| The interviewer recorded this interview in the first person and most of the original document in a discussion of superstitions. In this excerpt, the interviewer recounts a time after the Civil War when Mrs. Sam Duncan had to flee with her family, ending up at what appears to be her former enslaver’s home. |
Excerpt:
…After the War was over Mammy’s old man did not want us with them, so he threatened to kill us. Then my old mammy fixed us a little bundle of what few clothes we had and started us two children out to go back to the Campbell family in Albany. The road was just a wilderness and full of wild animals… Mammy gave us some powder and some matches, telling us to put a little down in the road every little while and set fire to it. This would scare the wild animals away from us. We got to the river at almost dark and some old woman set us across the river in a canoe. She let us stay all night with her, and we went on to ‘Grandpap Campbells’ (We always called him Grandpap instead of Master, as the others did.) When he saw us coming he said ‘Lord have mercy here comes them poor little children’…
| Interviewee Formerly enslaved person | Birth Year (Age) | Interviewer WPA Volunteer | Enslaver’s Name |
| Mrs. Sam Duncan | Unknown (age at interview)] | Gertrude Vogler | Unknown |
| Interview Location | Residence State | Birth Location |
| Wayne County, KY | KY | KY |
| Themes & Keywords | Additional Tags: |
| First Person |
Duncan_S_1