Tag: Economics

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Lula Chambers

Dave Lillard enslaved over one hundred people, including Lula Chambers. She did not know her father and her mother was sold shortly after Lula Chambers was born.   The interviewer records in the first person Lula Chambers’s memories of the Ku Klux Klan and why some enslavers did not abuse enslaved people for economic reasons.    

*Historically-used terms that are offensive, marginalizing and/or disparaging have been removed from the transcripts and replaced with [redacted].   See more information.
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Excerpt:

… I used to be scared to death of those old Ku Klux folks with all their hoods on their heads and faces. I never will forget, I saw a real old [redacted] woman slave down on her knees praying to God for his help. She had a Bible in front of her. Course she couldn’t read it, but she did know what it was, and she was praying out of her very heart, until she had drawn the attention of the old Ku Klux [Klan] and one of them just walked in her cabin and lashed [whipped] her unmerciful. He made her get up off her knees and dance, old as she was. Of course the old soul couldn’t dance but he just made her hop around anyhow.  

The slave owners in the county where I was raised—the well-to-do ones I mean, did not abuse the slaves like the poor trash and other slaveholders did. Of course they whipped them plenty when they didn’t suit. But they kind of took care of them to sell. They had a great slave market there that didn’t do anything but sell slaves, and if they wanted a good price for them, the slave would have to be in a pretty good condition. That’s what saved their hides… 

Interviewee 
Formerly enslaved person		Birth Year (Age)Interviewer
WPA Volunteer		Enslaver’s Name
Lula ChambersUnknown (Unknown, older than 90)Grace E. WhiteDave Lillard
Interview LocationResidence StateBirth Location
St. Louis, MOMOKY
Themes & KeywordsAdditional Tags:
Economics, ViolenceGallatin County, First Person, Dialect, Whipped, Witnessed Extreme Cruelty, Sold, Slave Traders, Klan/Mob Violence

Chambers_L_1

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Alex and Elizabeth Smith

Alex and Elizabeth Smith were enslaved on separate farms, owned by relatives in close proximity to each other.  This excerpt describes their different experiences during enslavement, and their early life after gaining freedom.
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Excerpt:

On the Peter Stubblefield plantation, the slaves were treated very well and had plenty to eat, while on the Robert Stubblefield plantation Mr. Smith went hungry many times, and said, “Often, I would see a dog with a bit of bread, and I would have been willing to take it from him if I had not been afraid the dog would bite me.”

Mrs. Smith was named after Elizabeth Stubblefield, a relative of Peter Stubblefield. As a child of five years or less, Elizabeth had to spin “long reels five cuts a day,” pick seed from cotton, and cockle burrs from wool, and perform the duties of a house girl.

Unlike the chores of Elizabeth, Mr. Smith had to chop wood, carry water, chop weeds, care for cows, pick bugs from tobacco plants. This little boy had to go barefoot both summer and winter and remembers the cracking of ice under his bare feet.

The day the mistress and master came and told the slaves they were free to go anyplace they desired, Mrs. Smith’s mother told her later that she was glad to be free but she had no place to go or any money to go with. Many of the slaves would not leave and she never witnessed such crying as went on. Later Mrs. Smith was paid for working. She worked in the fields for “vittles” and clothes. A few years later she nursed children for twenty-five cents a week and “vittles,” but after a time she received fifty cents a week, board, and two dresses. She married Mr. Smith at the age of twenty.

Interviewee 
Formerly enslaved person		Birth Year (Age)Interviewer
WPA Volunteer		Enslaver’s Name
Alex and Elizabeth SmithUnknown (83)Henrietta KarwowskiRobert and Peter Stubblefield
Interview LocationResidence StateBirth Location
South Bend, INIndianaKentucky
Themes & KeywordsAdditional Tags:
Family, Emancipation, Economics,First Person,

Smith_A_1

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Joseph Mosley

Joseph Mosley lived in enslavement from 1853 until Emancipation.  In this excerpt, he describes his enslaver, who was a slave trader who made those he enslaved march from Virginia to Kentucky, or Mississippi to Virginia, chained together.
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Interviewee 
Formerly enslaved person		Birth Year (Age)Interviewer
WPA Volunteer		Enslaver’s Name
Joseph Mosley1853Anna PritchettTim Mosley
Interview LocationResidence StateBirth Location
Indianapolis, INIndianaHopkinsville, KY
Themes & KeywordsAdditional Tags:
Violence, economicsFirst person, Slave trader

Excerpt:

Joseph Mosley, one of twelve children, was born March 15, 1853, fourteen miles from Hopkinsville, Kentucky.

