"I's born in Palestine Texas. I don't know how old I is. I was 9 years old when freedom cried out."
These poignant words begin the memories of a former Texas slave interviewed by W.P.A. field workers in Oklahoma during the 1930s. This account, along with thirty-two additional oral histories recorded as part of the Federal Writers' Project, describes life as a Texas slave--the family relations, entertainment, religion, work on the plantations, foodways, and punishment.
For decades the bondage of black slaves to white masters was part of everyday life in Texas, and by the eve of the...