A Historical Conundrum,” The Journal of the Historical Society 10, no.
3 (2010): 249.
81
Fair, “The Georgia Slave Narratives: A Historical Conundrum,” 251.
82
Ibid., 254-263.
83
Ibid., 279.
84
Ibid., 250.
18
Yet, no extensive examination of the FWP interviewers was conducted by these historians. This
thesis will investigate the motivations of the FWP interviewers in the ex-slave narrative
interview. Sharon Ann Musher went the furthest in exploring the role of editors in the FWP
narratives by examining the duplicate narratives of Mississippi. However, Musher’s article
focused on slavery. This study will examine the Depression commentary in the duplicate
narratives from Georgia. Stephanie Shaw focused on the Depression, but covered a broad range
of topics and geographic regions. Paul D. Escott used quantitative data analysis to explore trends
within the slave narratives. This study will focus on one specific geographic location in order to
explore both the ex-slaves and the FWP interviewers in greater depth while utilizing both
quantitative and qualitative data.
The primary methodology this thesis will utilize is quantitative and qualitative data
analysis. The quantitative analysis used in this thesis was performed using Google Form Survey.
The survey consists of forty-seven categories for quantitative analysis. While Escott’s study
made use of both the FWP narratives and previous narratives compiled by Lawrence D. Reddick
and John D. Cade, this study only uses narratives from the Georgia FWP project. There are 240
ex-slave narratives from Georgia included in this study.85 Focusing on one specific region allows
for the exploration of how geographic location affected the content of the ex-slave narratives.
Georgia has an extensive set of narratives along with large black population. While Georgia’s
narratives tell the story of the ex-slaves living in that state, the Georgia narratives are also
suggestive for the experiences of ex-slaves in other Southern states, especially those living in the
lower South.
85
There were more than 240 ex-slave interviews conducted by the Georgia FWP. For the criteria of this study, only
single interviews, ex-slaves born in slavery, ex-slaves currently living in Georgia at the time of the interview, and
ex-slaves currently alive at the time of the interview were included. Thus, some ex-slave narratives were not
included in the analysis for this study because they fell outside the set criteria.
19
As Escott noted, one downside to using quantitative data is the difficulty in maintaining
objectivity.86 While quantitative data would appear to have no bias, the data is ultimately
compiled by an historian who makes conscious decisions when categorizing a qualitative
statement. For example, determining whether an ex-slave is actively bartering with an
interviewer or simply receiving assistance is a subjective decision made by the historian. While
every attempt has been made in this thesis’ quantitative data to be objective and error free, it is
impossible to do so when interpreting qualitative data. It is incredibly difficult to quantify a
qualitative statement, especially when multiple interpretations could be made of a single
qualitative statement.
One area where the quantitative data proves misleading is with the result for the criteria
“Mentions slavery better than 1930s.” In her article “Using the WPA Ex-Slave Narratives to
Study the Impact of the Great Depression,” Stephanie J. Shaw asserts:
Though rarely stated explicitly, it is likely that what has caused scholars considerable
concern about the truthfulness of the interviewees’ responses is the frequency with which
the former bondpeople seemed to say that slavery was better. It is precisely this kind of
response that makes looking at these narratives to study the Great Depression so
important. From that perspective it becomes clear that the former bondpeople often
refused to answer the question. At the very least, they refused to answer without putting
their response in the very specific context of the Great Depression.87
Shaw makes an accurate assessment of this criterion in this thesis’ quantitative data. Only
twenty-six ex-slaves, or two percent of the Georgia ex-slaves’ interviewed, felt slavery was
better than the 1930s. Either this question was not asked to a large degree, or the ex-slaves would
not answer it. The ex-slaves who did answer the question did put it in the context of the Great
Depression.
86
87
Escott, Slavery Remembered: A Record of Twentieth-Century Slave Narratives, 184.
Shaw, “Using the WPA Ex-Slave Narratives to Study the Impact of the Great Depression,” 629-630.
20
However, a closer look at this category reveals inconsistencies. Of the twenty-six exslaves, sixteen ex-slaves actually qualified their statements, and revealed that they felt a specific
detail about slavery was better than the 1930s not that slavery as a whole was better. These
specific details include food, clothing, and housing. An additional five ex-slaves had possible
qualifications. Thus, sixty-one to eighty percent of the ex-slaves who mentioned that slavery was
better than the 1930s were actually speaking about their material existence during the Depression
and relating it to slavery.88 This is likely due to what Donna J. Spindel referred to as “context
dependency,” where people living in poor conditions will reflect back and view previous times
as not as bad as their current conditions.89 The ex-slaves were interviewed during the Depression
and many did not have access to food, were living in poor housing, and were in poor health.
Based on their current circumstances, many looked back on specific features of slavery as being
better than their current conditions. The ex-slaves’ comments should not be taken as a desire to
see slavery reinstituted.
After compiling and using the quantitative data in this study, it became evident that there
was a reliance on the qualitative data from the ex-slaves given the limitations in providing details
about the Depression from a purely statistical analysis. While quantitative data does reveal broad
patterns and trends within the ex-slave narratives, it cannot provide the human element necessary
to exploring the lives of ex-slaves during the Depression. Escott lamented the human element of
emotion in the narratives:
Unfortunately, a few of the “writers” employed by the Federal Writers’ Project took their
vocational responsibilities too seriously and used each visit to a former slave as an excuse
to demonstrate their literary creativity and skills. Prose portraits of sharecroppers’ cabins
88
Rawick, The American Slave, vol. 12 (Georgia), Part 1, 90. James Bolton is one example of an ex-slave who
specifically mentioned food, clothing, and housing as being better in slavery than in the 1930s.
89
Spindel, “Assessing Memory: Twentieth-Century Slave Narratives Reconsidered,” 255.
21
or flowery descriptions of trees and surroundings resulted from such interviews, which
yielded little useful information.90
While unimportant to some historians, the “flowery descriptions” within the slave narratives
provide the reader with information about how the ex-slaves lived during the Depression.
Quantitative data can provide historians with the number of ex-slaves currently living in the
Depression, the number of ex-slaves receiving relief, or the number of ex-slaves receiving
surplus goods. However, quantitative data cannot shed light on the living conditions of ex-slaves,
their desperation for food, relief, and old age pensions, or their responses to the racism in
Georgia. Thus, this thesis primarily makes use of qualitative textual analysis and uses the
quantitative data as a secondary informational resource.
This thesis utilizes a variety of historical sources to explore the lives of the ex-slaves in
the Depression. The main source used is the FWP ex-slave narratives. This study includes both
the edited versions of the narratives sent to the Library of Congress and the unedited original
versions found by George P. Rawick in Georgia archives. These duplicate narratives will be
useful in exploring the motivations of the FWP interviewers and editors. This study also
incorporates the WPA Life History narratives in Georgia. The WPA Life History project focused
on collecting Depression-era stories from people of various ages, races, and classes. Some of the
ex-slaves’ narratives were included in this project. Additionally, some of the FWP interviewers
wrote Life History narratives about their own Depression-related experiences. Some of the FWP
interviewers worked on both the ex-slave narrative project and the WPA Life History project.
This study also utilizes archival manuscripts from the National Archives and the Library of
Congress. Both repositories hold general, administrative, and editorial correspondence from the
90
Escott, Slavery Remembered, 5.
22
FWP ex-slave narrative project. A variety of historical studies were also consulted in order to
give a richer historical analysis of slavery, Reconstruction, and the Depression.
The majority of sources utilized in this study are oral testimonies. Oral histories come
with their own strengths and weaknesses. As the historiography of this study already
demonstrates, one of the main weaknesses of oral history is memory issues. However, oral
history has many strengths. Most importantly, oral histories provide eyewitness accounts of
historical events. As Sociologist Patricia Leavy argues, oral history leads to empowerment. She
explains: “Sometimes the experience of empowerment results from having an opportunity to
share personal experiences and perspectives and thereby, in a sense, have one’s experiences and
knowledge validated.”91 Through oral history, the ex-slaves were able to share their life story
probably for the first time in their lives.
With the empowerment that came from giving their oral history, many of the ex-slaves
focused on their own agenda of gaining information and food while also protesting the
shortcomings of New Deal and relief programs. As a result of racial violence in Georgia, the exslaves had to be extremely careful when airing their grievances. Many of the slaves masked their
protests and criticisms through the use of signifying. According to Folklorist Roger D.
Abrahams, signifying can mean “to talk with great innuendo, to carp, cajole, needle and lie….the
propensity to talk around a subject, never quite coming to the point…‘making fun’ of a person or
situation…speaking with the hand and eyes…[with] a whole complex of expressions and
gestures.”92 Through gesturing, signifying becomes a performance, where the words, tone, and
the body are part of the action. The performance can vary depending on the objective of the
speaker. Signifying also involves the use of a dual voice where the speaker says one thing on the
91
Patricia Leavy, Oral History: Understanding Qualitative Research (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011), 83.
Roger D. Abrahams, Deep Down in the Jungle: Black American Folklore from the Streets of Philadelphia (New
Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers, 1964), 54.
92
23
surface while implying another meaning beneath the surface. The power of signifying lies in
speech being used as a weapon without the other person being cognizant of the aim of the
signifier. Signifying developed during slavery as a way to critique covertly without the risk of
violence.93
While signifying certainly occurred in the FWP interviews, it was compromised by the
filtering done by white interviewers and editors.94 In some cases, the voices of the ex-slaves were
edited by two or three white FWP workers. In addition, the narratives were not transcribed word
for word, which resulted in the loss of the ex-slaves’ original words and meanings. In the
narratives, it becomes incredibly difficult to ascertain whether the ex-slaves were signifying or
whether white interviewers and editors transcribed the narratives in a particular way. Without the
ex-slaves’ original words, voices, and idioms present in the narratives, a definitive analysis of the
art of signifying in the narratives is difficult.
The South was dominated by racial segregation imposed by Jim Crow laws,
disenfranchisement in public programs, and increased economic upheaval. The South had a
history of white dominant society asserting their belief of racial superiority. In his Souls of Black
Folk, historian W.E.B. Du Bois stated: “Not only is Georgia thus the geographical focus of our
Negro population, but in many other respects, both now and yesterday, the Negro problems have
seemed centered in this State.”95 Many of the problems for African Americans in Georgia were a
result of interactions with whites. Many Georgian whites believed in the dominant racist
paradigm that blacks were “childlike, basically stupid, barely removed from a savage ancestry,
93
Henry Louis Gates, Jr., The Signifying Monkey: A Theory of African-American Literary Criticism (New York: Oxford
University Press, 1988), 222, 237-238.
94
Denise Kane, “Slave Narrative Survey,” Survey. Google Drive, February 16, 2013. Seventy-five percent of the exslave interviews were conducted by white interviewers. Of the twelve editors, nine are known to be white. The
race of the remaining three is unknown, but it is unlikely that they were black.
95
W.E.B. Du Bois, Souls of Black Folk (New York: Dover, 1994), 70.
24
and should be closely controlled.”96 Governor Eugene Talmadge defended this viewpoint by
espousing his Georgian heritage:
I am a native Georgian and my ancestors on all sides of my family have been in Georgia
for 150 years. I am steeped in southern tradition and background. Neither I nor my people
have ever strayed from the pasture of southern tradition. We have not even leaned against
the fence.97
This deep belief in “southern tradition” was characteristic of white dominant society. The idea
that blacks were inferior was not a 1930s creation in Georgia, but was present early on in the
state’s history. Historian Winthrop D. Jordan argues that early colonists viewed “Negroes [as]
ignorant, stupid, unteachable, barbarous, stubborn, and deficient in understanding.”98 With
“southern tradition” entrenched in society, white dominant society in Georgia was either unable
or unwilling to cast off the racism that was passed down from generation to generation. This
ideology in Georgia is evident in the Federal Writers’ Project slave narratives. As seen in the
exchanges between the ex-slaves and the white interviewers, the white FWP interviewers could
not easily shed their culturally ingrained belief system.
This thesis is divided into three main chapters. Chapter one provides the historical
background of African Americans in Georgia from slavery to the Depression and the creation of
the FWP program. It also explores the racial setting in Georgia at the time of the FWP ex-slave
interviews and its effect on the FWP interviews. Chapter two explores the transcription and
editing requirements of the FWP program, the background of the FWP interviewers, and the
agenda of the FWP interviewers. This chapter investigates the differences in agenda between the
white interviewers and black interviewers. White interviewers sought to perpetuate racial
96
William Anderson, The Wild Man From Sugar Creek: The Political Career of Eugene Talmadge (Baton Rouge:
Louisiana State University, 1975), 21.
97
Anderson, The Wild Man From Sugar Creek, 22.
98
Winthrop D. Jordan, The White Man’s Burden: Historical Origins of Racism in the United States (New York:
Oxford University Press, 1974), 90.
25
ideology and racist social structure through manipulation of the slave narratives. Black
interviewers attempted to present the ex-slaves as intelligent and equal to whites. Chapter three
explores the conditions of elderly African Americans in the Depression and how they were
bypassed by New Deal and relief programs. As a result of their inability to receive assistance, the
ex-slaves developed their own agenda and targeted specific interviewers with whom to barter for
information and food. As a whole, these three chapters provide an exploration of race relations in
1930s Georgia between blacks and whites and the motivations of each during the Depression.
26
Chapter One:
African Americans, the New Deal, and the FWP Slave Narrative Project in Georgia
Georgia had a long history of racial violence and subjugation of blacks. African
Americans in Georgia were enslaved for over one hundred years, and, upon their emancipation,
kept in servitude through farming practices aimed at preventing black autonomy. Racial violence
impacted the lives of most African Americans. After the Civil War, the state was dominated by
Jim Crow segregation and etiquette, which controlled the social, political, and economic actions
of African Americans. It was in this tense racial setting that the Federal Writers’ Project (FWP)
began recording interviews with former slaves in Georgia. While the project sought to record
stories about slavery, FWP interviews also revealed strained race relations between blacks and
whites, an inheritance of the long legacy of slavery and racism.
The British colonies in America initially lacked the structure for slavery, but it soon
developed and spread to other colonies, including Georgia. In 1619, the first Africans were
transported to the Virginia colony.99 Founded in the 1730s, Georgia officially became a slave
colony in 1750.100 Georgia’s agricultural market included rice, textiles, and cotton. Black slaves
would come to exceed the white population.101 According to historian Steven Hahn, slavery “was
a system of extreme personal domination in which a slave had no relationship that achieved legal
sanction or recognition other than with the master…”102 The total time of enslavement for
99
David Brion Davis, Inhuman Bondage: The Rise and Fall of Slavery in the New World (New York: Oxford University
Press, 2006), 124. There are reports of some African slaves reaching the colonies in the late 1500s. The status of
African slaves was ambiguous.
100
Davis, Inhuman Bondage, 80, 136. During this time period, Georgia was under British rule. Slavery was initially
outlawed in Georgia until the British monarchy approved slavery in 1750.
101
Ibid., 125, 136.
102
Steven Hahn, A Nation Under Our Feet: Black Political Struggles in the Rural South from Slavery to the Great
Migration (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2003), 16.
27
Georgia ex-slaves interviewed by the FWP ranged from approximately one year to forty years.103
The Georgia ex-slaves experienced the Civil War, which, in part, brought the end of slavery. The
Civil War began in 1861 between the North and the South when the South seceded from the
United States over ideological issues. On January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued an
Emancipation Proclamation that all slaves in “rebellious states” were free. On January 31, 1865,
the thirteenth amendment abolished slavery in the United States.104 The Civil War ended on
April 9, 1865 with the emancipation of over four million slaves.105
Emancipation brought significant changes to black life. African Americans were now
able to labor for pay. While they wanted to own land and acquire wealth, most blacks were
forced into sharecropping or tenant farming. Sharecropping involved a white land owner
dividing their land into smaller plots and renting those plots out to black families. The white land
owners would provide tools, animals, and crops for planting. At the end of the season, the black
family was required to pay at least half of the crops to the white land owner. Often, black
sharecroppers went into debt to whites when their crop yield was not adequate or they borrowed
more from the white land owner than their yield was worth.106 This debt was referred to as
peonage. Essentially, the black farmers were forced to farm for the same white land owner until
they could settle their debts.107
103
Denise Kane, “Slave Narrative Survey,” Survey. Google Drive, February 16, 2013. The youngest ex-slaves
interviewed were Minnie Green and Carrie Nancy Fryer, who were both 72 when interviewed. Thus, they were
approximately one years old at the end of slavery. The oldest ex-slaves interviewed were Phil Towns and George
Brooks. Both claimed to be 112 years old. This would mean that they were born around 1824.
104
James M. McPherson, The Negro’s Civil War: How American Blacks Felt and Acted During the War For the Union
(New York: Vintage Books, 1965), 48, 52.
105
James McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era (New York: Oxford University Press, 1988), 848, 854.
106
Leon F. Litwack, Been in the Storm So Long: The Aftermath of Slavery (New York: Vintage Books, 1979), 446-448.
107
Leon F. Litwack, Trouble in Mind: Black Southerners in the Age of Jim Crow (New York: Vintage Books, 1998),
140; George P. Rawick, ed., The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography, vol 13 (Georgia), Part 4 (Westport,
Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Company, 1972), 131. Ex-Slave William Ward was a victim of peonage. His
narrative reports: “Ward was taken to Mississippi where he remained in another form of slavery (Peonage System)
for 40 years.
28
In addition to a corrupt labor system, blacks were barred from full participation in
politics. In 1868, the fourteenth amendment was passed and provided “a national guarantee of
equality before the law.”108 In 1870, the fifteenth amendment assured blacks the vote.109 While
federal law dictated that blacks were equal and had the right to vote, the states passed
constitutional amendments that outlawed equality or political participation. According to
historian Leon F. Litwack, “the issue of political participation remained linked in the white mind
with black assertiveness and social equality.”110 Thus, literacy examinations were enacted to
keep blacks from voting.111
Further, white dominant society sought to keep blacks in an inferior position through Jim
Crow, or segregation. According to Leon F. Litwack, white dominant society enacted
segregation wherever blacks and whites might interact.112 Segregation was enforced throughout
society, including separation in trains, waiting rooms, stores, and restrooms. Signs were placed
throughout public spaces designating which spaces were for whites and which were for
“colored.”113 Violating segregation laws would result in violence directed at blacks. Through
segregation, white dominant society succeeded in enforcing racial hierarchy, which placed
whites at the top and blacks at the bottom.
Beginning in slavery and continuing through the Reconstruction to the Depression,
Georgia was plagued by violence directed at blacks. Economics was one of the reasons for the
animosity of whites towards blacks. The dependency on cotton in the late 1800s meant that
108
Eric Foner, Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877 (New York: Perennial Classics, 1988),
257.
109
Foner, Reconstruction, 417.
110
Leon F. Litwack, Trouble in Mind: Black Southerners in the Age of Jim Crow (New York: Vintage Books, 1998),
220.
111
Litwack, Trouble in Mind, 224.
112
Ibid., 233.
113
Ibid., 232-233.
29
whites relied on black labor. As a result, there was a “troublesome problem of securing and
controlling black labor…” which added to the racial tension during the Reconstruction period.114
In order to “defend their economic interests,” there was a rise in mob violence throughout the
cotton belt of Georgia during the 1920s.115 The Great Depression brought additional economic
problems to Georgia. During the Depression, the unemployment rate for blacks hovered between
one-third and one-half of black workers.116 In Atlanta, the rate rose as high as seventy to seventyfive percent.117 The white unemployment rate was often two to three times less than the black
unemployment rate.118 In Georgia, racial tension and violence rose whenever there was increased
competition for employment.
Lynching was the major form of violence in Georgia from the Reconstruction through the
Depression. There is disagreement over the total number of lynchings in Georgia during this
period. A study by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
found that there were 2,834 lynchings in the South from 1889 to 1918. The majority of these
lynchings were in Georgia with a total of 386. African Americans accounted for 360 of the
lynchings in Georgia.119 According to historian W. Fitzhugh Brundage, there were 460 lynchings
in Georgia from 1880 to 1930, with 441 of the lynchings involving African Americans.120
Alleged crimes of murder and rape accounted for the majority of the lynchings. Other crimes
included attacks on women, other crimes against a person, crimes against property,
114
W. Fitzhugh Brundage, Lynching in the New South: Georgia and Virginia, 1880-1930 (Chicago: University of
Illinois Press, 1993), 120.
115
Brundage, Lynching in the New South, 23.
116
Cheryl Lynn Greenberg, To Ask For An Equal Chance: African Americans in the Great Depression (New York:
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2009), 25.
117
Greenberg, To Ask For An Equal Chance, 25; Karen Ferguson, Black Politics in New Deal Atlanta (Chapel Hill: The
University of North Carolina Press, 2002), 119.
118
Greenberg, To Ask For An Equal Chance, 25.
119
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Thirty Years of Lynching in the United States,
1889-1918 (Clark, New Jersey: The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd., 2012), 7.
120
Brundage, Lynching in the New South, 262.
30
miscellaneous crimes, and an absence of crime. The last category included “testifying against
whites, suing whites, wrong man lynched, race prejudice, or defending himself against an attack”
in addition to others not listed.121 According to W. Fitzhugh Brundage, “Many mob victims were
young black men who may have shown insufficient caution in avoiding situations that older
blacks might have perceived as dangerous.”122 However, elderly blacks and women were
amongst the lynching victims as well.123 Lynching had no boundaries of age or sex if the offense
was deemed necessary by white mobs.
The brutality involved with Georgia lynchings varied case by case. Upon witnessing the
lynching of her husband, Mary Turner “loudly proclaim[ed] her husband’s innocence.”124 As a
result of her protest, “Mary Turner was pregnant and was hung by her feet. Gasoline was thrown
on her clothing and it was set on fire. Her body was cut open and her infant fell to the ground
with a little cry, to be crushed to death by the heel of one of the white men present.”125 In most
cases, mobs were not held accountable for their crimes. Regardless of the severity, the act of
lynching African Americans was “a tool of racial repression.”126 By lynching alleged criminals,
mobs were successful in upholding their own version of justice and racial superiority. The mobs
also succeeded in terrifying black society into submission.
One of the mobs operating in Georgia was the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). The KKK formed
in December of 1865 and sought to “control the newly freed Negro and his Northern friends.”127
According to David M. Chalmers, “The method of the Klan was violence. It threatened, exiled,
121
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Thirty Years of Lynching in the United States,
1889-1918, 36.
122
Brundage, Lynching in the New South, 81.
123
Ibid., 112, 263.
124
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Thirty Years of Lynching in the United States,
1889-1918, 26.
125
Ibid.
126
Ibid., viii.
127
rd
David M. Chalmers, Hooded Americanism: The History of the Ku Klux Klan, 3 edition (Durham: Duke University
Press, 1987), 8-9.
31
flogged, mutilated, shot, stabbed, and hanged.”128 During its history, the KKK maintained a
strong connection with Georgia. After declining in the 1870s, the KKK had a resurgence in
Georgia in 1915 that quickly spread. Parades were held in Georgia where the KKK warned
against behavior, like “loafing, thieving, and prowling…”129 The KKK had a strong presence in
Georgia where clan members beat and killed blacks.130 The KKK maintained close relations with
politicians, law enforcement, and other city officials, which guaranteed the organization free
reign in terrorizing African Americans.131
In addition to violent personal attacks and lynchings, Georgia also experienced riots. In
1906, the Atlanta Riot lasted five days and resulted in the deaths of “at least twenty-five black
Atlantans…with hundreds seriously wounded or left homeless.”132 Ex-slave E.W. Evans
witnessed the riot firsthand. Evans recalled in his FWP interview that he “saw the toll of the riot
– hatred, prejudice, and murder.”133 Evans stated that the soldiers sent out to protect Atlantans
“wuz just a gang of soldiers…they wuz acting like ordinary, revengeful people, pouring out their
hatred for the Negro.”134 Evans remembered the soldiers chanting: “We are rough, we are tough,
/ We are rough, we are tough, / We kill niggers and never get enough.”135 Evans was in disbelief
about what he saw:
[The soldiers] seemed bent on showing their wrath against the Negro. That wuz a pitiful
time. Negroes wuz shot down without any cause and they wuz scared to be seen on the
street. We had no one, it seemed, on our side…There they wuz really adding to the riot,
more hatred, deaths, and not doing what they wuz supposed to do.136
128
Chalmers, Hooded Americanism, 10.
Ibid., 71.
130
Ibid., 76.
131
Ibid., 71.
132
Ferguson, Black Politics in New Deal Atlanta, 20-21.
133
George P. Rawick, ed., The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography, Supplement Series 1, vol 4 (Georgia),
Part 2 (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Company, 1977), 407.
134
Rawick, The American Slave, Supplement Series 1, vol 4 (Georgia), Part 2, 407.
135
Ibid.
136
Ibid., 407-408.
129
32
Lynchings, personal attacks, and riots served to keep African Americans in an inferior position to
whites. By violently lashing out at blacks, whites sought to punish alleged crimes while also
providing evidence for why black society as a whole needed to know their place.