His master, Tim Mosley, was a slave trader. He was supposed to have bought and sold 10,000 slaves. He would go from one state to another buying slaves, bringing in as many as 75 or 80 slaves at one time.

The slaves would be handcuffed to a chain, each chain would link 16 slaves. The slaves would walk from Virginia to Kentucky and some from Mississippi to Virginia.

In front of the chained slaves would be an overseer on horseback with a gun and dogs. In the back of the chained slaves would be another overseer on horseback with a gun and dogs. They would see that no slave escaped.

Mosley_J_1

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Joseph Ringo

Joseph Ringo lived with the same enslaver from his birth until 11 years after the Civil War.  In this excerpt, he describes a visit the plantation received from Union soldiers and how the enslavers accommodated them out of fear.  He then describes his experience with emancipation, and how his family were all paid to stay on the plantation.  He finished by telling why and how he stayed on that plantation, getting paid and saving his money, for 11 years after emancipation.
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Excerpt:

I remember when the Yankee soldiers were camping’ around Minerva, Kentucky six of them came up to the big house one day, and put their horses in the stable, fed them, and then they laid around on our grass.  Finally, they got up off the ground and went to the house and asked for something to eat.  Ole Miss saw that they were getting food, ‘cause she was feared they’d do some damage if they didn’t’ get it.

I remember Master John calling us one morning and he sat on a stile and told us all we were free, and he said, “Now what are you all going to do?” He offered Eren $130.00 a year and clothes and board. Bill and me he offers $25.00 a year and board and keep, and Mother she is to get $1.50 a week and a place for her and the children, and clothes and a home for them.

We all stayed for one year, then mother and all of them went away, except me.  I stayed on for eleven years after that.  Master John French, he raised my wages every year, and I saved all I earned, or most of it. 

Interviewee 
Formerly enslaved person		Birth Year (Age)Interviewer
WPA Volunteer		Enslaver’s Name
Joseph Ringo86 years oldUnknownJohn French
Interview LocationResidence StateBirth Location
Clark County, OHOhioMason County, KY
Themes & KeywordsAdditional Tags:
Civil War, Emancipation, Economics,First person, dialect, bound out after the war, Union soldiers,

Ringo_J_1

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Robert Glenn

Robert Glenn’s enslaver sold him away from his family at a young age.  In this excerpt he describes his Emancipation and how his enslaver agreed to pay him for a year of his services.  It then goes on to talk about Glenn’s difficult decision to leave this place, which he called home, to work elsewhere.
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Excerpt:

A big army of Yankees came through a few months later and soon we heard of the surrender. A few days after this master told me to catch two horses that we had to go to Dickenson which was the County seat of Webster County. On the way to Dickenson he said to me, ‘Bob, did you know you are free and Lincoln has freed you? You are as free as I am.’ We went to the Freedmen’s Bureau and went into the office. A Yankee officer looked me over and asked Master my name, and informed me I was free, and asked me whether or not I wanted to keep living with Moore. I did not know what to do, so I told him yes. A fixed price of seventy-five dollars and board was then set as the salary I should receive per year for my work. The Yankees told me to let him know if I was not paid as agreed. 

I had been thinking for several days before I went back home as to just what I must tell Mr. Moore and as to how he felt about the matter, and what I would get when I got home. In my dilemma I almost forgot I was free.  I got home at night and my mind and heart was full but I was surprised at the way he treated me. He acted kind and asked me if I was going to stay with him next year. I was pleased. I told him, ‘Yes sir!’, and then I lay down and went to sleep. He had a boss man on his plantation then and next morning he called me, but I just couldn’t wake. I seemed to be in a trance or something, I had recently lost so much sleep. He called me the second time and still I did not get up. Then he came in and spanked my head. I jumped up and went to work feeding the stock and splitting wood for the day’s cooking and fires. I then went in and ate my breakfast. Mr. Moore told me to hitch a team of horses to a wagon and go to a neighbors five miles away for a load of hogs. I refused to do so. They called me into the house and asked me what I was going to do about it. I said I do not know. As I said that I stepped out of the door and left. I went straight to the county seat and hired to Dr. George Rasby in Webster County for one hundred dollars per year. I stayed there one year. 

