Stepney Underwood; from the Library of Congress Collection|
Stepney Underwood; from the Library of Congress Collection |
|
| Gaston,
Alice (AL) | Hughes,
Fountain (MD) |
McCrea,
Billy (TX)
McDonald, Joe (AL) | Moseley, Isom (AL) | Smalley, Laura (TX), beating Smalley, Laura(TX), child care | Smith, Harriet (TX) | Faulk, John Henry (interviewer) Epilogue |
|
About the Project
Their Voices
Project
Director
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Smithsonian
Productions
Institute of
Language & Culture
The WPA
and the
Archive of Folk Song
Links
|
The brief sound clips presented
here introduce the ex-slaves included in the radio documentaries. In their
own voices, they tell us about their experiences during slavery and their
lives during Reconstruction. Born in the middle of the 19th century, Alice
Gaston, Fountain Hughes, Billy McCrea, Joe McDonald, Isom Moseley, Laura
Smalley, and Harriet Smith share their views of what it was like to be
a slave and what it was like to be a slave no more.
Although these interviews are not representative of all slaves, they provide us with a sample of comments and stories. Most importantly, these recordings allow the ex-slaves to speak to us. We can hear their anger, their sadness, and their humor. The interviewers included both experienced scholars and novices--John Lomax, Robert Sonkin, Hermond Norwood, and John Henry Faulk. One of the interviewers, John Henry Faulk, had known Harriet Smith all his life. Here he tells us that he visited Laura Smalley two or three times before she agreed to be interviewed. |
 These
pages are designed, created and maintained by Dr.
Jeutonne Brewer and Timothy
Flood for the Institute of Language and Culture. For ease of
access, we've limited the use of frames amd java scripts; we hope you enjoy
your visit.
We welcome your questions and comments about these pages. Please contact Brewer or Flood directly. Thanks for your interest. Last updated October 21,1998. |