White dominant society in Georgia maintained strict beliefs about racial etiquette. Minor
deviations by African Americans could have dire consequences. By 1930, alleged minor crimes
were equal to alleged murder as the reason for lynchings.137 The reason for this shift was the
push for a federal anti-lynching law. W. Fitzhugh Brundage argues that “the looming threat of an
antilynching bill also strengthened the resolve southerners to halt mob violence.” 138 Minor
offenses included “frightening women, enticing a servant away, public indecency, and writing a
letter to a white girl.”139 W. Fitzhugh Brundage asserts:
The persistent scrutiny of black behavior for evidence of deceit and unacceptable
aspirations, to be sure, threatened constantly to generate violent encounters. The averted
look, the mumbled insubordination, or the momentary sneer by a black in the presence of
a white might all be perceived to be grievous wrongs, but it was up to each white to make
the intricate determinations of the magnitude of the insult.140
Whites in the South “aspire[d] to honor.”141 A perceived insult by an African American
challenged the superiority and honor of whites. Therefore, blacks who insulted whites, whether
they were aware of it or not, had to be dealt with in order to maintain “personal honor.”142 Thus,
African Americans were held to a strict racial etiquette in order to uphold the perceived
superiority of whites.
137
Brundage, Lynching in the New South, 51, 263. In previous years, murders were leading reason for lynching. In
1930, murder and minor crimes each amounted to forty percent of the lynchings, for a total of eighty percent of
lynchings. The total number of lynchings in 1930 was 7, with 3 lynchings for minor crimes, 3 lynchings for murder,
and 1 lynching for sexual assault.
138
Ibid., 52, 244. While there was a shift in the types of crimes that resulted in lynching, in general, lynchings
declined in the 1930s. In 1930, there were 7 lynchings. In previous decades, lynchings were as high as 137
lynchings from 1910-1919. The reason for the decline was a push for anti-lynching laws. As a result, most
Southerners abandoned mob violence in favor of increased segregation.
139
Ibid., 50-57.
140
Ibid., 57.
141
Ibid., 50.
142
Ibid., 51.
33
African Americans in Georgia were particularly hard hit by the Depression. The
unemployment rate amongst African Americans was approximately fifty to seventy-five percent.
By 1934, the unemployment rate in Atlanta was seventy percent.143 One of the main reasons for
the high unemployment was an increased competition for jobs amongst blacks and whites.
Blacks were passed over for jobs in favor of white workers.144 As a result, urban blacks faced
eviction for their inability to pay their rent.145 Others lived in “precarious, tumbledown shacks
with rotting floors, their flimsy walls lined with newspapers to keep the wind from whistling
through.”146 Many Georgia blacks barely had enough to feed their families and relied on local
charities for assistance.147 As a result of their economic situation, blacks more often sought
federal relief programs than whites.148
When the New Deal started in 1933, it bypassed many African Americans. The largest
problem for blacks with New Deal programs in Georgia was discrimination. Georgia would not
accept the federal government’s call for equal wages in most of the programs. Under the Federal
Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) and Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC),
blacks received less pay than whites. Blacks would receive fifty cents per day and whites would
receive ninety cents per day.149 When FERA was forced to reduce relief rolls, blacks were often
the first let go with the practice that they were the “last hired, first fired.”150 The National
Recovery Administration (NRA) in Georgia skirted the federal government by giving lower
143
Greenberg, To Ask For An Equal Chance: African Americans in the Great Depression, 25.
Ferguson, Black Politics in New Deal Atlanta, 47-48.
145
Greenberg, To Ask For An Equal Chance, 74.
146
Ibid., 90.
147
Andrew M. Manis, Macon Black and White: An Unutterable Separation in the American Century (Macon,
Georgia: Mercer University Press and The Tubman African American Museum, 2004), 108.
148
Greenberg, To Ask For An Equal Chance, 49.
149
Michael S. Holmes, The New Deal in Georgia: An Administrative History (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood
Press, 1975), 12, 21; Ferguson, Black Politics in New Deal Atlanta, 75. Both FERA and the RFC provided money and
loans to states. The RFC provided the loans to help with local work projects.
150
Holmes, The New Deal in Georgia, 87.
144
34
wages in opposition to federal regulations.151 Racist protests were also aimed at the New Deal
programs in Georgia. White citizens were angry that some of the programs, including the WPA,
had non-segregated drinking fountains and hallways. White dominant society also opposed
blacks being referred to as Miss, Mister, or Missus.152 There were also complaints that black and
white women were sitting next to each other in WPA sewing programs.153 Gay B. Shepperson,
the Georgia WPA administrator, attempted to help blacks, but “her general rule was to draw the
line in helping blacks at the point where it might seriously jeopardize her program.”154 Thus,
many blacks dealt with unequal wages, unemployment, lack of job security since they would be
the first released from a program, and racial discrimination at the hands of New Deal
administrators. The situation was worse for elderly African Americans. They were bypassed by
the work programs available in Georgia.155
Politicians in Georgia enforced the racial hierarchy and ideology of white supremacy.
Serving as governor from 1933 to 1937, Eugene Talmadge was not shy about declaring his
thoughts on white and black relations: “I want to deal with the nigger this way; he must come to
my backdoor, take off his hat, and say ‘Yes, sir.’”156 Further, Talmadge also upheld racial
segregation. According to Stetson Kennedy, “Eugene Talmadge once publicly flogged a Negro
chauffeur for eating candy out of the same paper bag with his Northern white woman employer
while driving through Georgia.”157 Talmadge also had connections to the KKK. On more than
one occasion, he pardoned members of the KKK for their crimes, including murder and flogging.
151
Ibid., 7, 196.
Ibid., 106.
153
Ibid., 132.
154
Ibid., 106.
155
Josephine C. Brown, Public Relief, 1929-1939 (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1940), 154-155. The elderly
were deemed as “unemployable” and most often referred to relief.
156
William Anderson, The Wild Man from Sugar Creek: The Political Career of Eugene Talmadge (Baton Rouge:
Louisiana State University Press, 1975), 230.
157
Stetson Kennedy, Jim Crow Guide: The Way It Was (Boca Raton: Florida Atlantic University Press, 1990), 211.
152
35
Talmadge admitted that he felt “sorry for the floggers, would take their pleas [for pardon] under
consideration. He recalled that he had once helped flog a Negro himself.”158 With the political
elite in Georgia supporting segregation and violence, African Americans could not turn to those
in power for help.
In addition to his racist views about blacks, Talmadge was completely against New Deal
programs operating in Georgia. According to historian Michael S. Holmes, Talmadge
“understood the threat to the social, economic, and political structure of the state that the
agencies posed.”159 He was against the extension of the Agricultural Adjustment Agency (AAA).
In addition to publicly criticizing the program, Talmadge attempted to disrupt its policies.160
When the extension of AAA passed, he blamed African Americans.161 Talmadge also protested
the operations of the Civil Works Administration (CWA). He felt the CWA’s wages for all
workers were too high even though workers were only receiving forty cents per hour.162
Talmadge wanted absolute control over relief programs in Georgia. To that end, he insisted on
reviewing all relief checks and salaries of FERA employees. He continually disagreed with
Shepperson’s management of FERA. In addition, Talmadge threatened to veto bills and fired
qualified personnel. Eventually, Harry Hopkins, administrator of the national relief programs,
federalized FERA in Georgia so that Talmadge could not exert any more influence.163 Talmadge
also prevented the Social Security Act from operating in Georgia until 1937 when he was voted
out of office. Talmadge attempted to interfere with most of the New Deal programs that operated
158
Chalmers, Hooded Americanism, 107, 322, 326-328.
Holmes, The New Deal in Georgia, 312.
160
Ibid., 212, 222, 229. The AAA promoted “production control” of crops and paid farmers to destroy crops.
161
Ibid., 232.
162
Ibid., 61, 81, 83. The CWA employed millions of unemployed workers on work relief projects. The minimum
wage was eventually lowered to thirty cents per hour due to administrative costs. The decision was not due to
Talmadge’s complaints.
163
Holmes, The New Deal in Georgia, 27-33; Ferguson, Black Politics in New Deal Atlanta, 77. Shepperson and
Georgia’s FERA program would report directly to Washington bypassing Talmadge.
159
36
in Georgia leading to delays in relief, discrimination, and corruption in the administration of
these programs.
It was under this extreme racism and poverty that the FWP came to Georgia. There had
been several attempts to conduct ex-slave interviews in other parts of the nation prior to the FWP
slave narrative project. In 1929, two projects simultaneously started at universities. The first
project took place at Southern University in Louisiana and was headed by John B. Cade.164 The
project sought “information regarding food, clothing, housing facilities, working conditions,
amusements, religious practices, educational opportunities, family life, punishments and any
other information obtainable.”165 In total, Cade’s project yielded eighty-two ex-slave
narratives.166 The second project took place at Fisk University in Tennessee and was headed by
Charles S. Johnson. The project began after several ex-slaves “were among those interviewed by
Ophelia Settle of the Institute’s research staff” while working on another project.167 Interviews
took place in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Alabama.168 Cade and Johnson were ultimately
responsible for the first efforts to secure interviews with ex-slaves.
In the 1930s, the idea of collecting slave narratives was revived. In 1936, historian
Lawrence Reddick asserted:
Let it be declared here and now that for the purposes of Negro history, barring the
discovery of new materials, the topic of slavery in the United States has been virtually
exhausted. It is a further waste of time to continue to examine the few plantation records,
the papers of the masters, or the usually superficial impressions of travelers…There is not
yet a picture of the institution as seen through the eyes of the bondsman himself.169
164
Norman R. Yetman, “The Background of the Slave Narrative Collection,” American Quarterly 19, no. 3 (1967):
541.
165
John B. Cade, “Out of the Mouths of Ex-Slaves,” The Journal of Negro History 20, no. 3 (1935): 295.
166
Cade, “Out of the Mouths of Ex-Slaves,” 295.
167
Yetman, “The Background of the Slave Narrative Collection,” 541.
168
Ibid.
169
L.D. Reddick, “A New Interpretation for Negro History,” The Journal of Negro History 22, no. 1 (1937): 20.
37
Reddick “suggest[ed] that the goals of the Federal relief program might be adapted to a project
designed to interview ex-slaves…”170 Reddick’s aim was a “southern regional project,” which
would involve 500 African-American employees interviewing former slaves.171 The project
ultimately failed due to a “dearth of qualified personnel…coupled with a lack of co-ordination
inherent in the administrative structure of FERA and the uncertainty of the future FERA arts
programs under its successor, [the] Works Progress Administration…”172 As a result, the initial
slave narrative projects had limited successes in localized venues, but lacked the ability to gain
widespread support.
An ex-slave narrative project would finally reach a larger audience when the idea was
coupled with the Federal Writers’ Project, which began in 1935. One main goal of the FWP was
to put unemployed writers back to work while documenting various topics of American history.
The FWP’s main project was the American Guide Series, which created guidebooks about fortyeight states, large cities, and other areas of public interest.173 There were several smaller projects
including folklore studies, socio-ethnic studies, life histories, and the ex-slave narrative
project.174
The ex-slave narrative project got off the ground in Georgia in July of 1936 when
Reverend J.C. Wright of the Atlanta Urban League appealed to Georgia FWP Director Carolyn
170
Yetman, “The Background of the Slave Narrative Collection,” 541.
Ibid., 542.
172
Ibid. It is unknown whether there were actually unqualified personnel or that the project lacked true
dedication.
173
Jerrold Hirsch, Portrait of America: A Cultural History of the Federal Writers’ Project (Chapel Hill: The University
of North Carolina Press, 2003), 42-53.
174
William F. McDonald, Federal Relief Administration and the Arts (Ohio State University Press: 1969), 721;
Yetman, “The Background of the Slave Narrative Collection,” 544-551. In 1936, only Florida, Georgia, and South
Carolina had participated in the ex-slave narrative project. It expanded to include seventeen states by April of
1937. The seventeen states included Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland,
Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.
171
38
Dillard to “have some [FWP] workers write up the life stories of ex-slaves.”175 Dillard wrote to
Henry G. Alsberg, National Director of the Federal Writers’ Project, for approval of the project.
Alsberg replied that “there was a project of this type under CWA and FERA. It was started in
Kentucky, but for some reason was not well conducted and therefore discontinued. Indeed, I
think in all of the southern states and some of the northern states a project of this type could be
undertaken if it were wisely handled.”176 The Georgia project commenced soon afterward.
The first task for the Georgia FWP was to locate ex-slaves willing to participate in an
interview. Initially, Dillard worked closely with Reverend Wright and the Atlanta Urban League.
Dillard stated in a letter to Alsberg that she was meeting with the pastor to determine “the best
means for working with the ex-slaves.”177 The Ex-Slave Association of Atlanta also agreed to
help the FWP with the interviews. The Director of the Ex-Slave Association, R.B. Holmes,
would help provide the names and locations of former slaves.178 After meeting with district FWP
supervisors, Dillard located additional ex-slaves to interview.179 Trial interviews were completed
with some of the ex-slaves and Dillard corresponded with Professor Sterling A. Brown, an
African-American Howard University professor and director of the Negro Studies Project, as
well as several professors from Atlanta University.180
The FWP also solicited other organizations for help in locating ex-slaves who could be
interviewed. It is likely that the Georgia FWP utilized state pension records in obtaining ex175
Carolyn Dillard, Georgia State Director Federal Writers’ Project, to Henry G. Alsberg, Director Federal Writers’
Project, July 3, 1936; Georgia Ex-slave Correspondence. NACP.
176
Henry G. Alsberg, Director Federal Writers’ Project, to Carolyn Dillard, Georgia State Director Federal Writers’
Project, July 7, 1936; Georgia Ex-slave Correspondence. NACP.
177
Carolyn Dillard, Georgia State Director Federal Writers’ Project, to Henry G. Alsberg, Director Federal Writers’
Project, July 18, 1936; Georgia Ex-slave Correspondence. NACP.
178
Dillard to Alsberg, July 18, 1936; Georgia Ex-slave Correspondence. NACP.
179
Carolyn Dillard, Georgia State Director Federal Writers’ Project, to Henry G. Alsberg, Director Federal Writers’
Project, August 1, 1936; Georgia Ex-slave Correspondence, NACP.
180
Dillard to Alsberg, August 1, 1936; Georgia Ex-slave Correspondence. NACP. The Negro Studies Projects sought
to provide African Americans with employment while collecting the history of African Americans in the United
States.
39
slaves to interview.181 Former slaves were also located through relief programs. Henry Alsberg
promoted the FWP program to New Deal organizations. While attending the Conference on
Commodity Distribution in Washington, D.C., Alsberg suggested that the Federal Surplus Relief
Corporation (FSRC) could make use of the FWP. He recommended using WPA writers and
photographers to help with the FSRC’s publicity when distributing surplus goods to the needy.
He advised the state directors to “tell [your workers] to keep their eyes open for interesting
stories about people you serve.”182 Alsberg’s advice had two potential effects. It may have
helped the FSRC gain positive publicity by highlighting the people they helped. It also could
have brought possible stories to the FWP. Some ex-slaves in Georgia were recipients of surplus
goods. It is possible that a FSRC employee passed on their story to the FWP, which facilitated an
interview.
The national FWP office provided the states with interview questions they could ask the
ex-slaves. These questions were later revised as the national office received and reviewed
completed slave narratives. Henry Alsberg advised the state directors that “the specific questions
suggested to be asked of the slaves should be only a basis, a beginning.”183 The interviewers
were encouraged to devise their own questions while in the midst of an interview. According to a
questionnaire used by the Virginia FWP, and likely other states, there were approximately 333
unique questions devised over the course of the national FWP ex-slave narrative project.184 There
were few questions specifically related to the Depression. Two questions on the Virginia draft
181
George Cronyn, Associate Director Federal Writers’ Project, to J. Frank Davis, State Director Federal Writers’
Project, April 13, 1937; Texas Ex-slave Correspondence. NACP. George Cronyn, associate director of the FWP,
suggested that the Texas FWP use state pension records to locate former slaves. It is possible Georgia also utilized
these types of records to locate ex-slaves.
182
Transcript, “Conference on Commodity Distribution,” September 19-21, 1935; FSRC. LC.
183
Henry G. Alsberg, Director Federal Writers’ Project, to State Directors Federal Writers’ Project, July 30, 1937;
Georgia Ex-slave Correspondence. NACP.
184
Charles L. Perdue Jr., Thomas E. Barden, and Robert K. Phillips, Weevils in the Wheat: Interviews with Virginia
Ex-Slaves (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1976), 367-376.
40
included: “Are times as good now or better compared with slave days? Have you been happier in
slavery or free?”185 While these questions encouraged a discussion of slavery, they led to
comments about the Depression. In an interview with Georgia ex-slave Queen Elizabeth Bunts,
she was asked two Depression-related questions: “What are you doing now? To what factor or
factors do you attribute to your ripe old age?”186 Despite the suggested federal questions, the
interviewers had full control over what they chose to ask during the interview. The final length
of the interview varied, but it was not uncommon for over sixty questions to be asked during one
interview.187
While the project focused on slavery, FWP administrators in Washington were supportive
of collecting and publishing information on the ex-slaves’ experiences during the Depression.
Even though the project focused on slavery, some memorandums from the national FWP
encouraged interviewers to seek Depression-related testimony. In 1937, Henry Alsberg offered
general suggestions to the states regarding questions to ask the ex-slaves. The questions
included: “What have the ex-slaves been doing in the interim between 1864 and 1937? What
jobs have they held (in detail)? How are they supported nowadays?”188 John A. Lomax, National
Advisor of Folklore and Folkways on the Federal Writers’ Project, also encouraged gathering
information about the Depression in a letter to the state director of Ohio: “In further work of this
kind, I would suggest that a description of the person, his home, and surroundings be
included.”189 In another letter, Lomax advised that “having no description of the physical
conditions under which [the ex-slave] lives or of the intimate details of [the ex-slave’s] life, is,
185
Perdue Jr., Barden, and Phillips, Weevils in the Wheat, 372.
George P. Rawick, ed., The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography, Supplement, Series 1, vol. 3 (Georgia),
Part 1 (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1977), 130.
187
Rawick, The American Slave, Supplement, Series 1, vol. 3 (Georgia), Part 1, 130.
188
Alsberg to State Directors, Federal Writers’ Project, July 30, 1937; Georgia Ex-slave Correspondence. NACP.
189
John A. Lomax, National Advisor of Folklore and Folkways Federal Writers’ Project, to James G. Dunton, State
Director Federal Writers’ Project, June 5, 1937; Ohio Ex-slave Correspondence. NACP.
186
41
for our purposes, largely valueless.”190 The national FWP office placed importance on gathering
details of the ex-slaves’ current lives.
Further, in correspondence with Alsberg, Alan Lomax, assistant in charge of the Archive
of Folk Song at the Library of Congress and John A. Lomax’s son, suggested various publication
themes for the narratives. One idea was to emphasize economics. Alan Lomax listed several
possible questions aimed at the economics of slavery and Reconstruction. At the end of his list
were several questions aimed at the Depression: “What have the ex-slaves been doing in the
interim between 1864 and 1937? Have they been hungry? What jobs have they held (in detail)
and at what pay? How are they supported nowadays? What is their present monthly or weekly
income?”191 Alan Lomax asserted:
Here, for the first time in the history of literature, so far as I know, a group of poor and
despised people are being given a chance to speak their piece, give their side of the
picture. And the moral of the book should certainly be not that slavery, but exploitation,
is a nasty thing. The evidence should not stop, therefore, with the war, but with 1937. It is
just as important to know how ex-slaves live, as how slaves lived. Rather more is known
about slaves than about ex-slaves.192
The FWP director, a national advisor, and an assistant with the Library of Congress all
recognized the value of recording the ex-slaves’ experiences during the Depression. It is clear
that the national FWP would have accepted, and even encouraged, Depression-related
commentary in the ex-slave narratives.
In looking specifically at Georgia, quantitative data reveals the degree to which FWP
interviewers chose to inquire about Depression-era issues. Out of 240 total respondents, some
190
John A. Lomax, National Advisor of Folklore and Folkways Federal Writers’ Project, to James G. Dunton, State
Director Federal Writers’ Project, June 22, 1937; Ohio Ex-slave Correspondence. NACP.
191
Alan Lomax and Elizabeth to Henry G. Alsberg, Director Federal Writers’ Project, n.d.; Georgia Ex-slave
Correspondence. NACP. Alan Lomax’s suggested questions are similar to the suggested questions of Henry Alsberg.
Lomax’s suggested questions were located in administrative papers of the national FWP. Alsberg’s suggested
questions were included in a memorandum to the states. It is likely that Lomax’s suggestion were forwarded to
Alsberg and incorporated into Alsberg’s memorandum.
192
Lomax and Elizabeth to Alsberg, n.d.; Georgia Ex-slave Correspondence. NACP.
42
facet of the Depression appears in 176 interviews -- seventy-three percent. However, in many of
these interviews, the physical condition of the ex-slaves’ homes were described rather than the
interviewee directly discussing the Depression. Only a small number of ex-slaves actually
commented on the Depression. Two percent of ex-slaves mentioned receiving old age pensions,
but seven percent stated they were trying to get or wanted a pension.193 Seven percent of exslaves answered questions about receiving local or federal relief. Three percent of ex-slaves
answered whether they were receiving surplus goods. For most direct questions regarding the
Depression, the non-response rates total fifty-nine to ninety-seven percent depending on the
topic, which shows that a large portion of the ex-slaves were not asked or did not comment on
the Depression.194
There are several possibilities for the lack of discussion of Depression-related topics. The
main goal of the project was to collect information about slavery. Interviewers may have decided
to include few questions about the Depression, which would have produced the non-response
results. Also, interviewers had ultimate control over the transcription of their interviews. They
could decide whether to include or exclude information. It is possible that Georgia interviewers
elected to exclude comments related to the Depression. Further, many ex-slaves were chosen
from relief or pension rolls. Other ex-slaves may have been chosen because they received surplus
goods. The interviewers may have been aware of the ex-slaves’ relief status and elected not to
ask any questions regarding information they already knew. In the end, Georgia interviewers
made conscious decisions over which questions they would ask. Based on the non-response rates
193
Old age pensions were not typically considered a form of Depression-era relief. Instead, they were generally
considered a form a private retirement. However, old age pensions were considered a form of Depression-era
relief by African Americans. With traditional relief programs bypassing elderly African Americans, the ex-slaves
began to view old age pensions as a form of relief during the Depression. Further, the “old age pensions” the exslaves are referring to are part of the Social Security Act, which was enacted during the Great Depression. In
essence, this makes old age pensions a Depression-era relief program.
194
Kane, “Slave Narrative Survey,” February 16, 2013.
43
on Depression-related topics, Georgia interviewers elected to either not inquire about the
Depression or censor the responses they did receive.195
While quantitative data can give historians broad trends and patterns related to the topic
of the Depression in the FWP interviews, it cannot reveal the complex racial situation that
existed in Georgia between blacks and whites. The FWP’s operations were affected by race
relations in the South. In a letter to the national office, state director William Key noted that
there were three “qualified” African-American workers that “would be of some material
assistance to our work in this area.”196 Key explained:
Naturally, to place additional persons on the project would require either authorization to
increase the local personnel or the dismissal of three white employees and the
substitution of the colored workers. I do not think such dismissal and substitution would
be good policy in this area.197
The Georgia FWP was acutely aware of the racial tension in the area, and the fact that replacing
white workers with black workers would be met with hostility and possible violence. Thus, the
Georgia FWP employed a majority of white interviewers, which reinforced racist ideology and
social structures.
The Georgia FWP was impacted by the tense racial climate. In seventy-five percent of
the interviews, white FWP workers interviewed the ex-slaves.198 These workers lived in the
cities where they interviewed the ex-slaves. Some of the ex-slaves knew the FWP interviewers,
because the interviewers were relatives of their former masters. One issue that arose in
interviews was persuading African Americans to discuss their past with white interviewers. As a
result, the Georgia FWP interviewers used a variety of interview techniques while interviewing
195
Kane, “Slave Narrative Survey,” February 16, 2013.
William O. Key, Georgia State Director Federal Writers’ Project, to Henry G. Alsberg, Director Federal Writers’
Project, January 9, 1936; Employment 1937. Editorial Correspondence. NACP.
197
Key to Alsberg, January 9, 1936; Employment 1937. Editorial Correspondence. NACP.
198
Kane, “Slave Narrative Survey,” February 16, 2013. Black interviewers performed eighteen percent of the
interviews. It is unknown what race the interviewer was in six percent of the interviews.
196
44
the ex-slaves to obtain desired information. According to C. Vann Woodward, the interviewers
“flouted very nearly every rule in the handbooks of interview procedure…the questions were
leading and sometimes insulting, the answers routine or compliant, and the insensitivity of the
interrogator and the evasiveness of the interrogated were flagrantly displayed.”199
There were several instances of leading questions in the Georgia narratives. Interviewer
Morris Adams even commented on using this technique:
“George, how did you find your new master?” I ask.
George replies, “I ain’t fin’ ‘im, he fin’ me.”
I am confused a little. I have listened to lawyers ask leading questions; I must try that
method.
“George,” I ask, “wasn’t Doctor Arnold good to you?”
George grins, I do not believe anyone can beat that grin with only six teeth.
“Yas suh, he sho’ wuz.”200
According to Adams, the correct answer to the question would be that Doctor Arnold was good
to George Carter. By framing the question in such a way, Adams received the desired answer
from Carter. According to oral historian Donald Ritchie, “The danger of this approach is that the
interviewees want to please and will pick up the clues, from the type of question asked to the
tone of the voice used, as to what type of an answer they think the interviewer wants to hear. The
result is the opposite of the way an oral history should proceed.”201 By asking leading questions,
the Georgia FWP received answers that were skewed and may not have represented actual events
in the ex-slaves’ lives. But, they were the answers that did not challenge the majority of white
Georgians’ assumptions about race relations.