Interviewee 
Formerly enslaved person		Birth Year (Age)Interviewer
WPA Volunteer		Enslaver’s Name
Robert Glenn1850 (87)T. Pat MatthewsBob Hall, William Moore
Interview LocationResidence StateBirth Location
Raleigh, NCNorth CarolinaHillsboro,  NC
Themes & KeywordsAdditional Tags:
Emancipation, economicsFirst person, bound out after war

Glenn_R_3

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Samuel Watson

Samuel Watson was very young when the Civil War ended and Emancipation was granted to those enslaved.  However, he clearly remembers the struggles his family had after Emancipation.  In this excerpt, he describes the struggle his mother had supporting the family, how his siblings became indentured servants, and his life as an indentured servant to an unkind employer.
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Excerpt:

Uncle Samuel remembers when the war ended and the slaves were emancipated. “Some were happy and some were sad!” Many dreaded leaving their old homes and their masters’ families.

Uncle Samuel’s mother and three children were told that they were free people and the master asked the mother to take her little ones and go away.

She complied and took her family to the plantation of Jourdain James, hoping to work and keep her family together. Wages received for her work failed to support the mother and children so she left the employ of Mr. James and worked from place to place until her children became half starved and without clothing.

The older children, remembering better and happier days, ran away from their mother and went back to their old master.

Thomas Watson went to Dixon, Kentucky and had an article of indenture drawn up binding both Thomas and Laurah to his service for a long number of years. Little Samuel only remained with his mother who took him to the home of William Allen Price. Mr. Price’s plantation was situated in Webster County, Kentucky about half-way between Providence and Clay on Craborchard Creek. Mr. Price had the little boy indentured to his service for a period of eighteen years. There the boy lived and worked on the plantation.

He said he had a good home among good people. His master gave him five real whippings within a period of fourteen years but Uncle Samuel believes he deserved every lash administered.

It was the custom for a slave indentured to a master to be given a fair education, a good horse, bridle, saddle and a suit of clothes for his years of toil, but Mr. Price did not believe the boy deserved the pay and refused to pay him. A lawyer friend sued in behalf of the N***o and received a judgement of $115.00 (one hundred and fifteen dollars). Eighteen dollars repaid the lawyer for his service and Samuel started out with $95.00 and his freedom.

Interviewee 
Formerly enslaved person		Birth Year (Age)Interviewer
WPA Volunteer		Enslaver’s Name
Samuel Watson1862Lauana CreelThomas Watson
Interview LocationResidence StateBirth Location
Evansville, INIndianaClay, KY
Themes & KeywordsAdditional Tags:
Emancipation, Economics, EqualityThird person, Dialect, Bound out after war, whipped, notable,

Watson_S_1

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Sarah Frances Shaw Graves

Sarah Frances Shaw Graves’ enslaver moved her from Kentucky to Missouri at a young age.  In this excerpt, she describes the term “allotment” and the process of hiring out an enslaved person.  She goes on to describe how her father was allotted to another enslaver when they were moved to Missouri, and how the enslavers would not tell her mother where her father was in order to encourage her to remarry and have children.
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Excerpt:

Yes ma’am. Allotted? Yes ma’am. I’m going to explain that, she replied. You see there were slave traders in those days, just like you got horse and mule and auto traders now. They bought and sold slaves and hired them out. Yes ma’am, rented them out. Allotted means something like hired out. But the slave never got any wages. That all went to the master. The man they were allotted to paid the master.  

I never was sold. My mama was sold only once, but she was hired out many times. Yes ma’am when a slave was allotted, somebody made a down payment and gave a mortgage for the rest. A chattel mortgage.  A down payment!!  Times don’t change, just the merchandise.  

Allotments made a lot of grief for the slaves, Aunt Sally asserted. 

We left my papa in Kentucky, because he was allotted to another man. My papa never knew where my mama went, and my mama never knew where papa went. 

Aunt Sally paused a moment, then went on bitterly. They never wanted Mama to know, because they knew she would never marry so long as she knew where he was. Our master wanted her to marry again and raise more children to be slaves. They never wanted Mama to know where Papa was, and she never did, sighed Aunt Sally.  Only those who have lost their mate, and never know the end of the tale, can understand such heart anguish.  

