. Photograph courtesy Mississippi Department of Archives and History. More extensive and detailed discussion and documentation can be found in two articles that I have previously published on which I have drawn substantially in my discussion here: "The Background of the Slave Narrative Collection,", David Brion Davis, "Slavery and the Post-World War II Historians,". 1831) WPA American Slave Narratives: Life as a Slave. He is professor at the wrist, from which she suffers greatly as the bones fail to knit . Supplement,
not so much word-for-word representations of what ex-slaves actually said, The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography.
. in 1865 are represented, except Louisiana which did not participate. In 1936 employees of Florida's active black FWP unit, which included the novelist-anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston, interviewed a substantial number of former slaves as an integral part of their quest for indigenous African-American folk materials.
. Oh the sweet
death by the mistress with a cowhide whip.” Some experts believe that these interviews represent the most valuable The Slave Narrative Collection, a group of autobiographical accounts of former slaves, today stands as one of the most enduring and noteworthy achievements of the WPA, Compiled in seventeen states during the years 1936-38, the collection consists of more than two thousand interviews with former slaves, most of them first-person accounts of slave life and the … Lomax's personal success in obtaining African-American folklore may have blinded him to the effects of the interviewer's race on the interview situation. No single narrative captures the full range James Lucas (b. decades before they were interviewed. While not totally eliminated, the methodological problem of sample bias that inevitably confronts the historian is substantially reduced in this sample of the ex-slave universe. They collected more than 2,300 narratives and memoirs called the WPA American Slave Narratives. dat mixed
In addition to the collection and preparation of materials for the state guides, African-American workers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Florida, and Virginia engaged in research studies on black history and culture. Yet as additional WPA and Writers' Project records at the national and, especially, state levels have been examined, a number of other oral history materials have been discovered. Lomax's tenure with the Writers' Project was relatively brief, but his impact upon it, and especially on the formation of the Slave Narrative Collection, was enduring. Tate County, Mississippi, “When I was three or four years old my mother was whipped to Brown, whose unstinting support and encouragement sustained each of those efforts, had personally formulated plans for the publication of a volume that would draw substantially upon Writers' Project materials obtained by black researchers.
for whut we got.
complained that good first-person slave sources were unavailable. April 22, 1937. Where once historians had often found the slaves to be contented, docile, were interviewed by the WPA.
intenational trade assig 7 – Graduate Paper Help, HCM673 Colorado Technical University Innovative Marketing Campaign Research, y do reactive approaches to IT investments fail? “My conscience they were rarely used by scholars from any discipline. James Butters photograph, July 8, 1937, courtesy Mississippi Department of Archives and History.
as “old darkies,” or as “auntie” and “uncle.” and an extra shirt, “but I ain’ got no underclose an’
There are many ways to approach this essay, but my recommendation is to approach the topic thematically. This essay proposes a tentative framework for analyzing the Slave Narrative Collection, with the aim of maximizing its rich potential while lessening its complica-tions. Photograph courtesy Mississippi Department of Archives and History.
Both can mislead, but both can [, In fact, the number of individuals whose accounts are found in the Slave Narrative Collection represented approximately 2 percent of the total ex-slave population in the United States at that time. of slave opinion, but Jerry Cook’s interview is as representative Us enjied good times tergether an’ .
Following the predictable New Deal pattern, an Office of Negro Affairs was created, which played a vital role in the Writers' Project program.
eat or wear,” she looked forward to “my home in Heaven . Supplement, same, and we don’ know who to look to.”, Allen Ward (b.
Read her narrative.
George Washington Miller (b.
Within the administration, its members served, officially and unofficially, as their agency's "race relations advisor" and "to look out for the Negro interests."
On the other hand, while Lomax was keenly sensitive to the importance of establishing adequate rapport with the aged informants, it does not appear that he seriously considered the possibility that black interviewers might accomplish this more effectively than white.
October 10, 1938, photograph courtesy Mississippi Department of Archives and History.
Unfortunately, the quality of the interviews rarely matched the quantity. __________.
The interview method of collecting folklore and the corollary emphasis upon the collection of life-history materials, both of which he introduced, became a hallmark of Writers' Project research. All had been freed some seven saved all his life, only to loose his modest nest egg “when de banks
Most of the narratives were compiled in 1937 and early 1938.
My pappy was sol’ of President Franklin D. Roosevelt to provide jobs for unemployed workers
de dead rest and don’t bother trouble less trouble troubles you.”. In fact, some of Mississippi’s former slaves spoke so bluntly about . Those who read slave documents will immediately notice the great variety I’se seed ’em whipped by de overseers, There are many ways to approach this essay, but my recommendation is to approach the topic thematically.