The social climate in Georgia also influenced the ex-slaves’ adherence to Southern caste
etiquette. Jim Crow codes of conduct appear often in the Georgia ex-slave narratives. In many
199
C. Vann Woodward, “History From Slave Sources,” review of The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography,
by George P. Rawick, The American Historical Review 79, no. 2 (1974): 473.
200
Rawick, The American Slave, Supplement, Series 1, vol. 3 (Georgia), Part 1, 157.
201
nd
Donald A. Ritchie, Doing Oral History: A Practical Guide, 2 ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003), 93.
45
narratives, the ex-slaves were referred to as “aunt” or “uncle.” Bob Mobley’s greeting to the
FWP interviewers, both white women, is representative of many ex-slave narratives:
Bob Mobley, an ex-negro slave, was seated on the porch in the warm sunshine as we
entered the gate. By the time we had reached the steps he had risen feebly to his feet and
stood courteously waiting for us to enter.
“Don’t get up, Bob,” I said, noticing what an effort he was making.
“Yes’m, I got to,” he replied. And it was not until we were seated that he gratefully sank
into his chair again.202
It did not matter that Mobley was feeble and barely able to rise to his feet. He was a black man in
Georgia in 1937. He was greeted by two white women from the government. He had to rise to
his feet. Even Mobley knew what his role was in this interaction when he told his interviewer
that “I got to” rise to his feet. The social climate in Georgia forced ex-slaves to act in deference
to whites or face violent consequences like lynching.
Social etiquette expectations were also seen in the way the ex-slaves addressed their
interviewers. The ex-slaves were very much aware of the fact that their interviewer was from the
government. John Cole repeatedly addressed interviewer Joseph Jaffee as “gov’mint man”
during his interview.203 Marshal Butler addressed Jaffee as “boss.”204 George Carter greeted
interviewer Morris Adams by saying “Good Mornin’, suh massa.”205 Adams replied that he felt
“flattered; I have never been called ‘massa’ before.”206 The fact that Adams felt “flattered” at
being referred to as “massa” reveals that Southern antebellum beliefs still reigned in 1930s
Georgia. It also reveals that Adams may have been anxious over his status during the
Depression. Adams may have felt displaced since he was now relegated to interviewing an exslave for relief. Carter’s relief status indicates that at some point during the Depression, Carter
202
Rawick, The American Slave, Supplement, Series 1, vol. 4 (Georgia), Part 2, 445.
George P. Rawick, ed., The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography, vol. 12 (Georgia), Part 1 (Westport,
Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Company, 1972), 227.
204
Rawick, The American Slave, vol. 12 (Georgia), Part 1, 165.
205
Rawick, The American Slave, Supplement, Series 1, vol. 3 (Georgia), Part 1, 152.
206
Ibid., 152.
203
46
experienced hard times, and his position in society as a male breadwinner, and as a white man,
was undermined. Carter’s reference to Adams as “massa” reinforces the supposed superiority of
Adams over Carter. Anderson Furr revealed he feared what the government’s aim was with
interviewing ex-slaves: “I sho’ hopes de giverment won’t never fetch slavery back no more.”207
While the ex-slaves were told the reason for the interview by the FWP, some still remained
skeptical.
Further, certain behaviors and manners were expected by white dominant society in
Georgia. White interviewer Elizabeth Watson noted Joe McCormick’s manners: “Through all his
ninety years, he has not forgotton the lessons he has learned in politeness. His humble and
courteous manner were worthy of note. He stood with his hat in hand as he told us his story.”208
Paul Smith also went to great lengths to make sure the FWP interviewer was comfortable:
As the visitor approached, the young men leaped to their feet and hastened to offer a
chair and Paul said: “Howdy-do, Missy, how is you? Won't you have a cheer and rest? I
knows you is tired plumb out. Dis old sun is too hot for folkses to be walkin’ 'round out
doors.” Turning to one of the boys he continued: “Son, run and fetch Missy some fresh
water; dat'll make her feel better. Jus’ how far is you done walked?” asked Paul. Then he
stopped one of the women from the washing and bade her “run into the house and fetch a
fan for Missy.”209
By going to such lengths to serve the interviewer, Smith succeeds in making the interviewer not
only the focus of their interactions, but also places her in a superior position. Southern etiquette
was entrenched in society, and there were behavior expectations between blacks and whites.
These rules led to some apprehension amongst the ex-slaves when the FWP interviewer arrived
to take their story. If the ex-slaves did not treat the white interviewer in the expected manner,
207
Rawick, The American Slave, vol. 12 (Georgia), Part 1, 352.
Rawick, The American Slave, Supplement, Series 1, vol. 4 (Georgia), Part 2, 389.
209
George P. Rawick, ed., The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography, vol. 13 (Georgia), Part 3 (Westport,
Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Company, 1972), 321.
208
47
they could be putting their lives in danger since the KKK was still operating and blacks were
lynched for defying social codes.
The ex-slaves’ geographic location had a tremendous effect on the FWP interview. As a
result of the geographic location, many ex-slaves were hesitant to discuss slavery with FWP
interviewers. Since eighty-three percent of the ex-slaves were born and raised in Georgia, many
lived in close proximity with the families of their former owners. Sarah H. Hall interviewed an
ex-slave who had been owned by her grandfather, Judge William Watson Moore.210 This close
proximity influenced the ex-slaves when they sat down with an FWP interviewer. Historian John
Blassingame notes: “Since many of the former slaves still resided in the same areas as their
masters’ descendants and were dependent on whites to help them obtain their old-age pensions,
they were naturally guarded (and often misleading) in their responses to certain questions.”211
Additionally, the ex-slaves were aware that some of their former masters and their descendants
had affiliations with the KKK. The fact that some of their former masters had connections with
the KKK likely influenced the ex-slaves’ testimony. Many of the ex-slaves’ narratives contained
their address, which made them a target of reprisal. Eighty percent of Georgia narratives have
some degree of an address with forty-seven percent containing a full address for the ex-slave.212
Thus, ex-slaves were more likely to censor their comments on sensitive subjects or refuse to
answer questions, because truthful comments could be dangerous.
210
Rawick, The American Slave, vol. 13 (Georgia), Part 3, 9.
Blassingame, “Using the Testimony of Ex-slaves,” 482.
212
Kane, “Slave Narrative Survey,” February 16, 2013. Forty-seven percent of the narratives contained a full
address including street number, street name, city, and state. Five percent of the narratives had a street name,
city, and state. Twenty-five percent of the narratives contained a city name and state. Three percent of the
narratives had only the county and state. Twenty percent of the narratives did not contain any address for the exslave.
211
48
The brutality in Georgia was on the minds of the ex-slaves during their interviews.
Several of the ex-slaves in Georgia shared memories of the Ku Klux Klan. Addie Vinson recalls
the KKK’s activity after the Civil War:
I sho did keep out of de way of dem Ku Kluxers. Folkses would see ‘em comin’ and
holler out: “De Ku Kluxers is ridin’ tonight. Keep out of deir way, or dey will sho kill
you.” Dem what was skeered of bein’ cotched and beat up, done deir best to stay out of
sight.213
One of the aims of the KKK was to incite fear through terrorism, and Vinson’s account reveals
that fear clearly. The KKK was able to keep ex-slaves in a subjugated position simply by word of
mouth about their activities. The ex-slaves remembered their parents’ warnings about the KKK.
Alice Hutcheson recalled: “Ma allus tole us dat if one of dem Kluxers tetched a Nigger, dat
Nigger was gwine to die, and us was so skeered us stayed out of deir way so dey didn’t ketch
none of us, but dey sho’ did wuk de hides of some of dem other Niggers what dey did git a holt
of.”214 The ex-slaves were aware of the KKK and the danger of being apprehended by them.
Some of the ex-slaves had family members that were attacked by the KKK. Willis Cofer
recalled:
If a Nigger sassed white folkses or kilt a hoss, dem Kluxers sho’ did evermore beat him
up. Dey never touched me for I stayed out of deir way, but dey whupped my pa one time
for bein’ off his place atter dark. When dey turned him loose, he couldn’t hardly stand
up.215
Cofer’s account highlights the KKK’s expectations for black behavior. Ex-slaves could not talk
back to whites or stay out past dark. If they did, they could face the same punishment as Cofer’s
father. Isaiah Green also recalled the violence of the KKK and how they kidnapped his uncle:
[They] carried him to the woods where they pinned him to the ground, set the dry leaves
on fire, and left him. In the group, he recognized his master’s son Jimmie. As fate would
213
Rawick The American Slave, vol 13 (Georgia), Part 4, 112.
George P. Rawick, ed., The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography, vol 12 (Georgia), Part 2 (Westport,
Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Company, 1972), 288.
215
Rawick, The American Slave, vol 12 (Georgia), Part 1, 210.
214
49
have it the leaves burned in places and went out. By twisting a little he managed to get
loose, but found that his feet were badly burned. Later, when he confronted the master
with the facts, Col. Willis offered to pay him if he would not mention the fact that his son
Jimmie was mixed up in it, and he sent the man to a hospital to have his burns treated. In
the end, all of his toes had to be amputated.216
Green’s account illustrates the violence of the KKK. The ex-slaves may not have always
witnessed violence first hand, but they did know people who were the victims of the KKK’s
terrorist activities.
Like Isaiah Green’s uncle, some ex-slaves knew exactly who was under the white robes
worn by the KKK. When the KKK visited Anna Parkes’ mother, she knew exactly who they
were:
One night, jes’ atter I got in bed, some mens come walkin’ right in Ma’s house widout
knockin’…One of de mens axed Ma who she wuz. Ma knowed his voice, so she said:
“You knows me Mister Blank,” (she called him by his sho’ ‘nuff name) “I’m Liza
Lumpkin, and you knows I used to b’long to Jedge Lumpkin.” De udders jes’ laughed at
him and said: “Boy, she knows you, so you better not say ‘nuffin’ else.” Den anudder
man exed Ma how she wuz makin’ a livin’. Ma knowed his voice too, and she called him
by name and tole him us wuz takin’ in washin’ and livin’ all right.217
Parkes’ mother ended up identifying one additional member of the KKK before they realized that
“these here hoods and robes ain’t doin’ a bit of good here. She knows ev’ry one of us and can tell
our names.”218
There are different ways to interpret this interaction. First, Parkes’ mother was fortunate
that the KKK members left her unharmed after she identified them. Second, the KKK was
specifically interested in ascertaining how Parkes’ mother made her living reinforcing the mobs’
obsession with blacks and the economy. Third, Parkes creates a certain identity for white FWP
interviewer Sarah H. Hall. She reveals the intelligence and bravery of her mother, who exposes
the KKK members. By extension, Parkes asserts herself as intelligent and brave also. Fourth,
216
Rawick, The American Slave, vol 12 (Georgia), Part 2, 54.
Rawick, The American Slave, vol 13 (Georgia), Part 3, 163.
218
Ibid.
217
50
Parkes uses the rhetorical device of signifying in this discussion with Hall. On the surface,
Parkes is relating a story about the KKK. Underneath the surface, she is telling the interviewer
that she is not afraid of white people and rejects the white interviewer’s power over her.
The ex-slave narratives expose a great detail about 1930s race relations between blacks
and whites. The racial climate in Georgia affected the ability of interviewers to obtain narratives
with the former slaves. The history of African Americans in Georgia reveals decades of violence
and racial oppression at the hands of white dominant society. While the goal of the FWP was to
collect memories from slave times, the ex-slaves remembered a history of racial hierarchy and
subjugation. The ex-slaves often told the interviewers stories of violence, fear, and intimidation
instigated by whites. Further, the history of race relations influenced the ability of the FWP
interviewer to get ex-slaves to answer questions without coercing desired answers that were less
controversial. Throughout the FWP interviews, race relations play out in interactions between the
interviewer and the ex-slave with the former slaves exhibiting proper Jim Crow behavior. The
interviews reveal that underneath the seemingly polite conversation between the interviewer and
the ex-slaves were agendas and aspirations that neither group could ignore.
51
Chapter Two:
Opposing Agendas: The White and Black Interviewers of the FWP
As the Federal Writers’ Project (FWP) began operations in Georgia, the FWP
interviewers came into contact with former slaves. In order to understand what the ex-slaves
experienced during the Depression, it becomes necessary to explore the people that became the
recorders of this experience. It becomes evident that the final transcriptions of the ex-slave
narratives were constrained by two factors. First, the transcription and editing requirements of
the program influenced the content of the ex-slave narratives. Second, the interviewers had their
own biases and agendas. White interviewers sought to impose racial hierarchy and ideology by
minimizing the Depression-era plight of ex-slaves while at the same time highlighting the
benevolence of slave masters. In contrast, the black interviewers challenged white domination
and racist social structures by portraying the ex-slaves as equals, intelligent, and worthy of
increased assistance during the Depression.
The FWP had requirements for the processing of the ex-slave narratives after the
interview was completed. First, the interviews were transcribed into a narrative. The FWP
interviewers recorded notes during the interview on paper. After the interview, the majority of
the Georgia narratives were transcribed into narratives rather than presented in question-andanswer format. According to historian Thomas Soapes, “The interviewer and editor did not
always quote the interviewee verbatim but summarized the answer or the entire interview in a
more entertaining style than the question-and-answer format allows.”219 The FWP interviewers
219
Thomas F. Soapes, “The Federal Writers’ Project Slave Interviews: Useful Data or Misleading Source,” The Oral
History Review 5 (1977): 34.
52
did not have modern technology like digital recorders or video cameras.220 They were forced to
make do with handwritten notes. Some of the interviewers, like Minnie Branham Stonestreet,
utilized shorthand during the interview.221 While the interviewers likely came close to the
original interview with their notes, it would be nearly impossible to record the interview in the
ex-slaves’ exact words and phrasing. Thus, the narratives were not entirely true to what the exslaves said, and much had to have been lost in the time between interview and transcription.
The transcription process also included writing the narratives in the dialect of the exslaves. Special instructions were sent to state directors on how best to record the dialects.
Professor Sterling A. Brown, director of the Negro Studies project, sent directions to the states
and encouraged “simplicity in recording the dialect is to be desired in order to hold the interest
and attention of the readers.”222 Brown, who was African American, also recommended that “in
order to make this volume of slave narratives more appealing and less difficult for the average
reader, I recommend that truth to idiom be paramount, and exact truth to pronunciation
secondary.”223 Brown, likely chosen for his use of dialect in his poetry, provided the states with
suggestions for how to accurately transcribe dialect. Some examples of dialect in the narrative
are “massa” for master, “kin” for can, ‘ob” for of, “slab’ry” for slavery, and “wuz” for was.224
220
Library of Congress, Voices from the Days of Slavery: Former Slaves Tell Their Stories,
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/voices/vfsabout.html (accessed January 29, 2014). It is unknown
whether the FWP interviewers used wire recorders in the FWP ex-slave narrative interviews. There were audio
recordings performed of ex-slaves as part of a Library of Congress collection called Voices from the Days of Slavery:
Former Slaves Tell Their Stories. Only three interviews from Virginia involved the Federal Writers’ Project. Two
interviews were completed in Georgia, but were not affiliated with the Federal Writers’ Project. The audio
recordings were conducted using “direct-to-disc recorders.”
221
Minnie Stonestreet, “[In Lieu of Something Better],” January 9, 1940, From Library of Congress, American Life
Histories, Manuscripts from the Federal Writers’ Project, 8-9. http://lcweb2.loc.gov/wpaintro/ (accessed August 15,
2013).
222
Charles T. Davis and Henry Louis Gates, Jr., The Slave’s Narrative (New York: Oxford University Press, 1985), 37.
223
Davis and Gates, The Slave’s Narrative, 35.
224
George P. Rawick, ed., The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography, Supplement, Series 1, vol. 3 (Georgia),
Part 1 (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1977), 150-166.
53
Brown outlined certain dialect usages that should not appear in the narrative. He said not to
write: “Ah for I, Poe for po’ (poor), Hit for it, Tuh for to…”225
Rawick asserts that the Georgia narratives were a “highly regarded collection” in terms of
quality.226 The Georgia interview of Lula Flannigan was presented to all of the states
participating in the FWP ex-slave narrative project as a sample interview with which they could
consult.227 In a 1937 letter to George Cronyn, John A. Lomax stated that the Flannigan narrative
is “mainly in dialect and abound[s] in human interest touches. All the interviewers should copy
the Negro expressions.”228 The Georgia narratives sent to Washington “in [the Georgia FWP’s]
judgment represented the best of the lot.”229 Rawick admits:
No doubt political and social biases did operate in their choices, but no attempt was made
to destroy material, significantly alter it, or bury it. Many of the items found at the
University of Georgia were field notes for narratives or early working versions of
narratives that were later sent in a “polished” form to Washington. Others were part of a
folklore collection which was not, strictly speaking, part of a slave narrative collection
and were not sent on for that reason.230
Further, Rawick felt the “censorship of these narratives…did not likely occur in the Washington,
D.C., office but, … on the state office and local level before the narratives ever were shipped to
225
Davis and Gates, The Slave’s Narrative, 39; Leola Bradley, “[A Self-Made Man],” September 13, 1939, From
University of North Carolina, Federal Writers Project Papers,
http://www2.lib.unc.edu/mss/inv/f/Federal_Writers%27Project.html (accessed September 25, 2013); Gerald Chan
Sieg, “[Laundryman],” January 20, 1939, From University of North Carolina, Federal Writers Project Papers,
http://www2.lib.unc.edu/mss/inv/f/Federal_Writers%27Project.html (accessed September 25, 2013). Dialect
usage by the FWP was not exclusively reserved for ex-slaves. Dialect is also found in the interviews of whites and
immigrants in the WPA Life History project.
226
Rawick, The American Slave, Supplement, Series 1, vol. 3 (Georgia), Part 1, xvii.
227
Federal Writers’ Project, “Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with
Former Slaves: Typewritten Records Prepared by the Federal Writers’ Project, 1936-1938, Assembled by The
Library of Congress Project, Works Progress Administration For the District of Columbia Sponsored by The Library
of Congress,” Washington 1941, http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/snhtml/, (accessed on May 11, 2013).
228
John A. Lomax to George Cronyn, Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States From
Interviewers with Former Slaves, Typewritten Records Prepared by the Federal Writers’ Project 1936-1938
Assembled by The Library of Congress Project Work Projects Administration For the District of Columbia Sponsored
by the Library of Congress, Washington April 9, 1937, xv, http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/snhtml/ (accessed on
January 29, 2014).
229
Rawick, The American Slave, Supplement, Series 1, vol. 3 (Georgia), Part 1, xvii.
230
Ibid.
54
Washington.”231 Rawick was correct in his assertion that changes to the narratives occurred at
the local level. In a letter from Georgia FWP Director Carolyn Dillard to George Cronyn, Dillard
lamented: “It has been very difficult to have editorial work done, since we have found that even
some of our best editors change and omit facts…”232 It is unknown whether these editorial issues
in Georgia were simple mistakes or whether changes were done on purpose. Regardless, it is
obvious that local officials or editors censored the narratives that were sent to the national office.
The local Georgia FWP editors made various stylistic and grammatical corrections to the
narratives. Most of the editing in the collection involved spelling or grammatical corrections. In
many cases, minor notations were made to rearrange wording, add punctuation, or correct
errors.233 In some narratives, there were headings or notations made in the margins of the
narrative. There were also various passages that were underlined.234 Other edits included lining
through repetitive passages. The editors sought to condense the narratives as much as possible.
Many narratives have corrections aimed at decreasing the amount of words that had to be used.
For example, in the narrative of David Goodman Gullins, an original passage read: “a gate at the
side of his home.”235 The editorial correction was changed to “a side gate.”236 This kind of edit
did not change the meaning of the passage. It simply condensed the number of words needed in
the narrative. In general, these corrections had no effect on the outcome of the narrative.
However, there were other corrections made to the narratives that had a more significant
impact on the final narrative. Benjamin Henderson’s narrative had a noticeable deletion that
231
Ibid., xxi.
Carolyn Dillard, Georgia State Director Federal Writers’ Project, to George Cronyn, Associate Director Federal
Writers’ Project, April 6, 1937; Georgia Ex-slave Correspondence. NACP.
233
George P. Rawick, ed., The American Slave, vol. 12 (Georgia), Part 1 (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood
Publishing Company, 1972), 17-19.
234
George P. Rawick, ed., The American Slave, vol. 12 (Georgia), Part 2 (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood
Publishing Company, 1972), 117-125.
235
Rawick, The American Slave, vol. 12 (Georgia), Part 2, 79.
236
Ibid.
232
55
altered its meaning. The interviewer originally recorded: “‘I was only seven years old when
freedom was declared, but I can remember a few facts,’ said Benjamin Henderson, a heavy built
man of reddish brown complexion.”237 The editor elected to line through “said Benjamin
Henderson, a heavy built man of reddish brown complexion” and write “he said” above
Henderson’s name.238 This deletion eliminated the physical description of Henderson. Through
this deletion, the editor attempted to make Henderson a faceless entity whereby there is little
human connection. The editor robs Henderson of individuality. The editor also erases the fact
that Henderson is mixed race, and, through the deletion, sidesteps the issue of miscegenation.
These editorial decisions had a significant impact on the outcome of the narrative by changing
the meanings and descriptions of passages.
In some narratives, the editors elected to insert their own opinions about the ex-slaves’
testimony. In George Caulton’s narrative, a passage reads: “The slaves seemed to know very
little about the war. When they first heard of it many of them asked, ‘What they going to fight
for?’”239 In the margin next to this passage, the editor wrote: “Bull! The Negroes knew they were
what that war was about.”240 This editorial assertion questions the veracity of Caulton’s
testimony and a reader of the narratives might be inclined to disbelieve Caulton’s words as a
result of the editorial comment. The editor states quite clearly that he or she believes Caulton is
lying. It is likely that Caulton may have elected to give a different version of the war to his
interviewer instead of saying something that could have been inflammatory towards white
Southerners. It is possible that the editor realized that Caulton was intentionally obscuring facts.
It is also possible that Caulton’s question was actually sincere and the editor misread the
237
Ibid., 173.
Ibid.
239
Rawick, The American Slave, Supplement, Series 1, vol. 3 (Georgia), Part 1, 172.
240
Ibid., 174. The editor is not named in this narrative.
238
56
comment. This shows that the editor felt the need to maintain white superiority while
highlighting the supposed ignorance of the ex-slaves. In the end, this editorial insertion has a
significant impact on the narrative by accusing the ex-slave of dishonesty and influencing how
one may interpret the narrative’s content.
A Georgia FWP editor also elected to comment on the veracity of testimony made in
Authur Colson’s narrative. Colson described the food on his plantation:
Peas, collards, potatoes, lye hominey, bread and occasionally pumpkin was the usual
dinner given to the slaves. On Sunday the master provided flour with which to make
biscuits. Syrup was also added to the menu.241
An editorial comment followed this passage. It read: “This is all bosh! No such regular ration
could be served 365 days in the year.”242 Again, an FWP editor is challenging the veracity of an
ex-slave. It is possible that Colson was truthful and the description of the food was accurate.
Colson also stated that “the slaves all loved [his master]…they were treated kindly and well
provided for by him.”243 The slaves on the Colson plantation could have been given rations that
were not typically given to slaves. However, it is also plausible that Colson is in fact lying or at
least exaggerating. But regardless, what is important is the edits indicate the tension between
blacks and whites, and the disrespect whites involved in the project at the highest levels had for
African Americans.
After the editorial process, the narratives went through an appraisal and archival review.
The local FWP decided which interviews they felt met their criteria for being sent to
Washington. Once the FWP project ended, all selected interviews were sent to the national office
and deposited at the Library of Congress. The Library of Congress would do a further appraisal
and critique of the interview, but did not perform any editing. Instead, a Library of Congress
241
Ibid., 221.
Ibid. The editor is not named in this narrative.
243
Ibid., 218.
242
57
staff member would appraise a narrative by noting its history, the critiques over its reliability,
and any further recommendations for it.244 Then, the narratives were placed within the
manuscript division at the Library of Congress. The narratives that local Georgia FWP officials
deemed unfit for the Library of Congress were sent to two local archives in Georgia, the Atlanta
Carnegie Library and the Georgia Historical Society.245
Interviewers and editors came from a variety of backgrounds. There were approximately
thirty-seven FWP interviewers in Georgia who worked on the ex-slave narrative project. Thirtyone of the interviewers were women and six were men.246 There were six black interviewers and
twenty-six white interviewers.247 The interviewers represented over twenty-three different cities,
including Atlanta, Athens, Augusta, and Columbus.248 The project had a quota and originally
required that ninety percent of workers be on relief. But, it quickly became difficult to find that
many qualified relief workers and the quota was lowered to seventy-five percent of relief
workers.249 In addition to the interviewers, there were approximately twelve editors on the
project.250 Of the twelve editors, three white editors were named on the majority of the
244
“WPA Writers’ Program Appraisal Sheet,” n.d.; Georgia Ex-slave Correspondence. NACP.
Jane Van De Vrede, State Director Division of Service Projects, to Florence Kerr, Assistant Commissioner Works
Progress Administration; Georgia 651.311 To 651.312. Central File. NACP. It is unknown to what extent the
narratives kept in Georgia was utilized by historians or the public. It was not until George P. Rawick’s supplement
publications of The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography in 1977 and 1979 that these narratives received a
wider audience.
246
Gender no doubt had an impact on the ex-slave narrative interviews and the transcription of the narratives.