Mama said she would never marry again to have children, continued Aunt Sally, so she married my step-father, Trattle Barber, because he was sick and could never be a father. He was so sick he couldn’t work, so me and mama had to work hard. 

Interviewee 
Formerly enslaved person		Birth Year (Age)Interviewer
WPA Volunteer		Enslaver’s Name
Sarah Frances Shaw Graves1850 (87)UnknownJimmie Shaw
Interview LocationResidence StateBirth Location
Skidmore, MOMissouriLouisville, KY
Themes & KeywordsAdditional Tags:
Family, EconomicsFirst person, sold (family), hired out

Graves_S_1

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William Emmons

William Emmons spent much of his early life enslaved.  Here, he describes the process of traders who bought and sold enslaved people, and they bought and sold these people for various reasons, including breeding and to take advantage of struggling plantation owners who needed extra money.

*Historically-used terms that are offensive, marginalizing and/or disparaging have been removed from the transcripts and replaced with [redacted].  See more information.
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Excerpt:

Ole man Emmons had asked his family to never sell off any of the [   ] if they could help it, and never to sell any of them to [   ] traders. The traders were looked on as low, and they treated folks badly. Why I’ve seen slave traders buy up women and men for the purpose of breeding them just like animals, and they’d beat them if they didn’t do what they expected of them. The slave traders wanted strong children for work hands and they were all the time figuring to get a strong woman to carry out the plan for raising children that would sell really good. They would keep them and feed them for a few years and then sell them off to the highest bidder. There is no decency in such folks as them. 

Slavery was worse than most people could imagine, at best. The [   ] traders used to travel all over the country sometimes and buy up slaves from plantation owners who were almost ready to go down in debt. I’ve seen men chained together, and women being carried in wagons with their babies. Just taking them to market for sale like cattle.     

Interviewee 
Formerly enslaved person		Birth Year (Age)Interviewer
WPA Volunteer		Enslaver’s Name
William Emmons1845 (93)UnknownRoy EmmonsRiggs
Interview LocationResidence StateBirth Location
Springfield, OHOhioNicholas, KY
Themes & KeywordsAdditional Tags:
EconomicsFirst person, slave traders

Emmons_W_1

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Alex Woodson

In this third person narrative, the interviewer first describes how Alex Woodson (who is referred to as “Uncle Alex”) was sold. The interviewer then documents several stories of enslaved people during the Civil War, before briefly referencing emancipation. 

*Historically-used terms that are offensive, marginalizing and/or disparaging have been removed from the transcripts and replaced with [redacted].  See more information.
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Excerpt:

…[Alex Woodson] was a good-sized boy, possibly 7 years or more when Freedom was declared. His master was “Old Master” Sterrett who had about a 200-acre place and whose son in law Tom Williams ran a store on this place. When Williams married Sterrett’s daughter he was given Uncle Alex and his mother and brother as a present. Williams was then known as “Young Master.”

When war came Old Master gave his (Woodson’s) mother a big roll of bills, “greenbacks as big as your arm”, to keep for him, and was forced to leave the neighborhood. After the war… [Alex Woodson’s mother] returned the money to him intact.

Uncle Alex remembers his mother taking him and other children and running down the river bank and hiding in the woods all night when the soldiers came. They were [Confederate General] Morgan’s men and took all available cattle and horses in the vicinity and beat [searched] the woods looking for Yankee soldiers. Uncle Alex said he saw Morgan at a distance on his big horse and he “was sure a mighty fine looker.”

Sometimes the Yankee soldiers would come riding along and they took things too.

When the [Civil] War was over old Master came back home and the [redacted] continued to live on at the place as usual, except for a few [formerly enslaved people] that wanted to go North…

Interviewee 
Formerly enslaved person		Birth Year (Age)Interviewer
WPA Volunteer		Enslaver’s Name
Alex WoodsonUnknown (80-85)  Iris Cook“Old Master” Sterrett, Tom Williams 
Interview LocationResidence StateBirth Location
New Albany, ININWoodsonville,  KY
Themes & KeywordsAdditional Tags:
Civil War, Emancipation, EconomicsFirst Person, Third Person, Dialect, Sold, Hired Out, Hart County

Woodson_A_1

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William Quinn

William Quinn was born into enslavement in a rare family that paid a small sum of money to their enslaved people.  Here, he describes this practice and how rare it was.
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Excerpt:

Mr. Quinn said that they were what were called “gift slaves”. They were never to be sold from the Stone farm and were given to Stone’s daughter as a gift with that understanding. He said that his “Old master paid him and his brother ten cents a day for cutting down corn and shucking it.”

