The idea of interviewing slaves about their experiences dates to the 1760s, when abolitionists first began to publish slave narratives as a way to educate the public to the horrors of slavery. From 1929 to 1932, the social sciences department at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, sponsored a project to gather more interviews. In 1934, one of the Fisk project workers suggested the federal government hire unemployed white-collar blacks to undertake similar projects in Indiana and Kentucky. Two years later, the Works Progress Administration directed the Federal Writers' Project teams in...
The idea of interviewing slaves about their experiences dates to the 1760s, when abolitionists first began to publish slave narratives as a way to edu...
In his introduction to Prayin' to Be Set Free, Andrew Waters likens these personal accounts of former Mississippi slaves to the music of that state's legendary blues artists. The pain, the modest eloquence, and even the underlying vitality are much the same.What is now Mississippi wasn't acquired by the United States until 1798, at which time it had fewer than 10,000 inhabitants, excluding Native Americans. By the Civil War, it had over 430,000 slaves and 350,000 whites. More than half the whites were members of slave-owning families. The majority of slaves worked in the cotton fields....
In his introduction to Prayin' to Be Set Free, Andrew Waters likens these personal accounts of former Mississippi slaves to the music of that state's ...
When you think of early Texas history, you think of freedom fighters at the Alamo and rugged cowboys riding the plains. You usually don't think too much about slavery in the Lone Star State. Although slavery only existed in Texas from the second decade of the 19th century to the close of the Civil War, the majority of early settlers came to Texas from other Southern states. When they moved westward, they brought their slaves with them. According to the 1850 census, 27.3 percent of the families in Texas owned slaves. By the 1860 census, that number had risen to 30.8 percent. These figures...
When you think of early Texas history, you think of freedom fighters at the Alamo and rugged cowboys riding the plains. You usually don't think too mu...