Sixty percent of the ex-slaves interviewed were female. Sixty-two percent of the interviewers were white women,
and they conducted eighty-four percent of the interviews. Thus, most of the interviews involved a white woman
interviewing a black woman. Gender likely influenced the outcome and testimony of the interviews. However, a
majority of the interviews were edited by John N. Booth, a white male. Thus, analyzing the narratives for gender
influence becomes problematic since men were editing the interviews.
247
The race of the remaining five interviewers is unknown.
248
The twenty-three cities were: Athens, Atlanta, Augusta, Columbus, Griffin, Hawkinsville, Macon, Milledgeville,
Washington-Wilkes, Cochran, Albany, Savannah, Toccoa, Eastman, Watkinsville, Thomson, Rome, Cedartown,
Abbeville, Fayetteville, La Grange, White Plains, and Jefferson.
249
Monty Noam Penkower, The Federal Writers’ Project: A Study in Government Patronage of the Arts (Chicago:
University of Illinois Press, 1977), 57, 61.
250
See: Rawick, The American Slave, vol. 12 (Georgia), Part 2, 28. Not all of the ex-slave narratives listed an editor.
It is possible there were more than twelve editors on the project. There were two typists’ names on the narratives:
245
58
interviews that named the editor. Leila Harris edited ten percent of the ex-slave narratives. Sarah
H. Hall served as an editor on twenty-one percent of the interviews and John N. Booth performed
editing on twenty-four percent of the narratives.251
The Georgia interviewers brought different levels of experience to the FWP. Interviewer
Minnie Branham Stonestreet had gone to business school. Stonestreet had taught “shorthand and
typing” and worked in a lawyer’s office as a secretary and clerk.252 She also worked for a county
clerk and an insurance agent before joining the FWP.253 Interviewer Sarah H. Hall began
working as a “bookkeeper and general clerical worker” in 1905.254 Editor and writer John N.
Booth had a bachelor’s degree from the University of Georgia.255 He started work with the FWP
as an editor and writer, and was later promoted to assistant district supervisor in Augusta. Booth
had experience with other Depression-related projects such as the Consumers’ Purchase Study,
Social Security Survey, and FERA.256 Editor and writer Joseph E. Jaffee of Athens had gone to
Harvard, Leland-Stanford, and the University of Georgia Law School.257 Each of the
A.M. Whitley and J.C. Russell. Some of the narratives listing Russell note that he provided revision and typing of
narratives. However, Russell is not listed as an editor and it is unknown to what extent he may have edited
narratives.
251
Denise Kane, “Slave Narrative Survey,” Survey. Google Drive, February 16, 2013. Many narratives list more than
one editor which results in the total number equaling more than 100 percent. Of the 240 ex-slave narratives,
eighty-six included an editor’s name, which totals thirty-six percent of the narratives. Both men and women served
as editors. It is unknown if any African Americans were editors. Of the twelve editors, nine are confirmed to be
white. It is not known what the race of the remaining three editors were. It is doubtful that any of the editors were
African American given the difficulty in hiring blacks to the FWP. It is unlikely that the Georgia FWP would want to
pay African Americans an editor’s salary.
252
Stonestreet, “[In Lieu of Something Better],” January 9, 1940, 8-9.
253
Ibid., 9-14.
254
Sarah H. Hall to J.D. Newsom, WPA Writers’ Program, Washington, D.C.; Georgia 651.3173 – 651.3181. Central
File. NACP.
255
Samuel Tupper, Jr., Acting Georgia State Director Federal Writers’ Project, to Henry G. Alsberg, Director Federal
Writers’ Project, July 24, 1936; Employment 1937. Editorial Correspondence. NACP.
256
Tupper, Jr. to Alsberg, July 24, 1936; Employment 1937; Editorial Correspondence. NACP.
257
Carolyn Dillard Georgia State Director Federal Writers’ Project, to Henry G. Alsberg, Director Federal Writers’
Project, May 12, 1936; Employment 1937. Editorial Correspondence. NACP.
59
interviewers in Georgia had varied backgrounds and experiences that they brought to their work
on the FWP.258
In general, the interviewers on the Georgia FWP project viewed their experience with the
project in a positive light and many were asked to share their impressions. In a WPA Life
History interview FWP interviewer Minnie Branham Stonestreet stated that she felt “surprise and
delight” at finding out she would be working for the FWP. She stated that she “lik[ed] it more
and more.”259 In a letter to the WPA, FWP interviewer Sarah H. Hall proclaimed that the
“research and writing are the most satisfying tasks I have ever undertaken. My enthusiasm for
this work is boundless, particularly where it permits research in very old books and
newspapers.”260 Other interviewers spoke of a determination to do good work for the FWP.
Interviewer Grace McCune remarked that learning to write while listening to people talk was
“hard at first…but you know, when you have to work, you have to learn how to do the work.”261
FWP interviewer Leola T. Bradley stated that she “like[s] it very much especially the interviews
and research work. As for my writing – well I’m trying, but I’m afraid those people in Atlanta
think I’m hopeless.”262 Even though the FWP interviewers may have found the work
challenging, they appeared to enjoy the task of interviewing the ex-slaves.
258
All of the interviewers and editors discussed in this paragraph were white. No records were located detailing
the experience or education of the black interviewers.
259
Stonestreet, “[In Lieu of Something Better],” January 9, 1940, 24.
260
Hall to Newsom, WPA Writers’ Program, Washington, D.C.; Georgia 651.3173 – 651.3181; Central File. NACP.
261
Grace McCune, “[A Farmer Preacher-Prophet],” March 6-7, 1939, From Library of Congress, American Life
Histories, Manuscripts from the Federal Writers’ Project,12. http://lcweb2.loc.gov/wpaintro/ (accessed August 5,
2013).
262
Leola T. Bradley, “[Reminiscence],” October 10, 1939, From Library of Congress, American Life Histories,
Manuscripts from the Federal Writers’ Project,18-19, http://lcweb2.loc.gov/wpaintro/ (accessed August 21, 2013).
All of the interviewers discussed in this paragraph are white. No interviews with the black interviewers could be
located. It is unknown if Bradley completed any interviews as part of the Georgia FWP ex-slave narrative project.
She did complete interviews with ex-slaves as part of the WPA Life History project. For that reason, she is not
included in the quantitative data in this thesis.
60
White and black interviewers had different opinions when it came to their job security
within the FWP. Two white interviewers spoke about their own experience with the Depression.
Interviewer Minnie Branham Stonestreet admitted that she “certainly belong[s] in the list of hard
luck folks…”263 After inheriting a farm from her uncle and experiencing bad yields and a fire,
she went into debt to the amount of $1700. Stonestreet eventually went to Atlanta and appealed
directly to the state FWP for a position. Stonestreet was able to pay off her debt after she found a
writing position with the FWP.264 Interviewer Leola T. Bradley’s husband died and then her son
became ill. Bradley went into debt and was forced to look to the WPA for help. She felt that “the
WPA is a wonderful plan, I think, to give employment to people who really need it.”265 Both
Stonestreet and Bradley were able to pay off their Depression-related debt with their work on the
FWP leading to a certain degree of financial security.
However, this job security was not felt by black interviewers. In addition to encountering
difficulty in attaining a position with the Georgia FWP, one black interviewer in particular was
worried she would lose her position based on her age.266 In a letter written to Mrs. Eleanor
Roosevelt, Josephine Lowell stated that she “do[es] not let my age be known by my fellow
workers on account of the possibility that they might think I was too old to work. You know
there is an age that they term unemployable, and that is why I keep it to myself.”267 Lowell was
also concerned that an “age limit will be drawn” if the WPA was “put under Civil Service.”268
Lowell considered lying about her age to the government, but was worried that “would go
263
Stonestreet, “[In Lieu of Something Better],” January 9, 1940, 2.
Ibid.
265
Bradley, “[Reminiscence],” October 10, 1939, 14-18.
266
William O. Key, Georgia State Director Federal Writers’ Project, to Henry G. Alsberg, Director Federal Writers’
Project, January 9, 1936; Employment 1937. Editorial Correspondence. NACP.
267
Josephine Lowell to Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt, n.d.; Georgia 651.317 – 651.3173. Central File. NACP. This is the
only evidence of a black interviewer’s experience on the Georgia FWP ex-slave narrative project.
268
Lowell to Roosevelt; Georgia 651.317 – 651.3173. Central Files. NACP.
264
61
against my chances” when she “appl[ied] for an old age pension.”269 Lowell was in a unique
position of understanding the ex-slaves she was interviewing. Like the ex-slaves, she was
worried about how she would survive and if she would be able to get an old age pension. Lowell
ultimately did the same thing many of the ex-slaves would do. She appealed to someone in a
higher position. She asked Mrs. Roosevelt “to influence the WPA high officials, don’t let them
set an age limit on the workers, but let each worker stand on his own merits.”270 Thus, some of
the FWP interviewers had some of the same concerns as the ex-slaves they were interviewing.
They did not know what the future would bring and if they would still have employment.
Further, this insecurity about the future was not voiced by the white interviewers, which
illustrates the discrimination felt by the black interviewers in the FWP.
The interview process presented a unique working environment. Interviewers in Atlanta
worked “64 hours each payroll period. This [was] divided into two periods of ten days each, with
6 ½ hours working per day.”271 Interviewers also received Saturdays, and the 15th, 30th, and 31st
of the month as holidays.272 Interviewer wages varied based on the location and position held. It
ranged from $21.67 per month for a writer to $75.00 per month for an editor.273 Interviewers
often worked in pairs during all types of weather conditions. Interviewer Sadie B. Hornsby
braved hot conditions in order to interview ex-slave Mary Colbert:
With the thermometer registering 93 degrees in the shade on a particularly humid July
day, the visitor trudged up one steep, rocky alley and down another, hesitantly negotiated
269
Ibid.
Ibid.
271
Carolyn Dillard, Georgia State Director Federal Writers’ Project, to Henry G. Alsberg, Director Federal Writers’
Project, December 28, 1936; Employment 1937. Editorial Correspondence. NACP.
272
Dillard to Alsberg, December 28, 1936; Employment 1937. Editorial Correspondence. NACP.
273
Jerre Mangione, The Dream and the Deal: The Federal Writers’ Project, 1935-1943 (Boston: Little, Brown and
Company, 1972), 100, 157; Penkower, The Federal Writers’ Project, 62; Pamphlet, “Questions and Answers on the
WPA,” December 1, 1939; Printed Matter. LC.; and Carolyn Dillard, Georgia State Director Federal Writers’ Project,
to Henry G. Alsberg, Director Federal Writers’ Project, May 12, 1936; Employment 1937. Editorial Correspondence.
NACP.
270
62
shaky little bridges over several ravines, scrambled out of a ditch, and finally arrived at
the address of Mary Colbert. It was the noon hour.274
Interviews were also performed during the winter. Interviewer Grace McCune described her trek
to Neal Upson’s house: “Alternate rain and sunshine had continued for about 10 days and the
ditches half filled with water, slippery banks of red clay, and the swollen river necessitating a
detour, added to the various difficulties that beset the interviewer as she trudged through East
Athens…”275 Interviewers went through various challenges to arrive at the ex-slaves’ homes to
conduct an interview.
The white interviewers portrayed the ex-slaves as eager to be interviewed and share their
story. Interviewer Sarah H. Hall noted that James Bolton “seemed glad of the chance to talk
about slavery days.”276 Interviewer Grace McCune mentioned that Willis Cofer “was pleased
because someone actually wanted to hear him talk about himself.”277 Some of the ex-slaves were
lonely and simply wanted someone to talk to, according to interviewers. Nicey Kinney told
interviewer Grace McCune that she was “so glad you come to see me…’cause I gits so
lonesome; jus’ got to stay here in dis bed, day in and day out.”278 Even the relatives of the exslaves were viewed by interviewers as grateful for the FWP’s interest. The daughter of Nellie
Smith commented: “I haven't heard my Mother laugh that way in a long, long time, and I jus’
know she is goin’ to feel more cheerful after this. Thank you for givin’ her this pleasure, and I
hope you can come back again.”279 Some ex-slaves recognized the importance of the FWP’s
mission. Milton Hammond acknowledged: “I think that is a good piece of work you’re doing;
274
Rawick, The American Slave, vol. 12 (Georgia), Part 1, 213.
George P. Rawick, ed., The American Slave, vol. 13 (Georgia), Part 4 (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood
Publishing Company, 1972), 49.
276
Rawick, The American Slave, vol. 12 (Georgia), Part 1, 92.
277
Ibid., 202.
278
George P. Rawick, ed., The American Slave, vol. 13 (Georgia), Part 3 (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood
Publishing Company, 1972), 22-23.
279
Rawick, The American Slave, vol. 13 (Georgia), Part 3, 319.
275
63
and I’ll tell you all I can remember about slavery…”280 Further, ex-slaves recognized that life
was fragile, and they were on borrowed time. Charlie Hudson noted that “Soon dere won’t be
nobody left livin’ what was a sho’ ‘nough slave. It’s somepin’ to think about, ain’t it?”281 The
mission of the FWP was to collect the story of the ex-slaves’ lives in slavery. The project was up
against time, because many ex-slaves were quite old, and soon all of the ex-slaves would be
gone. However, given the racial setting of Georgia during the 1930s, it is likely that the
interviewer may have transcribed the interview in such a way that made the ex-slaves appear
more eager to give an interview than they actually were. There was a history of white dominant
society creating a caricature of African Americans as compliant, loyal, and dedicated to whites.
In order to perpetuate this belief, the ex-slaves had to appear grateful for an interview in the
narratives.
While it is possible that many ex-slaves may have been willing to talk about slavery,
there were ex-slaves who voiced their objections to a white interviewer sent from the
government to ask them personal questions. Bettie Hunt was not shy about telling the FWP
interviewer to leave: “Now gwan an lemme alone!” Her interviewer, J.R. Jones, persisted in
asking an additional question. Hunt answered the question and then replied: “Now you g’wan an
quit pesterin’ dis ole ‘oman.” Jones concluded: “And here, her ‘pesterer’ respected her wishes
and desisted from interrogating her any further.”282 Hunt did not want to be interviewed in the
first place and made her reluctance known repeatedly throughout the questioning. Jones did not
respect Hunt’s desires reflecting the white dominant society’s disrespect for the wishes of
African Americans.
280
Rawick, The American Slave, vol. 12 (Georgia), Part 2, 91.
Ibid., 221.
282
Rawick, The American Slave, Supplement, Series 1, vol. 3 (Georgia), Part 1, 335.
281
64
Lina Hunter voiced her objections to an interview while also revealing her fears. Hunter
seemed suspicious of interviewer Grace McCune even though McCune supplied money for
Hunter to buy some tobacco. Hunter “seized the visitor by the shoulder as she shouted, ‘I sho
laks your looks, but you may be de devil for all I knows, and you may be fixin’ to put me in de
chaingang wid all dis here writin’.” McCune noted “[H]ere she gave the startled visitor a shake
that almost pulled her out of her chair, ‘Damn, if I don’t lak you anyhow.’”283 At this point,
Hunter’s granddaughter attempts to mitigate the aggressive behavior that Hunter exhibits
towards her interviewer. Her granddaughter states: “Granny…I wouldn’t talk lak dat. Miss will
think you is dat way all de time.”284 To this, Hunter tells her granddaughter to get back to her
work: “Now, Nigger, I said git, ‘fore I hits you.”285 Hunter “started toward her, and [her
granddaughter] lost no time going inside the house.”286 In the end, it is unclear whether Hunter is
truly physically aggressive in her interactions with people, or whether she was performing for
her interviewer as her granddaughter hoped to imply.
Both physical and social aggression is present in this interview. Hunter grabs the
interviewer and also references the devil, a term used in black culture to refer to whites. While
Hunter’s encounter demonstrates aggression towards her interviewer, it was mediated by Hunter
affirming that she liked McCune. It would be unusual for a black woman to touch a white
woman in this way. It is possible Hunter’s actions were not as aggressive as appears in the
narrative, and, instead, were a signifying performance where she acted out her acceptance of the
interviewer to negate her true disapproval. It is also possible that the interviewer exaggerated this
interaction. Hunter may have only touched the interviewer’s shoulders instead of grabbing the
283
Rawick, The American Slave, vol. 12 (Georgia), Part 2, 265.
Ibid.
285
Ibid.
286
Ibid.
284
65
interviewer aggressively. However, a single touch may have been shocking enough for the
interviewer to recount the interaction as it appears in the narrative. Regardless, Hunter revealed
her fear and mistrust by mentioning that she may be put in the “chaingang” for giving an
interview. This reveals the distrust felt by many African Americans who were in constant fear of
slavery and bondage. Thus, Hunter sends mixed messages to McCune in this exchange. She says
she likes McCune and embraces her. Yet, Hunter is fearful that slavery may come back and is
physically aggressive towards her interviewer. When the FWP interviewers arrived at an exslave’s home, they did not know what type of reception they would receive. The ex-slaves were
not always sure about the FWP interviewers’ motives and did not trust them.
As a result of their apprehension regarding the interviewers, many ex-slaves were
cautious about answering questions. Alice Green “ignored the question as to where her other
daughter lives.”287 Minnie Davis told her interviewer that “she did not care to talk for publication
at all.”288 Davis was extremely cautious in her interview. The interviewer described: “Minnie
began to talk, giving the impression that every word was carefully weighed before it was
uttered.”289 Davis did not want to give the interview in the first place, and now that she had
decided to go forward, she felt she needed to censor what she said. Anderson Furr was surprised
at some of the questions: “When did I get married? Lordy, Miss! Such things de giverment do
want to know ‘bout pore old Niggers!”290 Dosia Harris expressed her disbelief at the questions
throughout her interview. When Harris was “asked what games she played as a child, Dosia
replied: ‘Gentlemen! What de giver’ment don’t want to know, ain’t wuth knowin’ no how.’”291
The ex-slaves were careful when it came to answering questions from local government
287
Ibid., 46.
Rawick, The American Slave, vol. 12 (Georgia), Part 1, 253.
289
Ibid.
290
Ibid., 352.
291
Rawick, The American Slave, vol. 12 (Georgia), Part 2, 110.
288
66
interviewers who they did not trust. In some cases, the ex-slaves felt the FWP’s questions were
frivolous and unimportant.
Duplicate narratives containing both an edited series and an original series narrative
exposed the agenda of white FWP interviewers when it came to editing comments on slavery in
the narratives. The white FWP interviewers sought to dispel any criticisms of slavery made by
the ex-slaves by deleting critiques of slavery, removing personal details of the ex-slaves, and
changing the focus of the interview from the ex-slave to the slave master. Sally Brown’s
narrative had several revisions from the original narrative to the edited narrative.292 In the
original narrative, Brown said: “I wuz put to work in the fields when I wuz five year ole, pickin’
cotton and hoein’.”293 This passage does not appear in the edited narrative. The editor elected not
to show how early Sally was put to work on the plantation, which gives a better portrayal of
slavery. In the original interview, Brown states:
That Mistress Mitchell didn’t care what happened to us. Sometimes she would walk us to
church but we never went nowhere else. That ‘oman took delight in sellin’ slaves. She
used to lash me with a cowhide whip. Then she died and I went frum one fambly to
another. All the owners wuz pretty much the same, but this is still the Mitchell ‘oman I’m
telling you about now.”294
The edited narrative makes significant changes to this passage. “Mistress Mitchell” is only
addressed as “that ‘oman” in the edited version. The editor succeeds in protecting Mitchell’s
image by removing her name from a passage that criticizes her treatment of slaves. The editor
also changed the “me” to “us” in the sentence: “She’d lash me with a cowhide whip,” which
makes the abuse Brown endured much less personal. The edited narrative also altered the last
292
Sally Brown was interviewed by Geneva Tonsill, who was black. However, the editing of the interview would
have been completed by a white editor.
293
Rawick, The American Slave, Supplement, Series 1, vol. 3 (Georgia), Part 1, 94.
294
Ibid., 94-95.
67
two sentences of the above quote to read: “Ah had to shift fur mahself.”295 This edit significantly
changes the passage. Instead of Brown’s assertion that punishment and ill treatment occurred
widely, the edit makes it appear as if Brown’s treatment was an isolated case. Finally, Brown
comments on the food during slavery: “We wuzn’t ‘lowed to eat all the different kinds of
victuals the white folks et…”296 The passage was changed to: “We couldn’t eat all the different
kinds of victuals the white folks et…” in the edited narrative.297 The exchange of one word in
this passage significantly alters its meaning. The original narrative places the blame on the slave
owner for not allowing the slaves to eat the same food. The edited narrative’s change of
“wuzn’t” to “couldn’t” makes it seem like the slaves somehow were unable to eat the food rather
than the master was not allowing them to partake of the food. This passage illustrates how very
small changes can have a dramatic outcome on the final narrative whereby the meaning of a
passage can completely change. Through the editing of the narratives, the local FWP sought to
minimize critiques of slavery and portray Georgia in the best light possible while affirming racial
status quo.
The condensed narratives of Alice Battle and Martha Everette featured the deletion of
personal details in favor of focusing on the slave master. These condensed narratives written by
Elizabeth Watson also featured significant deletions of slavery commentary. Alice Battle’s edited
narrative was one and a quarter pages whereas the original narrative was six pages. Battle’s
edited narrative attempts to describe her life in the phrase: “Followed to its conclusion, Alice’s
life history is void of thrills and simply an average ex-slave’s story.”298 In censoring this
“average ex-slave’s story,” the interviewer removed passages about the master’s family, Battle’s
295
Rawick, The American Slave, vol. 12 (Georgia), Part 1, 142.
Rawick, The American Slave, Supplement, Series 1, vol. 3 (Georgia), Part 1, 101.
297
Rawick, The American Slave, vol. 12 (Georgia), Part 1, 147.
298
Ibid., 58.
296
68
family, punishment, frolicking, slave passes and patrollers, marriage, slaves and spending
money, slave babies, and food.299 Martha Everette’s narrative was also condensed from seven
pages in the original narrative to one and a half pages in the edited version. The edited narrative
focuses on plantation life while erasing the significant detail in the original narrative. One
difference between the narratives is the assertion in the edited version that “‘Aunt’ Martha’s
owner was a kind man.”300 There is no such assertion by Everette in the original narrative.
Everette described her master as “rich…Marster never did whip none o’ his niggers…We wuz all
treated well.”301 However, Everette never refers to her master as being kind. This resulted in the
Georgia FWP focusing on the slave owner while censoring the ex-slaves’ testimony about slave
life.
Bob Mobley’s condensed narrative also focused on Mobley’s master rather than slave
life. Master Henry Mobley’s wealth, trading, punishments, doctoring, and marriage were the
focus of the narrative. While Bob Mobley discussed slave courting customs, it never appears in
the edited slave narrative. One passage in particular illustrates the change in focus from the
slaves to the master. In the original narrative, Mobley states that after a move to a different
county “lots of the niggers didn’t like Dooly County. The fokes were rough down there an’ just
as soon as the war was over an’ marster freed ‘em they went back home to Crawford County.”302
The edited narrative changes the focus to the master: “…old master refugeed to Dooly County –
where he bought a new farm, and took his Negroes with him. But the new place was so poor that,
right after the war closed, he moved back to his old plantation.”303 The shift in focus from the
299
Rawick, The American Slave, Supplement, Series 1, vol. 3 (Georgia), Part 1, 39-44.
Rawick, The American Slave, vol. 12 (Georgia), Part 1, 316.
301
Rawick, The American Slave, Supplement, Series 1, vol. 3 (Georgia), Part 1, 236-238.
302
George P. Rawick, ed., The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography, Supplement, Series 1, vol. 4 (Georgia),
Part 2 (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1977), 451-452.
303
Rawick, The American Slave, vol. 13 (Georgia), Part 3, 137-138.
300
69
slaves to the master represents a significant theme amongst the editorial decisions of the Georgia
FWP that sought to counteract any criticisms voiced by the ex-slaves, and, instead, focused on
the slave owners and their benevolence rather than slaves and slave life.
The white Georgia FWP interviewers and editors were also willing to rearrange the
passages within a narrative to give emphasis to particular topics. In the narrative of James
Bolton, the editor elected to relocate the passage pertaining to the death of his slave owner’s
wife. Bolton states: “It never was the same on our plantation atter we done laid Mistess
away…”304 The edited narrative opens with this particular passage emphasizing the close
connection between Bolton and his owners. However, this passage does not appear until the
eleventh page in the original narrative. Thus, the editor elected to move this passage out of its
original context in order to place artificial emphasis on this event. The editor also moved another
passage in Bolton’s narrative to the first page. After the passage about the mistress’ death and a
short description of Bolton, a passage appears about Bolton’s master: “My employer, I means my
marster, and my mistess, they was sho’ all right folkses…”305 This passage actually appears on
the fifth page of the original narrative. In the original narrative, Bolton discusses his own family
first by describing his parents, siblings, and their living conditions. The Georgia FWP elected to
change the focus of Bolton’s narrative to the slave owners. None of the testimony was changed
from the original to the edited narrative. However, the rearrangement of the passages puts false
emphasis and importance on the slave owner. The Georgia FWP’s decision to focus on the
benevolence of slave owners highlights the paternalistic racial ideology of white dominant
society. Further, this focus on slave owners assuages white anxiety over loss of status. The FWP
304
Rawick, The American Slave, vol. 12 (Georgia), Part 1, 92. Bolton details the events of this death for an entire
paragraph.
305
Ibid.
70
erases references to black families denying that blacks valued family. In doing so, the Georgia
FWP restores honor to the white dominant society.