It was very unusual for a slave to receive any money whatsoever for working. He said that his master had a son about his age, and the son and he and his brother worked around the farm together, and “Master Stone” gave all three of them ten cents a day when they worked. Sometimes they wouldn’t, they would play instead. And whenever “Master Stone” would catch them playing when they ought to have been at work, he would whip them—”and that meant his own boy would get a licking too.”

Interviewee 
Formerly enslaved person		Birth Year (Age)Interviewer
WPA Volunteer		Enslaver’s Name
William QuinnunknownHarry JacksonSteve Stone
Interview LocationResidence StateBirth Location
Marion County, INIndianaHardin County, KY
Themes & KeywordsAdditional Tags
Family, EconomicsThird person, hired out

Quinn_W_1

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Celia Henderson

Celia Henderson moved from Louisville, Kentucky to Natchez, Mississippi when her enslaved mother was sold to pay off the enslaver’s debt.   In this excerpt, the interviewer recounts Celia Henderson’s memories about the Civil War in the first person. Teachers may need to help students navigate the comparison at the end of the excerpt as a critique of how poorly Blacks were treated at the time of the interview rather than wishing she were still enslaved
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Excerpt:

… All I remember about the close of the war, was that white folks were broken up and poor down there at Natchez (Mississippi); and the first time I heard the EMANCIPATION read out, There was a lot of prancing around, and a big time.

I saw soldiers in blue down there in Natchez on the hill, once I saw them coming down the road when I was driving my cows up the road. I was scared sure, and I hid in the bushes on the side of the road until they went by. I don’t remember that my cows were much scared though. Mammy sais better hide when you see soldiers marching by, so that time a whole line of them came along, I hid…

 …Yes ma’am, most I ever earned was five dollars a week. I get twenty dollars now, and pay eight dollars for rent. We got no more–I figure –a working for ourselves than what we’d have were we slaves, for they give you a log house, and clothes, and you eat all you want to, and when you buy things, maybe you don’t make enough to get you what you need, working sun-up to sun down… 

Interviewee 
Formerly enslaved person		Birth Year (Age)Interviewer
WPA Volunteer		Enslaver’s Name
Celia HendersonUnknown (Unknown)Miriam LoganGrohagen
Interview LocationResidence StateBirth Location
Lebanon, OHOHHardin County, KY
Themes & KeywordsAdditional Tags:
Emancipation, Economics, Civil WarHardin County, First Person, Dialect, Enslaver Father, Slave Traders

Henderson_C_1

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Callie Williams

In this first person excerpt, the interviewer documents Callie Williams’ description of daily life for enslaved people. Hiram McLemore enslaved over 300 people, including Callie Wiliams and her family.  Since Callie Williams was only four years old when the Civil War ended, she explains that she is retelling stories told to her by her mother Vicey, who she calls “Mammy” in this excerpt.
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Excerpt:

…My mammy said that they [enslaved people] waked up in the morning when they heard the sweep. That was a piece of iron hanging by a string and it made a loud noise when it was banged with another piece of iron. They had to get up at four o’clock and be at work by sun up. To do this, they almost all the time cooked breakfast the night before.  

Pappy was a driver under the overseer, but Mammy said that she stayed at the little nursery cabin and looked after all the little babies. They had a cabin fixed up with homemade cradles and things where they put all the babies. Their mammies would come in from the field at about ten o’clock to nurse them and then later in the day, my mammy would feed the [other children]…

The slaves got rations every Monday night. There would be three pounds of meat and a peck of meal. There was a big garden that all of them worked and they had all the vegetables they needed and there was always plenty of skimmed milk. They cooked the meals on open fireplaces in the big iron ‘spiders’, big pots hanging over the fire from a hook. They’d do the cooking at night and then warm it over the next day if they wanted it that way. 

