Voices from the Days of Slavery: Stories, Songs and Memories
Summary: Oral histories and interviews with African Americans who endured the hardships of slavery. These recordings document the first-person accounts of several individuals whose life experiences spanned the period during and after slavery. The podcasts are drawn from several collections in the American Folklife Center Archives, one of the preeminent audio-visual repositories of national and international folklife, history and cultural expressions.
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- Artist: Library of Congress
Podcasts:
In this interview from 1935, Mr. Wallace Quarterman of St. Simons Island, Georgia, recalls the last days of slavery for Zora Neale Hurston, Alan Lomax, and Mary Elizabeth Barnicle of the Library of Congress.
In this interview from 1940, Mr. George Johnson of Mound Bayou, Mississippi, shares memories of slavery times, including his relationship with Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy. The interviewers are Charles Johnson, Lewis Jones, John Work, Elizabeth and Alan Lomax.
Fountain Hughes reflects on his childhood experiences before and after the end of slavery in Charlottesville, VA. Among other events, Mr. Hughes recollects slave auctions and the hardships endured by freed slaves after the end of the Civil War. A full transcript of this recording can be found at http://www.loc.gov/podcasts/slavenarratives/transcripts/slavery_hughes.pdf