The black interviewers also had an agenda when it came to recording the ex-slaves’
testimony of slavery. The black interviewers strove to highlight the closeness of family in the
interviews. The majority of the interviews compiled by black interviewers began with details
about the ex-slaves’ family rather than the master or the plantation. Louise Oliphant stated in
Estella Jones’ narrative: “Outstanding in their memories are the methods of rearing slave
children and the amusements indulged in by their mothers and fathers.”306 Through Oliphant’s
description, the reader is told that the majority of the narrative will be about slave families. In
Isaiah Green’s narrative, black interviewer Minnie B. Ross explained how Green was not raised
with a father: “…but he did not grow up knowing the love and care of a father, for his father was
sold from his mother when he was only two years.”307 Minnie B. Ross also described the
emotion of George Washington Browning when he remembered his mother: “Mr. Browning’s
eyes filled with tears as recollections of his mother came to him. He cried softly for a few
minutes and then dried his eyes remarking, ‘Whenever I think of my mother plowing in the field
I have to cry.’”308 Neither one of Ross’ descriptions was necessary to recording the details of
these ex-slaves’ lives. Ross’ inclusion of the emotion felt by the ex-slaves reveals the agenda of
black interviewers to illustrate the close bond amongst slave families. The white interviewers
sought to erase the bond of black families, which reveals white oppressive attitudes dating back
to slave times where slave owners held the mistaken belief that family bonds amongst blacks
were not strong in order to justify breaking up families though slave auctions and sales.
306
Rawick, The American Slave, vol. 12 (Georgia), Part 2, 346.
Ibid., 49.
308
Rawick, The American Slave, Supplement, Series 1, vol. 3 (Georgia), Part 1, 111.
307
71
Black interviewers also attempted to present the brutality of slavery even if the ex-slave
did not directly mention it. After ex-slave Eliza Williamson stated that she was well-treated by
her master, FWP interviewer Josephine Lowell stated: “This is the picture of good slave holders,
but it is a sad story that all were not of that type. See next sheet for a picture of horror, which was
also told me by my mother. The thought of it was like a nightmare to my childish mind.”309
Lowell felt the need to relate that not all masters were as kind as Williamson’s. Instead, she
inserted herself in the interview to explain that enduring slavery was like a “nightmare.”
Lowell’s agenda is an attempt to counteract the paternalistic agenda of white interviewers in
portraying the slave owners as being benevolent and kind.
In addition to slavery, there were also changes made to passages about the Depression in
the duplicate narratives. White interviewers sought to minimize the commentary on the
Depression in the edited series sent to Washington. There are two published interviews with exslave Martha Everette, one each in the edited and original series. Her interviewer was Elizabeth
Watson, who, according to George P. Rawick, “wrote both a long narrative and a short summary
for each of the people she interviewed.”310 Some of Watson’s shorter summaries were marked as
“condensed.”311 Everette’s Library of Congress edited narrative was a short summary of one and
a half pages whereas the University of Georgia original narrative was seven pages. In the edited
narrative, the only reference to the Depression was in the last paragraph where Everette was
described as “old and decrepit” and “liv[ing] with one of her sons, who takes care of her. This
son is a gardener and a carpenter and, being thrifty, fares much better than many Negroes of his
309
Rawick, The American Slave, vol. 13 (Georgia), Part 4, 148. Black interviewer Josephine Lowell is the daughter of
ex-slave Eliza Williamson.
310
Rawick, The American Slave, Supplement, Series 1, vol. 3 (Georgia), Part 1, lvii.
311
Ibid., lviii.
72
generation.”312 The information about Everette and the Depression within this edited narrative is
quite minimal.
However, there is more detail about Everette and the Depression within the larger
original narrative, which illustrates the details that the Georgia FWP felt were unnecessary to the
narrative. In the longer version of this narrative, Watson includes a physical description of
Everette and her front porch.313 This description comes at the beginning of the narrative and
allows the reader to visualize the scene that the interviewer is walking into. It also gives the
reader a chance to gauge Everette’s living conditions. Later in the interview, Everette describes
the Sunday rations on the plantation during slavery. Within this recitation, she states: “We could
eat in them days, but we can’t eat much now.”314 Now, one learns that apparently food is harder
to come by during the Depression, and Everette seems to have issues obtaining food. Finally,
Watson includes the same passage about Everette being cared for by her son at the end of the
original narrative with some varied details: “Martha lives with her youngest son, who takes care
of her. He is a good carpenter and gardener, so she is faring much better than some of the others
of her generation.”315 This variation from the edited to the original narrative emphasizes that
Everette was “faring better” than her generation rather than her son “faring better” than his
generation in the edited narrative.316 Thus, the original narrative provides more details and
descriptions of Everette’s life during the Depression. The edited series minimizes the
Depression-era details of Everette’s life and illustrates decisions made on the part of the Georgia
FWP in choosing what information they put forth to the national FWP offices.
312
Rawick, The American Slave, vol. 12 (Georgia), Part 1, 317.
Rawick, The American Slave, Supplement, Series 1, vol. 3 (Georgia), Part 1, 236.
314
Ibid., 240.
315
Ibid., 242.
316
Rawick, The American Slave, vol. 12 (Georgia), Part 1, 317; Rawick, The American Slave, Supplement, Series 1,
vol. 3 (Georgia), Part 1, 242.
313
73
Alice Battle’s narrative also contained changes to the Depression commentary from the
original narrative to the edited narrative. There are two published interviews with Battle, one
each in the edited and original series, which were written by Elizabeth Watson. The edited series
narrative was only one and a quarter pages long whereas the original narrative was six pages
long. In the edited narrative, there were only two sentences related to the Depression: “[Alice
Battle] and her husband are now too old and feeble to work. They live with one of their sons, and
are the objects of charity.”317 There is a bit more detail provided by Watson in the original
interview. In the opening paragraph, Watson describes Battle as “feeble with ill health and old
age, being about eighty-six.”318 Thus, the reader learns that Battle is actually in poor health,
which was not disclosed in the edited narrative. At the end of the original narrative, Watson
states that “Alice and her husband now live with one of their sons. Both are too feeble to work,
so they depend upon the kindnesses of their neighbors and friends for their food and clothing.”319
From the variations in this passage between edited narrative and the original narrative, one is
able to learn much more about Battle’s life during the Depression. In the edited series, one knew
Battle was the “object of charity.” However, the original narrative reveals that Battle’s
“neighbors and friends” were helping her during the Depression by providing “food and
clothing.” Through the original narrative, it is clear that Battle did not have enough food or
clothing and suffered from ill health. This information was not available in the edited series
narrative. Thus, details within the edited series narratives that went to the national FWP
minimized the conditions of the ex-slaves in the Depression.
Bob Mobley’s narrative also exposed the agenda of white interviewer Elizabeth Watson
to censor Depression commentary in the narrative. In Mobley’s edited three page narrative,
317
Rawick, The American Slave, vol. 12 (Georgia), Part 1, 59.
Rawick, The American Slave, Supplement, Series 1, vol. 3 (Georgia), Part 1, 39.
319
Ibid., 44.
318
74
Watson remarked: “Now old, feeble, and physically incapacitated, ‘Uncle’ Bob lives with a
stepdaughter – a woman of 72 – who, herself, is failing fast. Both are supported mainly by
Pulaski County and the Federal Government.”320 However, the original narrative provides
different details within the same passage. It states: “Bob lives now with his step-daughter. Too
old and feeble now to do any work, he has to depend on the kindness of others for support. The
step-daughter is seventy-two years old so she is not able to hold any but small jobs. They are
both helped by the county and federal government.”321 The original narrative reveals a great deal
more than the edited version. One learns that Mobley’s step-daughter is unable to do much work,
which means their economic situation is dire. Further, the original narrative reveals that Mobley
“depend[s] on the kindness of others for support.”322 This information was not available in the
edited series. As a result, the reader knows that Mobley and his stepdaughter are reaching out to
a third party for assistance during the Depression.
There are two other passages from Mobley’s narrative that appear in the original series
but not the edited series, which reveal censorship on the part of the interviewer. At the beginning
of the original narrative, Elizabeth Watson describes how Mobley greeted the FWP interviewers:
“Bob Mobley, an ex-negro slave, was seated on the porch in the warm sunshine as we entered
the gate. By the time we had reached the steps he had risen feebly to his feet and stood
courteously waiting for us to enter.”323 Watson urged Mobley to not “get up” after “noticing
what an effort he was making” in trying to rise to his feet.324 In the edited series, Mobley was
320
Rawick, The American Slave, vol. 13 (Georgia), Part 3, 138.
Rawick, The American Slave, Supplement, Series 1, vol. 4 (Georgia), Part 2, 452.
322
Ibid.
323
Ibid., 445.
324
Ibid.
321
75
described as “old, feeble, and physically incapacitated.”325 However, the original series described
how feeble Mobley actually was through a description of his difficulty to even rise out of a chair.
The original series copy of Bob Mobley’s narrative provides details about food during the
Depression that was not included in the edited series copy. After describing food during slavery,
Mobley became noticeably upset. Watson described: “The tears began to roll silently down his
wrinkled cheaks [sic]. When he spoke again it was in a voice that trembled.”326 Mobley went on
to say: “I wish I could be with ole marster now ’cause he was so kind. He treated me like one o’
the family an’ I didn’t want for nothin’ as long as he lived.”327 One learns that Depression-era
food conditions are such that they reduced Bob Mobley to tears. This passage was completely
removed from the edited narrative that was sent to the national FWP office. Thus, it is obvious
that the local Georgia FWP office took lengths to minimize the details of the Depression when it
edited its narratives.
There were also editorial deletions of Depression commentary in the narratives when it
came to duplicate interviews within the FWP original series and the WPA Life History project.
This project was geared at collecting interviews about the Depression. The interviewees included
people of all races, ages, and gender. The interviews were completed in Georgia and many of the
interviewers participated in both the WPA Life History project and the Ex-Slave Narrative
project.328 The original narrative and WPA Life History narrative of Maria Jackson are quite
different.329 In an effort to reduce the page length of the original narrative, the editor chose to
325
Rawick, The American Slave, vol. 13 (Georgia), Part 3, 138.
Rawick, The American Slave, Supplement, Series 1, vol. 4 (Georgia), Part 2, 449.
327
Ibid. This also could have been an attempt by Bob Mobley to placate the white interviewer by claiming his
master treated him well.
328
Manuscript Division. Library of Congress. American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers’ Project,
1936-1940, http://lcweb2.loc.gov/wpaintro/wpahome.html.
329
Maria Jackson is listed as having three different names within the two narratives. The original narrative lists her
as Maria Jackson. The WPA Life History narrative lists her as Mariah Jackson in the address portion of the
interview, but as Cindy Wright in the narrative portion. As evidenced by other WPA Life History narratives, names
326
76
delete content. On the first page of the original narrative an editor’s note appears in brackets
stating: “At this point, there are a little more than three and a half pages of wandering comments
about cooking etc. which have been deleted. Editor’s note.”330 Both of the interviews have the
same date. Thus, only one interview was collected by white interviewer Grace McCune, but the
Life History narrative contains the editorial deletions of the original narrative. In the deleted
section, it is revealed that McCune brought Jackson a sack of fruit in exchange for the interview
at the behest of a Mr. Aaron, whose family employed Jackson as a housekeeper.331 In this deleted
portion of the original interview, the reader learns that food was exchanged for an interview and
the manner in which the interview came about in the first place. Jackson later tells the
interviewer that she is “mighty proud and thankful you gimme dis fruit. I was just a-wishin’ dis
mornin’ dat I had some.”332 Thus, these editorial deletions “of wandering comments about
cooking etc.” actually contained important details about Jackson’s condition during the
Depression and her relationship with whites.333 This indicates how indifferent the interviewers
were to the plight of African Americans during the Depression.
There was one additional editorial deletion made in Jackson’s original narrative that was
retained in the Life History narrative, which sheds light on the economic plight of elderly
African Americans during the Depression. At the end of the original narrative, an editorial note
in brackets reads: “At this point a few more pages of rambling discussion of cooking having no
relation to slavery were also deleted. Editor’s note.”334 When the Life History version of the
were frequently changed in order to protect the identity of the interviewee. This is likely the reason for three
different names. For the purposes of this study, the original name of Maria Jackson will be used.
330
Rawick, The American Slave, Supplement, Series 2, vol. 1 (Georgia), 267-268.
331
Grace McCune, “[Cindy Wright],” December 13, 1938, From Library of Congress, American Life Histories,
Manuscripts from the Federal Writers’ Project,2. http://lcweb2.loc.gov/wpaintro/ (accessed August 4, 2013).
332
Grace McCune, “[Cindy Wright],” December 13, 1938, From Library of Congress, American Life Histories,
Manuscripts from the Federal Writers’ Project,4. http://lcweb2.loc.gov/wpaintro/ (accessed August 4, 2013).
333
Rawick, The American Slave, Supplement, Series 2, vol. 1 (Georgia), 267.
334
Ibid., 274.
77
narrative is consulted, it is revealed that Jackson discusses employment she performed for two
different white families and medical issues. Further, Jackson revealed details about old age
pensions. She said that she “gits [her] check on de 17th…I’se done got two of dem five dollar
checks for de old age pension. Hit ain’t but five dollars a month but dat sho does help.”335
Jackson goes on to say that she hopes other elderly African Americans are able to get pensions as
well because they really need help.336 These deletions reveal a great deal about the Depression
that the edited version censors. In addition to a variety of medical conditions, one also learns that
Jackson was receiving an old age pension, and she was not pleased with the small amount.
Jackson also reveals that elderly African Americans experienced difficulty during the Depression
and needed help. By holding back this information, the Georgia FWP succeeded in censoring the
conditions of elderly African Americans during the Depression.
In addition to editing narratives to present Georgia more positively, the white
interviewers also sought to highlight their own good deeds. The main goal and agenda of the
white FWP interviewers was to complete a narrative about an ex-slave. In order to achieve this,
an interview had to take place. Based on the tense racial setting in Georgia, this was often
difficult. As already discussed, many ex-slaves did not want to give an interview or were
skeptical about a visit from mostly white interviewers from the government. In order to achieve
their agenda, the interviewers had to be clever in convincing ex-slaves to talk. One such method
used to insure an interview was to give the ex-slave a token of their appreciation. Essentially, the
interviewer bought the interview from the ex-slave. Interviewer Maude Barragan would give the
ex-slaves peppermints. Editors John North and Joseph Jaffee and writer Morris Adams gave out
335
336
McCune, “[Cindy Wright],” December 13, 1938, 13.
Ibid.
78
cigars.337 These gestures helped the white interviewers gain an interview with the ex-slaves. The
interviewers also made sure to record these good deeds in the slave narratives, which promoted
the generosity and benevolence of the white FWP interviewers.
There are various reasons why the Georgia’s FWP office elected to alter interviews that
went to the national office. While Rawick argues that slavery information may have been
embarrassing to the state, Depression-related information could have been equally distressing.
Some of the ex-slaves criticized Georgia’s handling of relief funds. The local FWP office may
have decided to redact parts of interviews that were too critical the Georgia relief operations and
New Deal programs rather than addressing that services were not reaching blacks. The ex-slaves
also highlighted that relief and New Deal programs in Georgia were discriminatory towards
them. This is information that Georgia FWP officials or interviewers likely did not want being
seen by national FWP officials. Thus, in an attempt to protect the image of Georgia, local
officials elected to send shortened summaries of interviews to Washington rather than full
interviews.338
Black FWP interviewers also had an agenda when it came to the Depression-related
commentary in the ex-slave narratives. Counter to the agenda of white interviewers, black
interviewers sought to present the ex-slaves as equals. The black interviewers achieved this goal
in two ways. First, they addressed the ex-slaves with respect in the narratives, and, second, they
highlighted the intelligence of the ex-slaves in their narratives. In addition to presenting the exslaves in this way, black interviewer Geneva Tonsill went to greater lengths to exchange goods
with an ex-slave than any of the white FWP interviewers. Through these gestures, black
interviewers attempted to challenge white domination and racist social structures.
337
Rawick, The American Slave, Supplement, Series 1, vol. 3 (Georgia), Part 1, 1-342.
Ibid., xxii-xxvi.
338
79
The black FWP interviewers addressed the ex-slaves with respect in the narratives. In
most of the interviews conducted by a black interviewer, the ex-slaves were addressed as Mister
or Missus. For example, ex-slave Celestia Avery was addressed as “Mrs. Celestia Avery” or
“Mrs. Avery” throughout her interview.339 The form of address used by black interviewers was
in direct contrast to the addresses used by white interviewers. In many interviews performed by
white interviewers, the ex-slaves are referred to as “uncle,” “aunt,” or “darky.”340 White
interviewer J.R. Jones frequently used these terms in his narratives. He referred to Rias Body as
“‘Uncle’ Rias” throughout his narrative.341 Jones also referred to ex-slaves as “darky.” For
George Brooks’ narrative, the opening line reads: “This old darky, probably the oldest ex-slave
in West Georgia, claims to be 112 years of age.”342 The use of “darky” was not limited to the exslave narratives, but was also used by white interviewers in FWP correspondence. In a letter to
John L. Peters, District Director of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), Assistant District
Supervisor of the Georgia FWP, Joseph E. Jaffee stated: “We have located a former slave of Dr.
Crawford W. Long in Jackson county and we plan to interview the ‘darky’ in the very near
future.”343 White interviewers perpetuated racial hierarchy and ideology through their
descriptions of ex-slaves. In opposition, black FWP interviewers referred to the ex-slaves with
respect and presented them as equal to whites.
Black interviewers also highlighted the intelligence of the ex-slaves in the narratives.
Black interviewer Minnie B. Ross stated that Mariah Calloway’s “thoughts were clearly and
intelligently related to the writer.”344 Ross opened her narrative of Emmaline Heard by saying:
339
Rawick, The American Slave, vol. 12 (Georgia), Part 1, 22.
Ibid., 87, 133.
341
Ibid, 86-90.
342
Ibid., 133.
343
Rawick, The American Slave, vol. 12 (Georgia), Part 2, 199.
344
Rawick, The American Slave, vol. 12 (Georgia), Part 1, 172.
340
80
Emmaline Heard is a small, dark brown skinned woman who appears to be about 67 but
is probably older. Her mind seems to be active, however, as she responds quickly to
questions and expresses herself intelligently.345
Black interviewer Edwin Driskell also focused on the intelligence of the ex-slaves. He noted that
Henry Wright’s “speech and thought indicate that he is very intelligent and there is no doubt that
he still possesses a clear and active mind.”346 The black interviewers’ emphasis on the
intelligence of ex-slaves was in direct opposition to that of white editors. The editor of Benjamin
Henderson’s narrative downplayed the intelligence of slaves.347 Black interviewer Minnie B.
Ross wrote: “Often slaves were cunning enough to out run the ‘Patter Rollers’ [slave patrols] and
escape the 75 lashes which they were in store for them if they were caught.”348 The editor lined
through the words “were cunning enough” and changed the passage to read: “Often slaves out
ran the ‘Patter Rollers’ and escaped the 75 lashes which were in store for them if they were
caught.”349 This passage eliminated the reference to the intelligence of the slaves by deleting the
phrase that describes them as “cunning.”350 As the white interviewers were downplaying the
acumen of the ex-slaves, black interviewers sought to counter the racist ideology of white
Southerners by emphasizing the intelligence of the ex-slaves.
The final agenda of black interviewers was to provide assistance to the ex-slaves. Geneva
Tonsill fulfilled this agenda by providing groceries to ex-slave Sally Brown. In the middle of her
interview, Sally Brown broke off from her testimony and stated that she has “got sich a pain in
mah stomach Ah don’t believe Ah can go on.”351 Interviewer Geneva Tonsill wrote that the
345
Rawick, The American Slave, vol. 12 (Georgia), Part 2, 148. Heard was actually born “four of five years before
freedom.”
346
Rawick, The American Slave, vol. 13 (Georgia), Part 4, 194.
347
The editor is not listed on this narrative.
348
Rawick, The American Slave, vol. 12 (Georgia), Part 2, 175.
349
Ibid.
350
Ibid.
351
Rawick, The American Slave, vol. 12 (Georgia), Part 1, 148.
81
interview stopped at her suggestion showing the kindness of the interviewer in respecting
Brown's illness. Rather than resume transcription of the interview when she revisited Brown,
Tonsill elected to include details about what happened after the interview ended. After leaving
Brown’s house, Tonsill visited a grocery store and “order[ed] some groceries for Aunt Sally.”352
Tonsill transcribed the grocery owner’s praise of her actions: “I tink you vas very kind to do dis
for Aunt Sally. She neets it.”353 Tonsill also transcribed that when she returned to Brown’s home
she brought another bag of groceries for Brown. She states: “I’d put the bag of groceries on the
table unobtrusively, but Aunt Sally wasn’t one to let such gifts pass unnoticed.”354 Tonsill then
described Brown’s reaction and praise for all of the groceries as she looked in the bags.355
Tonsill went above the role of an interviewer by providing groceries for Sally Brown on two
occasions.
This interaction between Tonsill and Brown reveals a flaw in the quantitative data
utilized in this study. As will be discussed in chapter three, the quantitative data analysis reveals
that ex-slaves bartered more often with white interviewers. Of the ten ex-slaves who bartered in
their interview, only Sally Brown bartered with a black interviewer, Geneva Tonsill. Most of the
ex-slaves chose to barter with a white interviewer.356 An analysis of the white interviewer barter
exchanges reveals that, for the most part, only money was exchanged. Few white interviewers
brought goods to the ex-slaves. McCune did bring fruit to Maria Jackson at the behest of Mr.
Aaron, an acquaintance of both. McCune did not instigate this barter. The exchange of money
required minimal effort on the part of the white interviewers. The white interviewers often
exchanged goods at the beginning of the interview indicating that the items were in exchange for
352
Ibid.
Ibid.
354
Ibid., 149.
355
Ibid., 148.
356
Kane, “Slave Narrative Survey,” February 13, 2013.
353
82
the interview. In contrast, Geneva Tonsill bartered goods with Sally Brown in the middle of the
interview, which means it was less likely Tonsill was exchanging the goods for the interview
since the interview had already begun. Tonsill took it upon herself to bring groceries to Brown
on two occasions, which was unnecessary to gaining an initial interview. Tonsill’s generosity
reveals a willingness on the part of black interviewers to go out of their way to assist the exslaves. It also highlights the conditions of elderly African Americans in the Great Depression,
which is in direct opposition to the white interviewer agenda of deleting Depression-related
commentary and criticisms.
Through a qualitative data analysis of the Georgia narratives, one can conclude that the
both black and white FWP interviewers had a clear agenda while interviewing the ex-slaves. The
white FWP interviewers attempted to recast Georgian whites as generous and benevolent
towards elderly African Americans. The white FWP interviewers minimized criticisms voiced by
the ex-slaves about their conditions and also edited content about slavery in order to focus on the
slave master to the exclusion of details about slave life. The white interviewers also censored the
Depression-related commentary of the ex-slaves. However, the black interviewers attempted to
counter the agenda of white interviewers by highlighting the intelligence of the ex-slaves. The
black interviewers also presented the ex-slaves as equal to whites by addressing them
respectfully. Black interviewers also focused on the conditions of ex-slaves during the
Depression and impressed upon the reader that the ex-slaves were worthy of services that were
bypassing them. In doing so, the black interviewers gave agency back to the ex-slaves who were
censored by white interviewers.
83
Chapter Three:
The Ex-Slaves: Conditions, Frustrations, and the FWP
As the Federal Writers’ Project (FWP) interviewers made their way to the homes of the
ex-slaves, they were met with abject poverty. As a result of a lifetime filled with slavery,
sharecropping, oppression at the hands of whites, and, finally, the Depression, many of the exslaves were desperate for help. Although the project was designed to record information about
slavery, through their interviews with the FWP, the ex-slaves made their Depression-era
conditions known to the interviewers. The ex-slaves related how old age pensions, relief, and
food surplus often bypassed them. Other avenues of assistance, like charities, insurance, and
family, had their own limitations. When encountering an interviewer from the government, at
least some of the ex-slaves recognized an opportunity to use the narrative project to advocate for
help when all other channels were closed to them. The elderly ex-slaves in Georgia used the
FWP interviews as a medium through which to protest the shortcomings of New Deal and relief
programs in Georgia as well as barter for much needed goods and information.