While mammy was tending the babies she had to spin cotton and she was supposed to spin two ’cuts’ a day. Four ’cuts’ was a hard day’s work. What was a cut? You ought to know that! They had a reel and when it had spun three hundred yards it popped. That was a “cut.” When it had been spun, then another woman took it to the loom to make cloth for the slaves. They always took Saturday afternoon to clean up the clothes and cabins, because they always had to start work on Monday morning clean as a pin. If they didn’t, they got whipped for being dirty…

Most of the time the slaves would be too tired to do anything but go to bed at night, but sometimes they would sit around and sing after supper and they would sing and pray on Sunday…

Interviewee 
Formerly enslaved person		Birth Year (Age)Interviewer
WPA Volunteer		Enslaver’s Name
Callie WilliamsApprox. 1861 (Unknown)Mary A. PooleHiram McLemore
Interview LocationResidence StateBirth Location
Mobile, ALALUnknown
Themes & KeywordsAdditional Tags:
Economics, Child CareThird Person, Dialect, Slave Patrollers, Hired Out

Williams_C_1

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Betty Guwn

Betty Guwn was an enslaved person on a tobacco plantation in Kentucky.  When her enslaver traveled to Mississippi to do business, he hid his money on Betty Guwn so he would not be robbed.  The interviewer begins by narrating background information provided by Betty Guwn. In the second half of the excerpt, the interviewer uses italics to show that Betty Guwn’s own words are being recorded. 
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Excerpt:

… [Betty Guwn’s] master was very wealthy. He owned and managed a cotton farm of two thousand acres down in Mississippi, not far from New Orleans. Once a year he spent three months there gathering and marketing his cotton. When he got ready to go there he would call all his slaves about him and give them a chance to volunteer. They had heard awful tales of the slave auction block at New Orleans, and the Master would solemnly promise them that they should not be sold if they went down [to Mississippi] of their own accord. 

[The interviewer used italics to show this part of the interview is in the words of Betty Guwn.] My Mistress called me to her and privately told me that when I was asked that question I should say to him: “I will go”. The Master had to take much money with him and was afraid of robbers. The day they were to start my Mistress took me into a private room and had me remove most of my clothing; she then opened a strong box [safe] and took out a great roll of money in bills; these she strapped to me in tight bundles, arranging them around my waist in the circle of my body. She put plenty of dresses over this belt and when she was through I wore a bustle of money clear around my belt. I made a funny figure, but no one noticed my odd shape because I was a slave and no one expected a slave to “know better”. We always got through safely and I went down with my Mistress every year. Of course my husband stayed at home to see after the family, and took them to the fields when too young to work under the task master, or overseer. Three months was a long time to be separated.

Interviewee 
Formerly enslaved person		Birth Year (Age)Interviewer
WPA Volunteer		Enslaver’s Name
Betty Guwn1832 (105)UnknownUnknown
Interview LocationResidence StateBirth Location
Muncie, ININCanton, KY
Themes & KeywordsAdditional Tags:
Third Person, EconomicsFirst Person, Slave Traders, Veteran or Widow

Guwn_B_2

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Barney Stone

Barney Stone was 91 years old when interviewed.  He was enslaved for 16 years before he escaped and joined the Union Army during the Civil War.  After the Civil War, Barney Stone was a self-taught teacher at a Black school and then became a preacher.  The interviewer notes that Barney Stone had a “remarkable memory,” which is evident in the excerpt below where Barney Stone explains the practice of buying and selling enslaved people. 

*Historically-used terms that are offensive, marginalizing and/or disparaging have been removed from the transcripts and replaced with [redacted].  See more information.
See full document • Visit the Library of Congress to see the original document

Excerpt:

My master was a hard man when he was angry, drinking, or not feeling well, then at times he was kind to us. I was compelled to pick cotton and do other work when I was a very small boy. Master would never sell me because I was regarded as the best young slave on the plantation. Different from many other slaves, I was kept on the plantation from the day I was born until the day I ran away.