The Georgia FWP interviewed approximately 240 former slaves. All of the ex-slaves
were over seventy years of age since seventy-one years had passed from the end of slavery until
the first FWP interviews in 1936. Of the 240 ex-slaves interviewed, twenty-eight percent were in
their seventies, forty-one percent were in their eighties, fifteen percent were in their nineties,
eight percent were over 100 years old, and nine percent did not reveal their age or were not asked
for their age. Forty percent of the ex-slaves were male and sixty percent were female. Eightythree percent of the ex-slaves were born in Georgia. Many ex-slaves stayed in the same general
area where they had been enslaved. The ex-slaves not born in Georgia came from Florida, South
Carolina, Virginia, Alabama, North Carolina, Maryland, and Texas. The ex-slaves lived in
84
twenty-three different cities and towns during the Depression. The majority of ex-slaves lived in
Athens, Atlanta, Augusta, and Columbus.357
Quantitative data of the narratives reveals that a small percentage of the ex-slaves
commented about the Depression. Of the 240 ex-slaves included in the quantitative data, four
stated that they currently received an old age pension.358 Five ex-slaves were receiving another
type of pension, such as a Spanish-American War pension or a teacher’s pension. Sixteen exslaves revealed they were attempting to obtain or would like an old age pension. Seventeen exslaves acknowledged they were receiving some form of federal or local relief. Twenty-five exslaves mentioned obtaining aid from one of the following organizations: the American Red
Cross, the Department of Public Welfare, the Family Welfare Society, the WPA Housekeepers
Project, the Pulaski County, the Federal Government, the Griffin Relief Association, or another
non-specified county agency.359
While the quantitative data may provide statistics on the extent to which the Georgia exslaves were affected by the Depression, the data is flawed. As already discussed in chapter one,
the low rates of ex-slaves commenting directly on the Depression is likely the result of the
interviewer’s lack of interest in the subject. Many more ex-slaves were likely struggling during
the Depression than what is represented in the data. Further, quantitative data only reveals certain
trends and patterns in the ex-slave narratives. The quantitative data does not reveal the complex
racial environment of Georgia during the Depression that affected the lives of the ex-slaves. The
357
Denise Kane, “Slave Narrative Survey,” Survey. Google Drive, February 16, 2013. Sixty-five percent of the exslaves interviewed as part of the Georgia Ex-Slave Narrative project were living in Athens, Atlanta, Augusta, and
Columbus. Twenty-seven percent lived in Athens. Sixteen percent lived in Atlanta. Eleven percent lived in Augusta
and eleven percent lived in Columbus.
358
Old age pensions are not normally considered Depression-related. However, as a result of the racism and
discrimination in traditional relief programs, many African Americans considered old age pensions to be a form of
Depression-era relief. Further, the old age pensions referenced in this thesis are likely OAA benefits, which were
part of the Social Security Act, and would be considered a Depression-era form of relief.
359
Kane, “Slave Narrative Survey,” February 16, 2013.
85
quantitative data also does not highlight the day-to-day struggles faced by the ex-slaves. In order
to ascertain these facts, qualitative data analysis of the ex-slave narratives is needed.
The primary goal of the ex-slaves during the Depression was to obtain an old age
pension. There are three main reasons the ex-slaves focused on old age pensions in the
narratives. There was significant discussion in Georgia as well as nationwide about pension
programs as a means to assist the elderly during the Depression. There were old age pension
plans such as the Share Our Wealth Plan, Lundeen Bill, Townsend Plan, and the government’s
Social Security plan. Ex-slaves knew other African Americans had received an old age pension
and viewed them attainable when many relief programs were not. The ex-slaves felt they should
be compensated for their long years of labor. Many ex-slaves had worked hard throughout their
lives, and felt they deserved a form of payment for their labors. The ex-slaves’ need for old age
pensions dominated the ex-slave narratives.
Discussion of old age pension programs had been circulating for many years prior to the
FWP interviews. In 1934, several old age pension plans were proposed throughout the United
States. Louisiana Senator Huey Long’s Share Our Wealth Plan called for taxing the wealthy and
redistributing that money to families. Long planned for each family to receive $5,000 to obtain a
house, vehicle, and a radio. Families would also receive an income between $2,000 and $3,000
annually if they worked. The elderly who were unable to work would receive $30 per month.360
His plan included African Americans.361
Two old age pension bills made their way to Congress in 1934. Founded by Ernest
Lundeen, the Lundeen Bill also called for a redistribution of wealth by levying taxes on the
360
Edwin Amenta, When Movements Matter: The Townsend Plan and the Rise of Social Security (Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 2006), 66-67.
361
Mary Poole, The Segregated Origins of Social Security: African Americans and the Welfare State (Chapel Hill: The
University of North Carolina Press, 2006), 33.
86
wealthy. This bill “extended to all workers…without discrimination because of age, sex, race,
color, religious, or political opinion.”362 The Townsend Plan, founded by Dr. Frances Townsend,
suggested a two percent tax on all sales. These taxes would be used to pay the elderly $200 per
month. There were requirements placed on the elderly in order to receive this money. The elderly
had to stop working and spend all of the money within a thirty day period. This would enable the
money to recirculate and strengthen the economy.363 The Townsend Plan ended up gaining a
following and opened Townsend Clubs, which were community groups aimed at gaining
members and fundraising.364 The discussion of these old age pension plans reached the ex-slaves.
Interviewer J.R. Jones stated that ex-slave George Owen is “decrepit and very much interested in
the ‘Tawshun’ (Townsend) plan, which he has heard of. He thinks that all old, indigent people
should be paid a government pension, and he importuned this writer to please do what he could
to get his name ‘on the list.’”365 Both of these old age pension plans included African
Americans.366 According to historian Mary Poole, these bills were “more of a statement of
philosophy than a polished plan of action.”367 In the end, the Social Security Act would instead
be adopted.
The passage of the Social Security Act in 1935 did not bring equal old age benefits to
most African Americans. The Social Security Act created two programs for the elderly. The first
program was Old Age Insurance (OAI), which was a pension program that would not be
362
Poole, The Segregated Origins of Social Security, 22.
Poole, The Segregated Origins of Social Security, 23; Amenta, When Movements Matter, 1.
364
Amenta, When Movements Matter, 1, 35, 120. African Americans were members of Townsend Clubs. However,
they were generally members of exclusively black clubs rather than integrated clubs. There were not many clubs
operating in Georgia. Only four clubs were present per congressional district compared with 138 clubs per district
in Oregon.
365
George P. Rawick, ed., The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography, Supplement, Series 1, vol. 4 (Georgia),
Part 2 (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1977), 476.
366
Poole, The Segregated Origins of Social Security, 22.
367
Ibid., 22.
363
87
implemented until 1940, and excluded the majority of African Americans.368 The second
program was Old Age Assistance (OAA), which provided immediate monthly payments to the
elderly.369 Recipients of OAA were required to be sixty-five years old. Although, states could
elect to raise the age to seventy until 1940 when OAI would take over. Further, OAA recipients
had to be citizens of the United States and not imprisoned. Recipients were required to live in the
state where they applied for benefits for one continuous year prior to receiving benefits. Further,
the monthly payment to OAA recipients could not exceed $30.00 per month.370
The OAA program was plagued by discrimination against elderly African Americans.
OAA ultimately fell under the purview of each individual state for determining the monthly
payments for recipients. As a result of the rampant racism in Georgia, African Americans
frequently received less aid than whites or were excluded entirely. In the House Ways and Means
Committee, Georgia politicians made public their thoughts on equal payments to whites and
blacks. Representative Edward E. Cox was adamant in gaining “explicit assurance…that
different amounts could be awarded to different persons within a state.”371 Further, Frances
Perkins, the United States Secretary of Labor who was instrumental in passing the Social
Security Act, approved of unequal OAA payments as governed by individual states.372 Through
this action, Perkins and other politicians allowed Southern states to discriminate against elderly
African Americans when it came to OAA benefits.
In order to discriminate against the elderly African Americans seeking OAA benefits, the
relief offices required documentation that many ex-slaves could not produce. The OAA required
368
Ibid., 26. The Old Age Insurance (OAI) program of the Social Security Act did not officially begin until January 1,
1940. Since the ex-slaves were interviewed from 1936-1938, none of them would have received OAI benefits.
Thus, lengthy discussion of OAI will not be included in this study.
369
Ibid.
370
th
The Social Security Act of 1935, H.R. 7260, 74 Cong. (1935).
371
Poole, The Segregated Origins of Social Security, 47.
372
Ibid., 51.
88
that recipients be sixty-five years or older in order to receive benefits and that they prove their
age.373 This was problematic for most ex-slaves who had no record of their birth. Interviewer
Minnie Branham Stonestreet even noted the difficulty of proving one’s birthdate: “I was born,
which, according to some who came into the world before the birth certificate law, is about the
hardest fact of all to prove.”374 Others reported the same difficulty in proving their age. George
Brooks “claim[ed] to be 112 years of age…but, since none of his former (two) owners’ people
can be located, and no records concerning his birth can be found, his definite age cannot be
positively established.”375 In some cases, the relief office would contact the descendants of an
ex-slave’s owner to verify the age of the ex-slave. Easter Jones stated that “The Family Welfare
Society wrote to the family descendants of the Bennetts and found [her] birthdate in the family
bible.”376 But, most ex-slaves could not prove their age using written records. As a result, elderly
African Americans often were forced to locate a white person to vouch for their age, which
likely was not easy considering the racial environment of Georgia during the Depression.
Several of the ex-slaves reported in the FWP narratives that they were trying to obtain an
old age pension, but were not having any success. Interviewer Willie H. Cole noted that Lula
Washington’s “chief concern now is getting her old-age pension.”377 Emma Coker also revealed
that she “hopes to get a pension.”378 Kizzie Colquitt also wanted an old age pension: “I put in for
one of dem old age pensions, but dey ain’t give me nothin’ yet, so I jus’ wuk when I kin, and
373
The Social Security Act of 1935, H.R. 7260, 74th Cong. (1935); Poole, The Segregated Origins of Social Security,
26. OAA also required the elderly to “document that they were poor.”
374
Minnie Stonestreet, “[In Lieu of Something Better],” January 9, 1940, From Library of Congress, American Life
Histories, Manuscripts from the Federal Writers’ Project,2. http://lcweb2.loc.gov/wpaintro/ (accessed August 15,
2013).
375
George P. Rawick, ed., The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography, vol. 12 (Georgia), Part 1 (Westport,
Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Company, 1972), 133.
376
Rawick, The American Slave, Supplement, Series 1, vol. 4 (Georgia), Part 2, 349.
377
George P. Rawick, ed., The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography, vol. 13 (Georgia), Part 4 (Westport,
Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Company, 1972), 135.
378
George P. Rawick, ed., The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography, Supplement, Series 1, vol. 3 (Georgia),
Part 1 (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1977), 204.
89
hope dat it won’t be long ‘fore I has plenty again.”379 Martha Colquitt also expressed frustration
with the application process for a pension. She stated: “I sho’ is hopin’ de old age pension will
soon git started comin’ to me. Some dat I know, has been gittin’ dey old pensions two or three
months. I done signed up for mine twict, so maybe it will ‘gin to come ‘fore I is done plum wore
out.”380 Some of the ex-slaves expressed frustration with the OAA application process. They
made sure to inform their FWP interviewer of the fact that old age pensions were not reaching
them.
When an FWP interviewer arrived at their door, several ex-slaves mistook them for
someone from the OAA office. Some ex-slaves were disappointed when they learned the actual
reason for the FWP interviewer’s visit. Interviewer Emily Powell recorded Fannie Jones’
frustration about the interview: “The old Negress thought the purpose of the visit was to see
about an old age pension for her, and she was very much disappointed when she learned the real
reason; however, she invited her visitor into a bedroom.”381 Even though Jones was disappointed,
she acquiesced to an interview. William McWhorter also expressed frustration about the reason
for his interviewer’s visit: “The smile faded from his face when he learned the nature of the visit.
‘I thought you was de pension lady comin’ to fetch me some money…and ‘stid of dat you wants
to know ‘bout slavery days. I’se disapp’inted.’”382 Alec Bostwick elected to end his interview
based on his frustration: “I don’t want to talk no more. I’se disappointed, I thought sho’ you wuz
one of dem pension ladies what come for to fetch me some money. I sho’ wish dey would come.
379
Rawick, The American Slave, vol. 12 (Georgia), Part 1, 124.
Ibid., 250.
381
George P. Rawick, ed., The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography, vol. 12 (Georgia), Part 2 (Westport,
Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Company, 1972), 352.
382
George P. Rawick, ed., The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography, vol. 13 (Georgia), Part 3 (Westport,
Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Company, 1972), 92.
380
90
Good-bye Miss.”383 When they learned the truth, the ex-slaves often expressed their
disappointment with the interviewer. In doing so, the ex-slaves protested the shortcomings of the
New Deal in reaching them and their exclusion from the Social Security Act’s provisions.
The frustration of elderly African Americans grew when they initially received old age
pensions only to find themselves cut off later. When an FWP interviewer visited John Harris, his
neighbor Billy was at the house and lamented: “I was hopin’ you was our other good white
missy, the one that’s seein’ ‘bout the pension money for us old folks. Did you know we’ve been
cut off from gittin’ our pensions? Does you reckon as how we’ll ever git ‘em any more?”384
When John Harris joined Billy and the interviewer, he stated: “Good mornin’! I jus’ heared
Uncle Billy askin’ ‘bout the pension money. I hope you can give us some news ‘bout it…We old
folks sure could use that pension money right now…As for me, I’se been sick all the year and
ain’t been able to make a cent.”385 Both Billy and John Harris pressed their case with the
interviewer in the hopes that she had information about old age pensions. Interviewer Grace
McCune “assured the two old men [she] had no information as to when their old age pensions
would be restored.”386 Some ex-slaves had been approved for an old age pension, but when funds
dried up their pensions were discontinued leading to confusion about why they were not
receiving any aid.
While some ex-slaves were frustrated with the cancellation of their pensions, ex-slaves
who received old age pensions stated that the amount of money was not enough. George Carter
told his interviewer: “Ten dollars; ten dollars; who kin lib on ten dollars a mont? All dose
Niggers git mor’n dat. Heah I is ninety-seben yeahs old, an’ down wid duh back ache mos’ ob
383
Rawick, The American Slave, vol. 12 (Georgia), Part 1, 112.
Rawick, The American Slave, Supplement, Series 1, vol. 3 (Georgia), Part 1, 277.
385
Ibid., 277-278.
386
Ibid., 277.
384
91
duh time, an’ all I gits frum dat welfare is ten meazeldee dollars.”387 Susan Matthews also felt
her old age pension was lacking: “The government gives me eight dollars a month but that don’t
go fer enough. I has er hard time cause I can’t git around an work like I used to.”388 Other exslaves received far less. Sally Brown stated that she receives “75 [cents] ever two weeks but that
don’t go very fur.”389 The ex-slaves that received old age pensions acknowledged that the
monthly payments could not cover their monthly expenses.
While some of the ex-slaves were receiving old age pensions or relief payments, the
money was likely to be used quickly on rent or food. According to Mrs. George Shaw Crane, a
white landlord in Georgia during the Depression, the rent for African Americans was “50 [cents]
a room per week, plus the water bill which amounts to about 10 [cents] per room each week.”390
If they rented, the rent due on the homes would eat into their small old age pension amounts.
Purchasing food each month would also take a significant portion of the old age pensions
received. Mr. Cofield, a white grocer in Athens during the Depression, discussed the prices of
food with interviewer Sadie B. Hornsby. He stated that beans were ten cents, potatoes were six
cents, meat was seventeen cents, applesauce in cans were 10 cents, string beans were twenty
cents per gallon, and snuff was ten cents.391 Samuel Augustus Sheats, an African-American
grocer in Athens, also reported some of the prices in his store. He stated that corn was twentyfive cents for a dozen, potatoes were three cents a pound, and beans were twenty cents a gallon.
Several of the customers that came into Sheats’ store would buy a nickel, dime, or fifteen cents’
387
Ibid., 153.
Rawick, The American Slave, vol. 13 (Georgia), Part 3, 117.
389
Rawick, The American Slave, Supplement, Series 1, vol. 3 (Georgia), Part 1, 105.
390
Sadie B. Hornsby, “[Edward Walcott],” March 8, 1939, From Library of Congress, American Life Histories,
Manuscripts from the Federal Writers’ Project,18. http://lcweb2.loc.gov/wpaintro/ (accessed August 22, 2013).
391
Sadie B. Hornsby, “[Grocery Store],” September 11, 1939, From University of North Carolina, Federal Writers
Project Papers, 2-9. http://www2.lib.unc.edu/mss/inv/f/Federal_Writers%27Project.html (accessed September 5,
2013).
388
92
worth of meat like roasting ears or fatback.392 Sally Brown only received one dollar and fifty
cents per month. Based on the food prices, Sally Brown’s money would run out before the end of
the month leaving her without food. Considering many of the ex-slaves’ relief or pensions were
less than ten dollars per month, paying for rent, food, and any other necessities would have been
incredibly difficult. The result would be many ex-slaves living in poverty and going without the
basic necessities.
Many ex-slaves stated they felt entitled to an old age pension because of their lifelong
worth ethic. Benjamin Henderson told his interviewer that his life had been “filled with plenty of
hard work.”393 E.W. Evans also highlighted his work history. He stated: “I have worked at my
trade until I got too old to work.”394 Mollie Kinsey also focused on her work ethic in her
narrative. She told her interviewer: “Honey, I always worked and made my living after my
husband died and did it till I wus too ole. I nevah asked a soul fer a penny.”395 Sally Brown also
discussed her work history with her interviewer. She stated: “I worked hard always. Honey, you
can’t ‘magine what a hard time I had. I split rails lak a man.”396 Brown revealed her desperate
situation when she felt the need to highlight her work ethic for a second time. She said, “I always
worked hard. ‘Course I didn’t git much fur it but I lak to work fur what I gits.”397 The ex-slaves
attempted to impress upon their interviewers that they deserved an old age pension based on their
long history of free labor. The ex-slaves felt that their hard work merited an old age pension.
392
Grace McCune, “[A Customer is Always Right],” August 3, 1939, From University of North Carolina, Federal
Writers Project Papers, http://www2.lib.unc.edu/mss/inv/f/Federal_Writers%27Project.html (accessed September
6, 2013).
393
Rawick, The American Slave, vol. 12 (Georgia), Part 2, 177.
394
Rawick, The American Slave, Supplement, Series 1, vol. 4 (Georgia), Part 2, 405.
395
Ibid., 376.
396
Rawick, The American Slave, Supplement, Series 1, vol. 3 (Georgia), Part 1, 97.
397
Ibid., 109.
93
The second agenda of the ex-slaves was to gain money in the form of direct relief. From
the onset, Georgia was plagued with problems involving relief. Governor Eugene Talmadge was
against any federal programs as they were a threat to “Georgia’s political system, [which] served
the interests of the plantation and mill owners who dominated the state’s economy.”398 Talmadge
initially maintained strict control of relief expenditures. Historian Harvard Sitkoff noted that
Talmadge “flatly refused to follow government guidelines on equal relief pay for blacks and
whites. Atlanta distributed average monthly relief checks of $32.66 to whites and $19.29 to
blacks.”399 When African Americans attained relief, they were often given much less than
whites. Furthermore, Southern politicians asserted their position by proclaiming that “AfroAmericans had always had less than whites, [and] that they required less to live.”400 In order to
get around Talmadge’s power, Georgia’s relief system was eventually federalized and placed
under the control of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA). While FERA
operated under the control of a majority of social workers, the “social workers were not
revolutionaries and their social vision was limited.”401 As a result, African Americans continued
to face discrimination when it came to receiving relief in the state of Georgia.
Some of the ex-slaves expressed their frustrations with the government when it came to
obtaining some type of relief. Carrie Nancy Fryer expressed displeasure over the government
handling of relief. Interviewer Maude Barragan was privy to a conversation between Fryer and
398
Karen Ferguson, Black Politics in New Deal Atlanta (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2002),
74.
399
Harvard Sitkoff, A New Deal for Blacks: The Emergence of Civil Rights as a National Issue: The Depression Decade
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1978), 49.
400
Sitkoff, A New Deal for Blacks, 49.
401
Ferguson, Black Politics in New Deal Atlanta, 78-82.
94
her neighbor over relief administration. Fryer’s neighbor greeted her by stating: “You look
mighty peak-ked dis morning.”402 Fryer replied:
I oughter. I bin to see de mayor. I say: ‘Mr. Mayor, here I is. I ain’ got nuttin’ to eat – it
ain’ right for a woman my age to beg food. Now what yer gwine do ‘bout it?’ De mayor
say: ‘Auntie, you go right down to de welfare office at de Court House and tell de lady I
sont you to git somepin’ to eat.’ I done dat – dey promise to send a lady, but I ain’ see no
lady yit…I didn’ lef’ skin of meat in my house or a piece of cornpone.403
Fryer’s neighbor stated that “T’won’t do no good” to go to the welfare office to seek help.404
While overhearing the conversation, the interviewer reported that Fryer and her neighbor became
“angrier and angrier.”405 In Fryer’s case, none of the government offices wanted to take
responsibility for helping elderly African Americans. The mayor’s office sent Fryer to the
welfare office. The welfare office promised to send someone to help Fryer and no one had come.
This was often the case with relief in Georgia. According to Karen Ferguson: “One observer
estimated that of the 8,000 to 9,000 families receiving municipal relief before the New Deal,
only 1,800 were black, even though blacks comprised one-third of Atlanta’s population, and a
much greater proportion of the unemployed poor.”406 With the high numbers of Georgians
seeking relief, many people, like elderly African Americans, were shut out of the process, and,
instead, faced the run-around from government officials.
The third major issue for African Americans during the Depression was food. Some of
the ex-slaves in Georgia complained about a lack of food to the FWP interviewers. Cicely
Cawthon commented that she “ain’t got nothing but a piece of bread.”407 Kizzie Colquitt also
only had bread in her house: “I used to have plenty, but times is changed and now sometimes I
402
Rawick, The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography, vol. 12 (Georgia), Part 1, 333.
Ibid.
404
Ibid., 334.
405
Ibid.
406
Ferguson, Black Politics in New Deal Atlanta, 51.
407
Rawick, The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography, Supplement, Series 1, vol. 3 (Georgia), Part 1, 192.
403
95
don’t have nothin’ but bread, and jus’ bread is hard to git, heap of de time.”408 Ex-slaves also
complained about having no food in the house. Minnie Davis stated that “she was hungry and
had nothing at all in the house to eat.”409 Carrie Nancy Fryer also expressed frustration with her
lack of food: “A poor creeter come to my house today to beg for somepin’ to eat…I ain’ got
nuttin’ and I tell her so.”410 Other ex-slaves were concerned about the future. Abner Griffin
stated that he “ain’t got nuttin, ain’t doin’ nuttin’, don’t know whar I gwine git nuttin’.”411 Some
of the ex-slaves had very little food during the Depression and were fearful that they would not
see another meal.
One New Deal solution to the hunger problem affecting elderly African Americans
during the Depression was the disbursement of surplus goods. The Federal Surplus Relief
Corporation (FSRC) was founded in 1933 with the aim of serving as a “temporary emergency
measure to transfer agricultural surpluses to the unemployed…”412 In addition to using
agricultural surplus, the FSRC also purchased additional goods for distribution when needed.413
The FSRC also attempted to match specific goods with consumer preferences and needs. The
FSRC, for example, instituted a program to provide the Southeast with skim milk as a result of
diseases, like pellagra.414
The FSRC was active in Georgia where the need was great. In November of 1938, the
Georgia State Department of Public Welfare reported that surplus distribution “reached the
highest figure in four years – 72,000 families comprising approximately one tenth of the total
408
Rawick, The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography, vol. 12 (Georgia), Part 1, 124.
Ibid., 253.
410
Ibid., 334.
411
Rawick, The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography, Supplement, Series 1, vol. 3 (Georgia), Part 1, 275.
412
Janet Poppendieck, Breadlines Knee-Deep in Wheat: Food Assistance in the Great Depression (New Brunswick,
New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 1986), 129, 177. The FSRC would later change to the Federal Surplus
Commodities Corporation (FSCC) in 1935 when it came under the purview of the United States Department of
Agriculture.
413
Poppendieck, Breadlines Knee-Deep in Wheat, 134, 137.
414
Ibid., 129, 138.
409
96
population of the State of Georgia.”415 The Department of Public Welfare also noted that ninetyfour percent of the families received surplus goods.416 Depending on the availability, the types of
surplus goods included: apples, beans, beets, butter, cabbage, cereal, flour, grapefruit juice, dry
skimmed milk, peaches, potatoes, prunes, and raisins. The FSRC also distributed processed
goods, such as clothing and other household items.417 However, there were some problems in the
operations of the surplus goods program. Karen Ferguson notes:
Even those families with six or more children were rarely offered more than $2.50 in
weekly grocery orders, and the black poor were sometimes barred entirely from receiving
the flour, greens, and coal distributed daily at the Relief Center…The assumptions of
white superiority and black deference that prompted these policies meant that many
unemployed African Americans returned to their families from the Relief Center empty
handed.418
Many African Americans did not receive goods that were distributed as part of the surplus relief
programs.
Some of the ex-slaves reported receiving surplus goods. Nancy Settles explained that “de
Welfare gives us a bit to eat.”419 Phil Towns stated that “his food [was] furnished by the
Department of Public Welfare.”420Some of the ex-slaves revealed that receiving surplus goods
involved some effort on their part. Mahala Jewel reported that she “had done walked all de way
415
State of Georgia, Department of Public Welfare, “Georgia Public Welfare Statistics,” Volume 2, no. 5 (November
1938), 31.
416
State of Georgia, Department of Public Welfare, “Georgia Public Welfare Statistics,” Volume 2, no. 5 (November
1938), 31.
417
State of Georgia, Department of Public Welfare, “Georgia Public Welfare Statistics,” Volume 2, no. 5 (November
1938), 50; Poppendieck, Breadlines Knee-Deep in Wheat: Food Assistance in the Great Depression; Federal Surplus
Commodities Corporation, “Report of Federal Surplus Commodities Corporation for the Calendar year 1936,” April
1, 1937, GPO: Washington, 1937. Reports of the FSRC do not indicate the exact recipients of the surplus goods.
Instead, the reports indicate the surplus goods received or distributed and their value. It is unknown to what
degree African Americans received surplus goods or household items. Some of the ex-slaves reported receiving
surplus goods. But, none of the ex-slaves reported receiving household items. This does not mean that the exslaves did not receive these items. There was just not any mention of these items in the ex-slave narratives.
418
Ferguson, Black Politics in New Deal Atlanta, 51.
419
Rawick, The American Slave, vol. 13 (Georgia), Part 3, 235.
420
Rawick, The American Slave, vol. 13 (Georgia), Part 4, 47.
97
up to de courthouse to git dem cabbage what de welfare ladies had for me today.”421 Cordelia
Thomas also faced a long walk to the courthouse. She told interviewer Grace McCune:
I’se jus’ a mite tired…’cause I jus’ got back from de courthouse whar dem Welfare
‘omans done gimme a sack o’ flour and some other bundles what I ain’t opened up yit,
but I knows dey’s got somepin in ‘em to holp me, ‘cause dem folks is sho’ been mighty
good to me since my rheumatiz is been so bad I couldn’t wuk enough to make a livin’.422
Easter Jones also received surplus goods. She stated: “Oh, I ain’t nebber hongry. Dey gibs me
rations to de Court House.”423 Some of the ex-slaves were fortunate enough to receive
sustenance through the surplus goods programs operating in Georgia.
However, some of the ex-slaves complained about the quality and lack of food received.
Sally Brown stated:
They sent me surplus food from the gove’nment but I don’t like what they send. The
skim milk gripes me and I don’t like that yellow meal…And that wheat cereal they send!
I eats it with water when I don’t have milk and I don’t like it but when you don’t have
nothin’ else you got to eat what you have….I ain’t complainin’ fur I’m thankful fur what
I gits.424
Cicely Cawthon also complained about the quality of surplus food that was given to her mother.
She notes that “The Relief gives her dried milk and oatmeal…but when I beat up de milk and
cook de oatmeal she leaves de table. She says de milk tastes flat.”425 Cawthon’s mother also
noted that the food surplus “used to give me some meat, but I ain’t had none for a long
time…Can’t swap dis milk for nothing else neither, ‘cause dat’s agin’ de law, and I don’t want to
get in no trouble wid de Govmint.”426 Not only were the ex-slaves displeased with the quality of
421
Rawick, The American Slave, vol. 12 (Georgia), Part 2, 316.
Rawick, The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography, vol. 13 (Georgia), Part 4, 13.
423
Rawick, The American Slave, Supplement, Series 1, vol. 4 (Georgia), Part 2, 351; Transcript, “Conference on
Commodity Distribution,” September 19-21, 1935; FSRC. LC. Cordelia Thomas and Mahala Jewel lived in Athens.
Easter Jones and Nancy Settles lived in Augusta. Phil Towns lived in Macon. The FSRC reported that a delivery
service was operating in some states. None of the ex-slaves in Georgia stated they were receiving deliveries of
surplus goods.
424
Rawick, The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography, Supplement, Series 1, vol. 3 (Georgia), Part 1, 105.
425
Ibid., 213.
426
Ibid.
422
98
surplus goods, but they also took lengths to state that they did not want any problems with the
government if they complained. The ex-slaves were afraid of the repercussions of complaining
and having what little food they were provided disappear.
The ex-slaves had various options available to help them during the Depression, but each
was limited in their ability to provide long-term assistance. The first option was the local
charities operating in Georgia. Some of the ex-slaves reported receiving various forms of
charity.427 George Caulton reported that “the government, Red Cross, and his friends see to it
that he has the necessities.”428 Carrie Mason also reported receiving assistance from the
American Red Cross: “De Red Cross lady he’ps us an’ us gits along somehow or nother.”429 Bob
Mobley stated that “he has to depend on the kindness of others for support.”430 Authur Colson
told his interviewer that “if it were not for the county, government and his friends helping him,
he would suffer.”431 Even with help, some of the ex-slaves still struggled to survive. Joe
McCormick reported that “with the help of the county, government, and friends, they manage to
have the bare necessities.”432 The availability of local charity was limited. Karen Ferguson noted
that “white welfare officials made African Americans their last priority…the Family Welfare
Society, charged by the city with responsibility for the African American poor, neglected the
black community.”433 With discrimination rampant in charitable organizations in Georgia,
obtaining help was difficult for elderly African Americans.
427
It is likely that the ex-slaves also received some form of assistance from their local churches. Many of the exslaves spoke of their religious beliefs and local churches in the narratives, but none mentioned whether the
churches were providing any assistance during the Depression.
428
Ibid., 174.
429
Rawick, The American Slave, Supplement, Series 1, vol. 4 (Georgia), Part 2, 425.
430
Ibid., 452.
431
Rawick, The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography, Supplement, Series 1, vol. 3 (Georgia), Part 1, 222.
432
Rawick, The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography, Supplement, Series 1, vol. 4 (Georgia), Part 2, 393.
433
Ferguson, Black Politics in New Deal Atlanta, 51.
99
Some of the ex-slaves were able to receive aid in the form of charity and credit from local
grocers. Sally Brown’s grocer reported helping her with goods. She stated that she “often gif
[Brown] some food.”434 When the grocer saw Sally Brown’s son, she offered him food as well:
“He’s very old and feeble. He passed here yesterday and he look so wasted and hungry. His
stomick look like it was drawn in, you know. I gif him some fresh hocks.”435 Local grocers, like
Sally Brown’s, had difficulty turning away customers who were hungry and could not afford
food. Martha Colquitt also reported the generosity of her local grocer. She revealed: “De
storekeeper lets me have a little credit, but I owe her so much now dat I’se ‘shamed to ax her to
let me have anythin’ else.”436 While some grocers in Georgia attempted to be generous with
elderly African Americans, others could not. African-American grocer Samuel Augustus Sheats
stated that “the greatest handicap faced by a colored person in business among his own race, is
the temptation to extend credit. This is especially true in the grocery business. Never start giving
credit…it’s the only way to keep your business safe. For credit will surely pull you down – way
down.”437 Extending credit was too much of a risk for grocers who were also attempting to
survive during the Depression. Some ex-slaves may have received help from grocers, but likely it
was very rare. Once the ex-slave ran up too much credit, they were likely cut off.
Former slaves also turned to their community for help during the Depression with the
purchase of insurance policies. African Americans had purchased insurance policies since the
end of the Civil War. Lodges or fraternal orders were the main avenue for purchasing an
insurance policy. According to historian John Dittmer, “Between 1870 and 1920 Georgia blacks
paid in about $16.5 million to lodges, and the greater part of this amount went out in death
434
Rawick, The American Slave, Supplement, Series 1, vol. 3 (Georgia), Part 1, 103.
Ibid.
436
Rawick, The American Slave, vol. 12 (Georgia), Part 1, 250.
437
McCune, “[A Customer is Always Right],” 10.
435
100
benefit payments.”438 Black-owned insurance agencies formed in the early 1900s and continued
to grow into the 1920s.439 These insurance policies provided for the elderly in the event of
sickness, accident, or death. Sam Powell, an African-American insurance executive, stated: “Our
policyholders pay by the week and the dues range from 5 [cents] to 25 [cents] per week.”440
Powell noted that there was “no medical examination…necessary on policies of $250 or less.”441
Powell reported that one woman had taken out a $1000 policy on her husband and it cost $11.22
every six months.442 Ultimately, only those elderly African Americans with means could
purchase an insurance plan.
Several of the ex-slaves revealed that they had insurance policies. John Harris’ insurance
agent visited his house to collect his payment while the FWP interviewer was speaking with
Harris. The agent reported “Our business is going pretty well now…I think one reason we’re
having less lapses now is that our people are more and more realizing the need of insurance.
That’s about all they have to depend on in emergency now since times are so awful hard.”443
Anna Peek realized the importance of insurance. Her husband “drew a pension for years from the
Federal Government and saved quite a sum of money, also leaving a nice insurance.”444 As a
result of her husband’s insurance, Peek was able to live comfortably in her own home during the
Depression. While insurance helped to provide for a few of the ex-slaves, not all elderly African
Americans could afford the payments during the Depression. African-American insurance agent
A.B. Henry lamented: “Our collection problem is tremendous….so many people are entirely out
438
John Dittmer, Black Georgia in the Progress Era, 1900-1920 (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1977), 45.
Dittmer, Black Georgia in the Progressive Era, 1900-1920, 45-49.
440
Sadie B. Hornsby, “[A Negro Insurance Executive],” n.d., From University of North Carolina, Federal Writers
Project Paper, 5. http://www2.lib.unc.edu/mss/inv/f/Federal_Writers%27Project.html (accessed September 10,
2013).
441
Hornsby, “[A Negro Insurance Executive],” 6.
442
Ibid, 10.
443
Rawick, The American Slave, Supplement, Series 1, vol. 3 (Georgia), Part 1, 295.
444
Rawick, The American Slave, Supplement, Series 1, vol. 4 (Georgia), Part 2, 483.
439
101
of work at the present time, and those who are working are making barely enough to maintain
life, and by that I don’t mean that they make enough to pay for what you and I would call the
necessities of life.”445 Based on their limited means, many ex-slaves were unable to afford
insurance plans that could help them in cases of illness or death. Those that could afford the
plans could not miss any payments or they would lose the insurance.
One final option available to ex-slaves to assist with hardships during the Depression was
family members. Twenty-six percent of the ex-slaves lived with relatives. An additional seven
percent of the ex-slaves had a relation living with them.446 Interviewer Elizabeth Watson
described Easter Reed’s living conditions: “Now old and without property or funds, she lives
with a grandson.”447 Fanny Randolph reported that she “had thirteen chillun, but dey’s all daid
now an’ my ole man is daid too, so I’se here all by my se’f an’ ef h’it warn’t fer my two nieces
here, who lets me liv’ wid ‘em I doan know whut I’d do.”448 While living with relatives helped
provide for the ex-slaves, it added an extra burden to family members who were already
struggling during the Depression. Susannah Wyman lived with her grandson, who was employed
by the Works Progress Administration (WPA).449 Ferebe Roger’s granddaughter also worked for
the WPA and took Rogers in during the Depression.450 Since both of the grandchildren were
relief workers, their income was likely limited. Some of the ex-slaves were taken in by children
who were also elderly and in no position to help. Uncle Willis “lived with his daughter, Rena,
who is 74 years old.”451 Rena told the interviewer: “I his baby…All dead but me and I ain’t no
445
Grace McCune, “[Negro Fraternal Insurance],” April 13, 1939, From University of North Carolina, Federal Writers
Project Paper, 10. http://www2.lib.unc.edu/mss/inv/f/Federal_Writers%27Project.html (accessed September 9,
2013).
446
Kane, “Slave Narrative Survey,” February 16, 2013.
447
Rawick, The American Slave, Supplement, Series 1, vol. 4 (Georgia), Part 2, 502.
448
Rawick, The American Slave, vol. 13 (Georgia), Part 3, 197.
449
Rawick, The American Slave, Supplement, Series 1, vol. 4 (Georgia), Part 2, 660.
450
Rawick, The American Slave, vol. 13 (Georgia), Part 3, 209.
451
Rawick, The American Slave, vol. 13 (Georgia), Part 4, 168.
102
good for him now, ‘cause I kain’t tote nothin’.”452 While living with extended family members
was not uncommon in the black community, there was an extra burden placed on family
members who were already struggling during the Depression.
After exhausting other options, some ex-slaves turned to FWP interviewers who showed
up at their doors to ask them about slavery revealing a certain degree of agency on the part of the
former slaves. The ex-slaves, in need of assistance and food, bartered for these items with the
FWP interviewers in exchange for giving an interview. Some of the ex-slaves wanted
information about old age pensions and believed the FWP interviewer could provide it. Fannie
Cawthon Coleman told her interviewer:
I can’t read and write. Old time folks ain’t got no learning. Young folks now got all the
learning; sometimes I think they got too much learning, but I wants to find out how to git
one of dem old age pensions dey talks ‘bout. Do you reckon I’m old enough to git one?453
Only fifteen percent of the ex-slaves stated that they were literate. Thirteen percent of the exslaves stated they were illiterate.454 As a result of this illiteracy, some ex-slaves turned to the
FWP interviewers to gain information that they could not access.
The ex-slaves also explained their difficulty in obtaining an old age pension to the FWP
interviewers in the hope that they could offer some help. Mollie Kinsey was frustrated about her
old age pension. Initially, Kinsey received $13.50 a month. She stated that she “needed it. I
didn’t have nobody to git me a mouf’ful of vittles.”455 However, Kinsey’s pension had been
cancelled. She reported:
My visitor jes’ took my pension ’way from me. How did she do it? She did it ‘cause she
had no feelin’ for a pore ole woman. My visitor tole me she had to take it ‘cause I had a
stepdaughter in the city. Yes, I have a stepdaughter heah, but she ain’t able to ‘sport
452
Ibid.
Rawick, The American Slave, Supplement, Series 1, vol. 3 (Georgia), Part 1, 213-214.
454
Kane, “Slave Narrative Survey,” February 16, 2013. The remaining seventy-two percent of ex-slaves did not
comment on whether they were literate.
455
Rawick, The American Slave, Supplement, Series 1, vol. 4 (Georgia), Part 2, 378.
453
103
herself. She is sixty-seven years ole herself. She ain’t nothing ter me. I only married her
father.456
Kinsey was quite angry about losing her pension and tried to obtain the interviewer’s assistance.
Kinsey asked: “Honey, listen, ain’t you from that ‘leaf office? Cain’t you do somethin’ ‘about
gettin’ my pension back.”457 Black interviewer Geneva Tonsill attempted to calm Kinsey and
provide her with some information:
I explained to ‘Miss Mollie’ that there was nothing I could do to have her pension
restored…I did, however, try to explain clearly and convince her that her visitor didn’t
willfully take her pension as she thought and by no means had done it because of malice
to her. She had to obey orders handed down to her from higher authority and I asked her
before she got too far obsessed with the idea to go and talk with her visitor, because I felt
her pension would be returned to her as soon as money was available and that as far as I
could understand it had been taken, not only from her but many others, for the sake of
reducing overhead expense the department was running into daily.458
Tonsill’s explanation helped ease Kinsey’s anger about her pension being cancelled. Kinsey told
Tonsill: “Honey, I know’d you’d know ‘bout it and would tell me, and it wus providential you
come heah this day. I see it clearly now.”459 Some of the ex-slaves were not privy to certain
government dealings that affected them. In order to find out what was going on, the ex-slaves
turned to the FWP interviewers for explanations revealing that the ex-slaves were willing to exert
some control over the interview in order to get what they needed.
The ex-slaves’ agenda of obtaining an old age pension was so great that some would
demonstrate their agency by attempting to control the FWP interview. Sally Brown frequently
turned back to the topic of old age pensions in her interview. She first brought up the topic of her
old age pension after the interviewer brought her groceries.460 The interviewer managed to
change the topic back to her husband’s employment on the railroad. Sally Brown then turned the
456
Ibid., 382-383.
Ibid., 384.
458
Ibid., 385.
459
Ibid., 386.
460
Rawick, The American Slave, Supplement, Series 1, vol. 3 (Georgia), Part 1, 105.
457
104
topic back to her son and how much he received from the relief office.461Then Sally asked the
interviewer: “Tell you mo’ about the ole times?”462 Brown’s interviewer again attempted to
switch the topic back to slavery. Brown went along with the request and discussed conjuring and
superstitions. However, Brown immediately redirected the topic back to old age pensions.463 The
interviewer was aware of what Brown was attempting to do and commented that “Aunt Sally
was a clever psychologist.”464 The interviewer, who was black, was likely aware that Sally
Brown was signifying during the interview. Brown’s actions reveal her intelligence,
insightfulness, and that she was very much aware of what she was doing in the interview.
Brown’s primary goal in the FWP interview was to discuss her pension and gain the FWP
interviewer’s help. To that end, Brown continually changed the topic away from slavery and to
old age pensions whenever she was able.
In addition to gaining information, the ex-slaves also asked their interviewers for small
favors in the form of written correspondence. Emma Coker’s interviewer reported: “Emma said
that she could not read or write, and if some white person would write a letter for her, or ask her
pastor at the Macedonian Baptist Church to see the mill, she felt that the new manager ‘who is a
good man’ would see that she got a little pension.”465 Carrie Nancy Fryer also asked her
interviewer for assistance: “Nancy asked her visitor to write a postcard to her ‘dear doctor’ in
Louisville and tell him she was having a hard time. Seh [sic] insisted that the card by signed:
‘Your Carrie Fryer what used to work for you, with love.’”466 Since many of the ex-slaves were
illiterate, they were not able to write letters or postcards to former employers to ask for help
461
Ibid., 106-107.
Ibid., 107.
463
Ibid., 109.
464
Ibid., 110.
465
Ibid., 209-210. The FWP interviewer did not state whether she helped write a letter for Emma Coker.
466
Rawick, The American Slave, vol. 12 (Georgia), Part 1, 343.
462
105
during the Depression. The arrival of an FWP interviewer at their door signaled a way to get
some additional help by having the interviewer write their correspondence for them.
Other ex-slaves used the interview to advocate for goods. In the beginning of her
interview, Martha Colquitt described her living conditions: “I didn’t have nothin’ to make no fire
wid, and I had to git out in de sunshine ‘cause it wuz too cold to stay in de house. It sho’ is
mighty bad to have to go to bed wid cold feet and cough all night long.”467 Colquitt leads the
interviewer into suggesting an exchange. Interviewer Sarah H. Hall told Colquitt: “Let’s make a
trade, Aunt Martha! If I give you a little money will you buy wood; then while you enjoy the fire
will you think back over your life and tell me about your experiences when I come back
tomorrow?”468 Colquitt agreed to the trade and an interview took place the next day. Some of the
ex-slaves recognized an opportunity to receive much needed goods from the FWP interviewers.
Some of the ex-slaves elected to barter with the FWP interviewer in exchange for much
needed food during the Depression. Minnie Davis did not want to give an interview, but elected
to barter her interview for food:
She then explained that she did not care to talk for publication at all. She said she was
hungry and had nothing at all in the house to eat. Her nephew, Ed, an ex-postman lived
with her, she explained, and he would go for food if there was any money. She might feel
like talking a little if she had a little something to eat.469
While Davis did not originally want to give an interview, she recognized that she could barter the
interview in exchange for food. Interviewer Sadie B. Hornsby ended up providing the money for
food and the interview went on.470
Sally Brown used a different tactic for gaining some food during her interview. She sat
down with the interviewer and answered the questions, but then stopped the interview:
467
Ibid., 238.
Ibid.
469
Ibid., 253.
470
Ibid.
468
106
Aunt Sally broke off her story here. ‘Lawd, honey, I got sich a pain in my stomach I
don’t believe I can go on. It’s a gnawin’ kinda pain. Jest keeps me weak all over.’
Naturally I suggested that we complete the story at another time. So I left, promising to
return in a few days. A block from the house I stopped in a store to order some groceries
for Aunt Sally.471
Sally Brown was able to convince her interviewer to get her two separate grocery orders by
expressing how hungry she was. Sally Brown never once asked for the food, but was able to
successfully play upon the kindness of the interviewer. In the end, the interviewer returned in a
few days with additional groceries and Sally Brown continued with her interview.472
In order to achieve their agenda during the Depression, the ex-slaves targeted specific
FWP interviewers with which to barter. A quantitative analysis of the Georgia ex-slave
narratives reveals that when it came to Depression-related topics ex-slaves targeted female white
interviewers. In general, the ex-slaves discussed some facet of the Depression in seventy-eight
percent of interviews with a white interviewer. With black interviewers, the instances of
Depression-related commentary drop to fifty percent. Ex-slaves mentioned health issues in fortyfour percent of interviews with white interviewers compared to only twenty-three percent with
black interviewers. Ex-slaves bartered five percent of the time in interviews with a white
interviewer. Ex-slaves only bartered for goods two percent of the time in interviews with a black
interviewer. In raw numbers, only one ex-slave bartered for goods with a black interviewer
compared with nine ex-slaves bartering with a white interviewer. Of the instances of bartering
with white interviewers, eight of the ex-slaves bartered with a female white interviewer.473
There are many theories for why the ex-slaves would choose to barter with white
interviewers instead of black interviewers. It is entirely plausible that the African-American
interviewers chose to only ask questions about slavery and did not inquire as to the ex-slaves’
471
Rawick, The American Slave, Supplement, Series 1, vol. 3 (Georgia), Part 1, 103.
Ibid.
473
Kane, “Slave Narrative Survey,” February 16, 2013.
472
107
conditions during the Depression. The interviews conducted by black FWP workers tended to
focus more solely on slavery to the exclusion of describing the physical conditions of the exslaves and their houses during the Depression. Black interviewers only described the physical
condition of the ex-slaves’ houses in nine percent of the interviews compared with a rate of
twenty-eight percent with white interviewers. Further, black interviewers only described the exslaves’ appearance sixteen percent of the time compared with thirty-four percent with white
interviewers.474 Since the interviewers held ultimate control over the content of the interview
before it was turned over to the FWP, it is also possible that the black interviewers could have
elected not to include any Depression-related comments made during the interview. Ex-slaves
may have discussed Depression-era conditions with black interviewers and it was not included in
the final narrative. Thus, it appears that black interviewers elected to focus solely on recording
information about slavery.
One plausible reason that ex-slaves targeted white interviewers to discuss the Depression
was that the ex-slaves had a clear agenda and felt that white interviewers could help them attain
what they wanted. The ex-slaves needed help in the form of relief, surplus goods, and old age
pensions. The ex-slaves likely viewed the white interviewers as people with the power in a
position to help them attain their goals. In his introduction to the slave narrative collection,
George P. Rawick assessed “the situation in which the interviews usually took place.”475 He
stated:
Most of the interviewers were white, most of whom were white women, and the
respondents were old blacks, almost invariably very poor and totally destitute, and often
dependent upon public charity and assistance from white-dominated charities and public
officials. The white interviewers were frequently related to the local elite, a relationship
that was known by the old black men and women being interviewed. The difference in
class and status was so obvious that the old black men and women tended to exaggerate
474
475
Ibid.
Rawick, The American Slave, Supplement, Series 1, vol. 3 (Georgia), Part 1, xxxii.
108
the social and political influence of the white interviewers. In hundreds of interviews,
they are reported as asking for help in getting a few dollars more per month on their old
age assistance or welfare allowance.476
Whites were almost exclusively in charge of charity and public offices in Georgia. In many slave
narratives, the ex-slaves often mention a white person is helping them with old age pensions. In
his interview, ex-slave Billy tells white interviewer Grace McCune that he “was hopin’ you was
our other good white missy, the one that’s seein’ ‘bout the pension money for us old folks. Did
you know we’ve been cut off from gittin’ our pensions? Does you reckon as how we’ll ever git
‘em any more?”477 Thus, the ex-slave admitted he was being aided by a white woman to get his
pension. However, he did not hesitate to ask the FWP interviewer if she might have any
additional information for him. Ex-slaves felt that the white interviewers were in a position of
social and political influence and could better help them than black interviewers.
In many cases, the ex-slaves had some familiarity with the white interviewers.
Interviewer Grace McCune’s father was a sheriff. Some of the ex-slaves remembered her father.
John Harris stated:
Well the minute I come out on this porch I knowed you, for Dr. Mercer had done told me
you was comin’ to see me and he said you was the livin’ image of your father. I know’d
your father from his boyhood up. He was a mighty good man. If he told you he was takin’
you to jail, you’d might as well go along, for he had to anyway. But, if he said he was
going to grant you a favor you know’d he meant that. Negroes all trusted what he said,
for he never went back on his word.478
Since McCune’s father was prominent in the community, ex-slaves could have easily seen
McCune as influential also. Emmaline Kilpatrick was interviewed by Sarah H. Hall, the
granddaughter of her former master, Judge William Watson Moore. In the interview, Kilpatrick
476
Ibid.
Ibid., 277.
478
Ibid., 282-283.
477
109
appealed to Hall for help in locating her birthday.479 Since the ex-slaves were frequently chosen
for interviews by word of mouth or having a relationship with someone in the FWP, the exslaves associated their white interviewers as being in a position of influence who could possibly
help them during difficult times.
In the instances that ex-slaves sought a black interviewer’s help, it was to serve as an
intermediary with whites. Some of the ex-slaves revealed that they were turned away at the
welfare office by black welfare workers. Sally Brown told her interviewer:
I tried to git the ole-age pension fur I sho’ly needed it and wuz ‘titled to it too. Sho wuz.
But that visitor jest wouldn’t let me go through. She acted lak that money belonged to
her…I ‘spects you knows that ‘oman. She is a big black ‘oman – was named Smith at
first befo’ she married. She’s a Johns now. She sho is a mean ‘oman. She just wouldn’t
do no way.480
Mollie Kinsey also reported being turned away at the welfare office by a black relief worker. She
told Interviewer Geneva Tonsill:
I know you’d know how ter go ‘bout it and you seed me, you seed that I’m a pore ole
woman and you’d know jes’ what to tell them white folks. You could git to see them. I
can’t. I went down there two or three times. I nevah got ter see nobody but them niggers
and they always tell me somethin’ but they jes’ won’t let me see them white folks. Do
somethin’ ‘bout it fer me.481
Both Brown and Kinsey insisted that black welfare workers turned them away for old age
pensions. While Tonsill was actually African American, Kinsey was adamant that if interviewer
Geneva Tonsill went down to the welfare office then Kinsey would get additional help.482 Kinsey
most likely felt that Tonsill would be able to convince the white relief workers because Tonsill
worked for the government. The ex-slaves recognized that they had a better chance of gaining
479
Rawick, The American Slave, vol. 13 (Georgia), Part 3, 9.