Slaves were sold in two ways, sometimes at private sale to a man who went about the Southland buying slaves until he has many in his possession, then he would have a big auction sale and would re-sell them to the highest bidder, much in the same manner as our live-stock [farm animals] are sold now in auction sales… He came to the plantation with a doctor. He would point out two or three slaves which looked good to him and which could be spared by the owner, and would have the doctor examine the slave’s heart. If the doctor pronounced the slave as sound, then the [redacted] buyer would make an offer to the owner and if the amount was satisfactory, the slave was sold. Some large plantation owners, having a large number of slaves, would hold a public auction and dispose of some of them, then he would attend another sale and buy new slaves, this was done sometimes to get better slaves and sometimes to make money on the sale of them.

Interviewee 
Formerly enslaved person		Birth Year (Age)Interviewer
WPA Volunteer		Enslaver’s Name
Barney Stone1847 (91)Robert C. IrvinLemuel Stone
Interview LocationResidence StateBirth Location
Noblesville, INKYKY
Themes & KeywordsAdditional Tags:
EconomicsFirst Person, Third Person, Whipped, Witness Extreme Cruelty, Sold, Slave Traders, Union Troops, Veteran or Widow, Notable, Spencer County

Stone_B_2

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Armstead Barrett

The interviewer chose to record this interview as a first person narrative. In this excerpt, Armstead Barrett describes how his enslaver treated enslaved people.  Students may need help navigating the seeming inconsistencies in this excerpt, as Armstead Barrett states that the “master was good to us,” while also noting that his enslaver was making money selling enslaved people and did not provide enslaved people with basic necessities like clothing.  Armstead Barrett then goes on to recount how two enslaved people were brutally treated by an overseer, who they later killed.
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Excerpt:

…Old master had a doctor for us when we were sick. We were too valuable. Just like the fat beef, master was good to us. Master would go to other states and get men and women and child slaves and bring them back to sell, because he was a speculator [a person who bought and sold enslaved people to make money]. He’d make them wash up good and then sell them.

Most time we went naked. Just have on one shirt or no shirt at all…

I remember a owner had some slaves and the overseer had it in for two of them. He’d whip them near every day, and they did all they could to please him.  So one day he comes to the field and calls one of them slaves, and that slave drops his hoe and goes over and grabs that overseer. Then the other slave cut that overseer’s head right slap off and threw it down one of the rows. The owner he fools around and sells them two slaves for $800.00 each and that is all the punishment them two slaves ever got.

Interviewee 
Formerly enslaved person		Birth Year (Age)Interviewer
WPA Volunteer		Enslaver’s Name
Armstead Barrett1847 (Unknown)UnknownStafford Barrett
Interview LocationResidence StateBirth Location
TXTXHuntsville, TX
Themes & KeywordsAdditional Tags:
Overseer, Resistance, Violence, EconomicsFirst Person, Dialect, Witnessed Extreme Cruelty, Sold, Slave Traders, 

Barrett_A_1

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Anna Toll Smith

In this excerpt, the interviewer recounts the life of Anna Smith in the third person.  Anna Smith was married and had a young daughter when President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. In this excerpt, the interviewer describes Anna Smith’s memories of life as an enslaved person before and during the Civil War.  The excerpt ends with Anna Smith describing her emancipation.   

*Historically-used terms that are offensive, marginalizing and/or disparaging have been removed from the transcripts and replaced with [redacted].  See more information.
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Excerpt:

… Mrs. Smith remembers her father who died at the age of 117 years.  Her oldest brother was 50 when he joined the confederate army. Three other brothers were sent to the front [to fight in the Civil War]. One was an ambulance attendant, one belonged to the cavalry, one an orderly seargeant [sic] and the other joined the infantry. All were killed in action. Anna Smith’s husband later joined the war and was reported killed.  

When she became old enough for service she was taken into the “Big House” of her master, where she served as kitchen helper, cook, and later a nurse, taking care of her mistress’ second child.  She learned her A.B.C.’s by listening to the tutor teaching the children of Judge Toll…

Many instances during those terrible war days are fresh in her mind: men and boys, in pairs and groups passing the “big house” on their way to the recruiting station on the public square, later going back in squads and companies to fight; Yankee soldiers raiding the plantation, taking corn and hay or whatever could be used by the northern army; and continual apprehension [worry] for the menfolk at the front.  She remembers the baying of blood hounds [barking of dogs] at night along the Ohio River, trying to follow the scent of escaping [redacted] and the crack of firearms as white people, employed by the plantation owners attempted to halt the [redacted] in their efforts to cross the Ohio River into Ohio [where they would be free] or to join the Federal [Union] army…