Rawick, The American Slave, Supplement, Series 1, vol. 3 (Georgia), Part 1, 109.
481
Rawick, The American Slave, Supplement, Series 1, vol. 4 (Georgia), Part 2, 384-385. Both Sally Brown and Mollie
Kinsey lived in Atlanta. They could have been referring to the same relief worker.
482
It is unknown if Geneva Tonsill would have been able to provide any assistance to these ex-slaves. However, the
ex-slaves believed she could.
480
110
help during the Depression if they spoke with white relief workers, and, at times, needed a black
FWP interviewer to act as an intermediary.
Many ex-slaves in Georgia during the Depression had an agenda when visited by FWP
interviewers. Several of the ex-slaves sought help from interviewers in writing letters or gaining
additional information about old age pensions. The ex-slaves viewed the predominantly white
interviewers as being powerful enough to help them receive additional aid. The ex-slaves also
bartered for goods in exchange for an FWP interview exerting what little control they had over
giving an interview. Perhaps most importantly, the ex-slaves willingly protested the
shortcomings of the New Deal and relief programs to FWP interviewers. In many cases, these
programs were not reaching elderly African Americans. By targeting female white interviewers,
the ex-slaves hoped that they would receive much needed help. While they may not have been in
a position to provide help with old age pensions, some interviewers did provide immediate
assistance to ex-slaves in the form of information, correspondence writing, or food. However, the
ex-slaves would continue to struggle during the Depression without permanent financial security.
111
Conclusion
The Federal Writers’ Project (FWP) narratives reveal the motivations of the ex-slaves and
the FWP interviewers during the Depression. The FWP interview was influenced by 1930s race
relations between blacks and whites, where white dominant society subjugated and segregated
African Americans. In the course of conducting an FWP interview, racism seeped into the
interviews. In some cases, the ex-slaves feared reprisal if they were too truthful about slavery or
the Depression, and could not be certain if they could trust the predominantly white interviewers
sent from the government to ask them questions. As a result, suspicion is present in many exslave narratives.
The narratives reveal that the ex-slaves had an agenda during the interview. The ex-slaves
needed food, information, and old age pensions. After exhausting other forms of aid available to
them and having no other access to power, the ex-slaves turned to the FWP interviewers. The exslaves were vocal in their criticism of the New Deal and relief programs that did not reach them.
The FWP interview presented an opportunity to air their grievances to someone from the
government. In several narratives, the ex-slaves targeted female white interviewers and bartered
their interview in exchange for information about old age pensions, help with writing
correspondence, and food. The ex-slaves realized that their interview could gain them goods that
they desperately needed and several ex-slaves took advantage of the opportunity.
In addition, the white FWP interviewers had an agenda. The ex-slave interviews were
part of their salaried work. The FWP interviewers were on relief and needed to complete an
interview. The white FWP interviewers also sought to minimize the ex-slaves’ criticisms of the
Depression by altering or deleting passages relating to the Depression. Passages in the narratives
about slavery were edited to highlight the benevolence of slave masters and the institution of
112
slavery. In censoring the ex-slaves, the white FWP interviewers succeeded in recasting Georgia
and Georgian whites in a positive light. In the end, the white FWP interviewers attempted to
reverse the agenda of the ex-slaves. In doing so, the white FWP interviewers strove to maintain
the established racial hierarchy and ideology of white dominant society in Georgia.
On the other hand, black FWP interviewers also had their own agenda. In passages about
slavery, black interviewers highlighted close family bonds amongst the slaves while also
showing the brutality of slavery. In passages about the Depression, black interviewers presented
the ex-slaves as equal to whites by addressing them as Mister, Missus, or Miss. Black
interviewers highlighted the intelligence of the ex-slaves within the narratives, which gave them
agency. The white FWP editors attempted to censor the comments about the former slaves’
intelligence. In the case of FWP interviewer Geneva Tonsill, the black interviewers strove to
assist the ex-slaves in a more meaningful way than white interviewers. Not only did Tonsill go
out of her way to provide groceries to Sally Brown, but she also took the time to explain the
delay in old age pensions to Mollie Kinsey. Tonsill’s efforts went beyond the actions of white
interviewers. In the end, black interviewers sought to counter the aim of white FWP interviewers
to enforce racial hierarchy and ideology.
Throughout this thesis, quantitative and qualitative data were utilized. These
methodologies not only shaped the conclusions of this thesis, but also allowed the exploration of
the reliability and usefulness of these methodologies. The qualitative data in this study includes
the ex-slave narratives compiled from 1936 to 1938 in Georgia as well as the WPA Life History
narratives. These sets of narratives provided eyewitness accounts of the Depression and the FWP
interview from the perspective of the ex-slaves and the FWP interviewers. For the quantitative
data in this study, a Google Survey Form was completed including forty-seven areas of
113
quantification from the ex-slave narratives. In the end, the quantitative data revealed broad trends
and patterns within the ex-slave narratives.
The incorporation of both quantitative and qualitative data led to a much richer
discussion of elderly African Americans in Georgia during the Depression in this study. The
quantitative data showed broad trends and patterns that allowed for further analysis utilizing the
ex-slave narratives. Without the quantitative data, these trends likely would have gone unnoticed.
The qualitative data revealed the voices of the ex-slaves who went to great lengths to relate their
conditions during the Depression. It would not have been ideal to complete this study without
both of these methodologies. With only quantitative data, the voice of the ex-slaves is missing.
With only qualitative data, larger trends and conclusions are lost. In the end, the use of both of
these methodologies provided a more complete picture of the lives of the ex-slaves during the
Depression.
African Americans would continue struggle for equality in government programs. Social
Security was not a reality for most blacks until long after the Depression. Thus, the prophetic
words of ex-slave Anderson Furr would be the case for millions of elderly African Americans
needing social security: “’Member fightin’! Why, Lady! Dey ain’t never stopped fightin’ yit.
Folks has been a-fightin’ ever since I come in dis world, and dey will be fightin’ long atter I is
gone.”483 Elderly African Americans would continue to fight for inclusion into government
programs.
483
George P. Rawick, ed., The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography, vol. 12 (Georgia), Part 1 (Westport,
Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Company, 1972), 345.
114
Appendix A
Georgia Ex-Slaves
Rachel Adams
Priscilla Albright
Reverend W.B. Allen (Uncle Wash)*
Caroline Ates
Jack Atkinson
Aunt Sadie
Hannah Austin
Celestia Avery
Georgia Baker
Alice Battle*
Jasper Battle
Harriet Benton
Harriette Benton
Arrie Binns
Sallie Blakely
Henry Bland
Rias Body*
James Bolton*
Alec Bostwick
Nancy Boudry
Alice Bradley
Tillman Bradshaw
Della Briscoe
George Brooks
Easter Brown
Julia Brown / Sally Brown (Aunt Sally)*
George Washington Browning
Queen Elizabeth Bunts
Augustus Burden
Marshal Butler
Sarah Byrd
Mariah Calloway
Mary Carpenter
George Carter
Susan Castle
George Caulton
Aunt Cicely Cawthon
Callie Chatman
Mary Childs
Ellen Claibourn
Pierce Cody
Willis Cofer
Emma Coker
Mary Colbert
John Cole
Julia Cole
Aunt Fannie Cawthon Coleman
Kizzie Colquitt*
Martha Colquitt
Authur Colson
Sara Crocker
Minnie Davis
Mose Davis
Ike Derricotte
Benny Dillard
Amelia Dorsey
George Eason
Callie Elder
Martha Everette*
Lewis Favor
Mary Ferguson
Randall Flagg
Lula Flannigan
Carrie Nancy Fryer
Fannie Fulcher
Anderson Furr
Elisha Doc Garey
Leah Garrett
Fannie Gibon
Mary Gladdy*
Julia Glover
Sarah Gray
Alice Green
Isaiah (Isaac) Green
Margaret Green
Minnie Green
Wheeler Gresham
Abner Griffin
Heard Griffin
David Goodman Gullins
Milton Hammond
Jane Smith Hill Harmon
115
Dosia Harris
Henderson Harris
John Harris
Shang Harris
Squire Harris
Ella Hawkins
Tom Hawkins
Bill Heard
Emmaline Heard
Robert Heard
Benjamin Henderson
Julia Henderson
Jefferson Franklin Henry
Robert Henry
John Hill
Laura Hood
Carrie Hudson
Charlie Hudson
Annie Huff
Bryant Huff
Easter Huff
Fannie Hughes
Bettie Hunt
Lina Hunter
Emma Hurley
Alice Hutcheson
Cassie Hutchinson
Amanda Jackson
Camilla Jackson
Easter Jackson
Maria Jackson
Snovey Jackson
Mahala Jewel
Addie Johnson
Benjamin Johnson
Ella Johnson
Georgia Johnson
Manuel Johnson
Susie Johnson
Easter Jones
Estella Jones
Fannie Jones
Rastus Jones
Jennie Kendricks
Emmaline Kilpatrick
Frances Kimbrough*
Robert Kimbrough
Charlie King
Nicey Kinney
Mollie Kinsey
Julia Larken
George Lewis
Mirriam McCommons
Joe McCormick
Ed McCree
Lucy McCullough
Amanda McDaniel
Tom McGruder
Susan McIntosh
Matilda McKinney
William McWhorter
Male Ex-Slave of Senator J.H. Hill
(E.W. Evans)
Caroline Malloy
Mollie Malone
Carrie Mason
Susan Matthews
Emily Mays
William Mead
Harriet Miller
Julia Milton
Malinda Mitchell
Mollie Mitchell
Bob Mobley*
Elsie Moreland
Matilda Mumford
Hannah Murphy
Nettie Myles
Sara Nance
Fanny Nix
Henry Nix
Lewis Ogletree
Richard Orford
George Owen
Anna Parkes
G.W. Patillo
Anna Peek
Celeste Pitts
Alec Pope
Jim Powell
Georgia Anne Prather
Annie Price
116
Charlie Pye
Lula Pyron
Lillian Ramsey
Fanny Randolph
John Rawls
Easter Reed
Bill Reese
Shade Richards
Dora Roberts
Fanny Roberts
Melvina Roberts
Ferebe Rogers
Henry Rogers
John Rogers
Julia Rush
Janie Satterwhite
Nancy Settles
Partheny Shaw
Will Sheets
Robert Shepherd
Mary Jane Simmons
Tom Singleton
Charles Smith
Georgia Smith
Mary Smith
Melvin Smith
Nancy Smith
Nellie Smith
Paul Smith
Lydia Calhoun Starks
Emeline Stepney
Laura Stewart
Ella Stinson
Emmaline Sturgis
Amanda Styles
William (Red) Taylor
Georgia Telfair
Cordelia Thomas
Ike Thomas
Tim Thornton
Jane Mickens Toombs
Phil Towns
Neal Upson
John F. Van Hook
Joe Vaughn
Addie Vinson
Emma Virgel
Sarah Virgil
Rhodus Walton*
William Ward
Lula Washington
John Watts
Peter Wells
Green Willbanks
Maggie Williams
Olin Williams
Eliza Williamson
Frances Willingham
Adeline Willis
Uncle Willis
Cornelia Winfield
Joe Wooten
George Womble*
Ella Wright
Henry Wright
Susannah Wyman
Dink Walton Young*
(Mammy Dink)
*Ex-slave has duplicate narratives
117
Appendix B
Georgia FWP Interviewers and Editors
White Interviewers
Black Interviewers
Maude Barragan
Velma Bell
Estelle G. Burke
Henrietta Carlisle
Ruth Chitty
Mary Crawford
Corry Fowler
Sarah H. Hall
Leila Harris
Ina B. Hawkes
Sadie B. Hornsby
Irma Bell Jackson
Joseph E. Jaffee
Margaret Johnson
J.R. Jones
Edith Bell Love
Grace McCune
Louise McKinney
Alberta Minor
Annie Lee Newton
Emily Powell
Ruby Lorraine Radford
Ruth H. Sanford
Minnie Branham Stonestreet
Elizabeth Watson
Adella S. Dixon
Edwin Driskell
Josephine Lowell
Louise Oliphant
Minnie B. Ross
Geneva Tonsill
Race Unknown
Morris Adams
Lucile Bridges
Willie H. Cole
Mattie Roberts
Mildred Sneed
Editors*
Maude Barragan
Velma Bell
John N. Booth
Ruth Chitty
Edward Ficklin
Maggie B. Freeman
Sarah H. Hall
Leila Harris
Joseph E. Jaffee
Margaret Johnson
J.R. Jones
Annie A. Rose
*Some of the editors were also interviewers
118
Appendix C
Slave Narrative Survey
The quantitative data utilized in this thesis was compiled using Google Form. A survey was created with fifty-five categories.
Forty-seven categories of the slave narrative survey were quantifiable. The remaining eight categories were fill-in-the-blank questions,
including name, date interviewed, exact numeric age, former master, type of health issues, amount of pension received, amount of
relief received, and jobs held in lifetime. Those eight categories are not included in this appendix. After the data was compiled from
the slave narratives, Google Form quantified the data and displayed it in bar and pie graphs. The quantitative data from the forty-seven
categories are included below. N/A represents that the information was not present in the slave narrative. In total, 240 ex-slaves from
Georgia were included in this quantitative data.
The quantitative data compiled from the Georgia FWP narratives reveals interesting details about gender relations between
blacks and whites, migration patterns, and urbanization. The majority of the ex-slaves interviewed, sixty percent, were female. Sixtytwo percent of the interviewers were white women, and they conducted eighty-four percent of the interviews. This meant that the FWP
ex-slave narrative project was dominated by women with, for the most part, white female interviewers interviewing female black exslaves. It is unknown to what extent this affected the ex-slave narratives or was a conscious decision by the FWP. It is possible that
female ex-slaves were more willing to give an interview. It is likely that female ex-slaves were easier to locate since women lived
longer than men. Since the majority of interviewers were female, it is possible that female black ex-slaves were specifically sought.
119
The quantitative data of the Georgia FWP narratives also reveals information about the migration patterns of the ex-slaves. The
early twentieth century brought the Great Migration, where many blacks moved north or west. However, the ex-slave narratives reveal
that these particular elderly ex-slaves did not migrate since they were still living in Georgia at the time of the interview. Most of the
ex-slaves stayed in the same general area where they had been enslaved, with eighty-three percent staying in Georgia. The remaining
seventeen percent came from other states, most of which were relatively close to Georgia. While there was a small degree of
movement to neighboring states, the majority of these ex-slaves remained in Georgia. It appears that migration amongst blacks may
have been limited to black workers who were seeking new opportunities of employment and equality. Older blacks appeared to desire
to remain in the place of their birth. However, the Georgia ex-slaves were impacted by the Great Migration. Many of the ex-slaves
stated their children had moved to locations farther north or east. Thus, the Georgia ex-slaves experienced forced separation from their
family members throughout their lives – either from slavery, or later during the Great Migration.
The quantitative data also sheds light on urbanization. Sixty-four percent of the Georgia ex-slaves interviewed by the FWP
lived in four cities: Athens, Atlanta, Augusta, and Columbus. These ex-slaves lived in urban areas. This was likely done purposefully
so that FWP interviewers could have easy access to the ex-slaves. Since the interviews were completed during the Depression, many
interviewers likely did not have access to reliable transportation or the project could not afford to send them afar for interviews. Thus,
the interviews were conducted in the cities where the interviewers lived and ex-slaves were likely chosen based on accessibility. It is
unknown to what extent urban ex-slaves could have skewed the narratives. For Depression commentary, urban ex-slaves likely did not
have their own farms, which would have provided food. Violence tended to be greater in rural areas, where there was less
120
enforcement. Thus, rural ex-slaves may have been exposed to more violence during the Depression-era. However, urban areas were
also exposed to violence, as evidenced by the Atlanta Riot of 1906.
121
General Information
Volume
Volume 4 Part 1
41
17%
Volume 4 Part 2
45
19%
Volume 4 Part 3
46
19%
Volume 4 Part 4
24
10%
Supplement Series 1
83
35%
Supplement Series 2
1
0%
70-79
67
28%
80-89
99
41%
90-99
35
15%
Over 100
18
8%
N/A
21
9%
Age of Ex-Slave
122
Sex of Ex-Slave
Male
96
40%
Female
144
60%
Georgia
199
83%
1
0%
13
5%
Mississippi
0
0%
Virginia
9
4%
Alabama
9
4%
North Carolina
5
2%
Maryland
1
0%
Texas
1
0%
N/A
2
1%
Ex-Slave’s Place of Birth
Florida
South Carolina
123
Current Location of Ex-Slave
Athens
Atlanta
Augusta
Columbus
Griffin
Hawkinsville
Macon
Milledgeville
Washington-Wilkes
Cochran
Albany
Savannah
Toccoa
Eastman
Watkinsville
Thomson
Rome
Cedartown
Abbeville
Fayetteville
La Grange
White Plains
Jefferson
Not Mentioned
124
65
38
27
26
19
16
9
4
8
2
1
1
4
3
1
4
1
1
2
1
1
1
1
4
27%
16%
11%
11%
8%
7%
4%
2%
3%
1%
0%
0%
2%
1%
0%
2%
0%
0%
1%
0%
0%
0%
0%
2%
Ex-Slave Address
Full Address
113
47%
Street, City, State
13
5%
City, State
60
25%
6
3%
None
48
20%
Yes
74
31%
No
166
69%
County, State
Appearance of Ex-Slave Described
125
Physical Condition of House Described
Yes
57
24%
No
183
76%
Yes
35
15%
No
32
13%
N/A
173
72%
Literate
126
Health Issues
Yes
93
39%
No
5
2%
N/A
142
59%
Yes
8
3%
232
97%
Signifying
No
127
Interviewers / Editors
Interviewer
Sadie B. Hornsby (white)
26
11%
Henrietta Carlisle (white)
3
1%
Elizabeth Watson (white)
23
10%
Grace McCune (white)
27
11%
Minnie Branham Stonestreet (white)
8
3%
Sarah H. Hall (white)
6
3%
Leila Harris (white)
1
0%
Geneva Tonsill (black)
3
1%
Joseph E. Jaffee (white)
5
2%
Margaret Johnson (white)
5
2%
Louise Oliphant (black)
2
1%
Alberta Minor (white)
7
3%
Ruth Chitty (white)
3
1%
Mary Crawford (white)
9
4%
Velma Bell (white)
2
1%
Louise McKinney (white)
0
0%
Emily Powell (white)
0
0%
Estelle G. Burke (white)
1
0%
Annie Lee Newton (white)
3
1%
John N. Booth (white)
0
0%
128
Interviewer (cont.)
Ruth H. Sanford (white)
1
0%
Minnie B. Ross (black)
16
7%
Edwin Driskell (black)
14
6%
Adella S. Dixon (black)
6
3%
Josephine Lowell (black)
2
1%
J.R. Jones (white)
23
10%
Maude Barragan (white)
18
8%
Corry Fowler (white)
2
1%
Mattie Roberts
1
0%
Willie H. Cole
1
0%
Ina B. Hawkes (white)
1
0%
Mildred Sneed
3
1%
Morris Adams
1
0%
Irma Bell Jackson (white)
0
0%
Ruby Lorraine Radford (white)
2
1%
Edith Bell Love (white)
1
0%
Lucile Bridges
1
0%
Not Mentioned
11
5%
129
Interviewer Race
White
181
75%
Black
44
18%
Unknown
15
6%
183
76%
Male
44
18%
Unknown
13
5%
Interviewer Sex
Female
130
Editors
Sarah H. Hall
51
21%
John N. Booth
57
24%
J.R. Jones
2
1%
Maude Barragan
7
3%
Maggie B. Freeman
1
0%
Velma Bell
1
0%
Annie A. Rose
1
0%
Ruth A. Chitty
1
0%
23
10%
Joseph E. Jaffee
2
1%
Edward Ficklin
1
0%
Margaret Johnson
2
1%
154
64%
Leila Harris
None Listed
Percentages may add up to more than 100% since more than one editor was
listed on some narratives.
131
Slavery
Mentions Types of Food Eaten in Slavery
Yes
123
51%
No
117
49%
Yes
49
20%
No
191
80%
Mentions Treatment of Elderly Slaves
132
Mentions 1930s better than slavery
Yes
7
3%
No
233
97%
Yes
26
11%
No
214
89%
Mentions slavery better than 1930s
133
Mentions conditions would be better with master
Yes
20
8%
No
220
92%
Yes
22
9%
No
218
91%
Mentions specific details of slavery better than Depression (housing, food, etc)
134
Depression
Mentions anything about the Depression
Yes
176
73%
No
64
27%
N/A
0
0%
Yes
4
2%
No
17
7%
N/A
219
91%
Currently receiving an old age pension
135
Currently receiving other non-OAP pension
Yes
5
2%
No
5
2%
N/A
230
96%
Yes
16
7%
No
4
2%
220
92%
Trying or wanting to get an old age pension
N/A
136
Mistook FWP interviewer for government official related to old age pensions
Yes
7
3%
No
2
1%
N/A
231
96%
Yes
1
0%
No
15
6%
N/A
224
93%
Not interested in old age pension
137
Currently receiving relief (federal or local)
Yes
17
7%
No
2
1%
221
92%
Red Cross
2
1%
Department of Public Welfare
8
3%
Family Welfare Society
2
1%
WPA Housekeepers Project
1
0%
Pulaski County
1
0%
Federal Government
1
0%
Other County Agency
8
3%
Griffin Relief Association
2
1%
218
91%
N/A
Receives help from government agency (Other than pensions)
N/A
Percentages may add up to more than 100% since more than one relief agency
could have been mentioned in a narrative.
138
Appealed to government officials during the Depression
Yes
32
13%
No
0
0%
N/A
208
87%
Yes
17
7%
No
0
0%
223
93%
Receives help from whites
N/A
139
Receives help from neighbors
Yes
28
12%
No
0
0%
N/A
212
88%
Yes
20
8%
No
2
1%
218
91%
Currently suffers from lack of food
N/A
140
Has personal garden, farm, or animals as food supply
Yes
21
9%
No
1
0%
N/A
218
91%
Yes
7
3%
No
1
0%
232
97%
Receives surplus food
N/A
141
Barters interview for food, etc.
Yes
10
4%
No
1
0%
N/A
229
95%
Yes
2
1%
No
143
60%
N/A
95
40%
Lives in public welfare housing
142
Lives with relatives
Yes
62
26%
No
52
22%
N/A
126
53%
Yes
17
7%
No
87
36%
N/A
136
57%
Relatives live with them
143
Lives with non-relatives (boarders, neighbors, friends, etc)
Yes
11
5%
No
49
20%
N/A
180
75%
Yes
88
37%
No
24
10%
N/A
128
53%
Currently unable to work
144
Mentions debts
Yes
5
2%
No
235
98%
Yes
10
4%
No
230
96%
Mentions FDR or New Deal programs
145
Mentions Eugene Talmadge
Yes
No
1
0%
239
100%
Distrust of government
Yes
7
3%
No
0
0%
233
97%
N/A
146
Mentions comments or criticisms about local or federal government
Yes
8
3%
232
97%
Yes
18
8%
No
4
2%
218
91%
No
Future
Concern over the future
N/A
147
Notes Abbreviations for Archival Sources
Employment 1937. Editorial Correspondence. NACP.
Employment 1937; Editorial Correspondence, 1936-1939 Georgia; Records of the
Central Office, Records of the Federal Writers’ Project; Records of the Works Progress
Administration, Record Group 69; National Archives Building, College Park, MD.
FSRC. LC.
The Records of the U.S. Works Progress Administration; Box C123 Research Library:
National File, 1929-1947; Federal Surplus Relief Corporation, Manuscript Division,
Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
Georgia 651.311To 651.312. Central File. NACP.
Georgia 651.311 (1939-Feb. 1942) To 651.312 (1935-1937); Central Files: State 19351944; Records of the Works Progress Administration, Record Group 69; National
Archives Building, College Park, MD.
Georgia 651.3173 – 651.3181. Central File. NACP.
Georgia 651.3173 (1941) – 651.3181; Central Files: State 1935-1944; Records of the
Works Progress Administration, Record Group 69; National Archives Building, College
Park, MD.
148
Georgia 651.317 (1938-42) – 651.3173 (1939-40)
Georgia 651.317 (1938-42) – 651.3173 (1939-40); Central Files: State 1935-1944;
Records of the Works Progress Administration, Record Group 69; National Archives
Building, College Park, MD.
Georgia Ex-slave Correspondence. NACP.
Georgia. Correspondence Pertaining to Ex-Slave Studies, 1936-1940; Records of the
Central Office, Records of the Federal Writers’ Project; Records of the Works Progress
Administration, Record Group 69; National Archives Building, College Park, MD.
Ohio Ex-slave Correspondence. NACP.
Ohio. Correspondence Pertaining to Ex-Slave Studies, 1936-1940; Records of the Central
Office, Records of the Federal Writers’ Project; Records of the Works Progress
Administration, Record Group 69; National Archives Building, College Park, MD.
Printed Matter. LC.
The Records of the U.S. Works Progress Administration; Box A1086 Federal Writers’
Project: Addition, 1860-1940; Printed Matter, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress,
Washington, DC.
149
Texas Ex-slave Correspondence. NACP.
Texas. Correspondence Pertaining to Ex-Slave Studies, 1936-1940; Records of the
Central Office, Records of the Federal Writers’ Project; Records of the Works Progress
Administration, Record Group 69; National Archives Building, College Park, MD.
150
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