When President Lincoln issued his proclamation freeing the slaves, and the news reached the plantation, she went to her master to learn if she was free. On learning it was true she returned to her parents who were living on another plantation…   

Interviewee 
Formerly enslaved person		Birth Year (Age)Interviewer
WPA Volunteer		Enslaver’s Name
Anna Toll Smith1835 (101 or 102)Geo. H. ConnJudge Toll
Interview LocationResidence StateBirth Location
Summit County, OHOHHenderson, KY
Themes & KeywordsAdditional Tags:
Civil War, Education, Emancipation, Lincoln, EconomicsThird Person, Veteran or Widow, Slave Patrollers, Henderson County

Smith_An_1

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Amanda Elizabeth Samuels

In this third person narrative, the interviewer describes how the “old master” and “young master” treated Amanda Elizabeth Samuels (called “Lizzie”).  While the interviewer concludes that Lizzie’s life was relatively better with the “old master,” the interviewer explains that the first enslaver was motivated by profit, not kindness. The teacher may need to point out to students that the enslaver did not treat enslaved people “just like his own children,” because he enslaved and sold them, while his own children were free. 
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Excerpt:

Her [Lizzie’s] mother, a slave hand, worked on the farm until her young master, Robert McMurry was married. She was then sold to Rev. Carter Plaster and taken to Logan County, Kentucky.

The child, Lizzie was given to young Robert. She lived in the house to help the young mistress who was not so kind to her. Lizzie was forced to eat chicken heads, fish heads, pigs’ tails, and parsnips. The child disliked this very much and was very unhappy with her young mistress because in Robert’s father’s home all slave children were treated just like his own children. They had plenty of good substantial food and were protected in every way.

The old master felt they were the hands of the next generation and if they were strong and healthy, they would bring in a larger amount of money when sold.

Lizzie’s hardships did not last long as they were set free soon after young Robert’s marriage. He took her in a wagon to Keysburg, Kentucky to be with her mother.

Interviewee 
Formerly enslaved person		Birth Year (Age)Interviewer
WPA Volunteer		Enslaver’s Name
Amanda Elizabeth SamuelsUnknown (80-85)Anna Pritchett  Robert McMurry,Rev. Carter Plaster
Interview LocationResidence StateBirth Location
Marion County, ININTN
Themes & KeywordsAdditional Tags:
Emancipation, EconomicsThird Person, Sold, Union Troops

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Alex Smith and Elizabeth Smith

In this third person narrative, the interviewer briefly notes Alex Smith’s recollections of the Civil War, before comparing how their respective enslavers treated Alex and Elizabeth Smith.  The excerpt ends with the interviewer briefly describing Elizabeth Smith’s life after emancipation.
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Excerpt:

…Although only a child of five, Mr. [Alex] Smith remembers the Civil War, especially the marching of thousands of soldiers, and the horse-drawn artillery wagons. The Stubblefields freed their slaves the first winter after the war.

On the Peter Stubblefield plantation, the slaves [including Elizabeth Smith] were treated very well and had plenty to eat, while on the Robert Stubblefield plantation Mr. [Alex] Smith went hungry many times, and said, “Often, I would see a dog with a bit of bread, and I would have been willing to take it from him if I had not been afraid the dog would bite me.”…

The day the mistress and master came and told the slaves they were free to go anyplace they desired, Mrs. Smith’s mother told her later that she was glad to be free but she had no place to go or any money to go with. Many of the slaves would not leave and she never witnessed such crying as went on. Later Mrs. Smith was paid for working. She worked in the fields for “vittles” [food] and clothes. A few years later she nursed children for twenty-five cents a week and “vittles,” but after a time she received fifty cents a week, board, and two dresses…

Interviewee 
Formerly enslaved person		Birth Year (Age)Interviewer
WPA Volunteer		Enslaver’s Name
Alex Smith and Elizabeth SmithUnknown (83), Unknown (83)Henrietta Karwowski Robert Stubblefield, Peter Stubblefield
Interview LocationResidence StateBirth Location
South Bend, ININKY
Themes & KeywordsAdditional Tags:
Emancipation, Hunger, Civil War, EconomicsThird Person, Witnessed Extreme Cruelty, Union Troops

Smith_A_1

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