Bullwhip Days The Slaves Remember: An Oral History

by Mellon, James

• ISBN13: 9780802138682
• ISBN10: 0802138683
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-12-12
• Publisher: Grove Press

Summary

In the 1930s, the Works Progress Administration commissioned an oral history of the remaining former slaves. Bullwhip Days is a remarkable compendium of selections from these extraordinary interviews, providing an unflinching portrait of the world of government-sanctioned slavery of Africans in America. Here are twenty-nine full narrations, as well as nine sections of excerpts related to particular aspects of slave life, from religion to plantation life to the Reconstruction era. Skillfully edited, these chronicles bear eloquent witness to the trials of slaves in America, reveal the wide range of conditions of human bondage, and provide sobering insight into the roots of racism in today's society.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	ix
Introduction	xi
Narratives:
Georgia Baker	3	(12)
Mary Reynolds	15	(9)
Katie Rowe	24	(9)
Voices:
Slave Children, Food and Cooking, Stealing, and Fading Remembrances of Africa	33	(22)
Narratives:
Thomas Cole	55	(18)
William Adams	73	(5)
Fanny Cannady	78	(5)
Voices:
Ghosts and Conjuring	83	(20)
Narratives:
Charley Williams	103	(12)
Jack and Rosa Maddox	115	(13)
Rose Williams	128	(5)
Voices:
Plantation Life, Poor White Folks, Classes of Slaves, Patrollers, Christmas on the Plantation, Dancing, Corn-shuckings, Hog-killings, Music, Slave Marriages, and Forced Breeding	133	(20)
Narratives:
Calvin Moye	153	(18)
Isaac Stier	171	(7)
Charlie Moses	178	(5)
Voices:
Religion and Education	183	(20)
Narratives:
Rachel Cruze	203	(16)
Jacob Manson	219	(4)
Martin Jackson	223	(5)
Josh Horn	228	(5)
Voices:
Bullwhip Days	233	(20)
Narratives:
George Fleming	253	(10)
Arnold Gragson	263	(7)
Cato Carter	270	(10)
Elmo Steele	280	(5)
Voices:
Slave Auctions, Forced Breeding, Rape, and Runaways	285	(20)
Narratives:
John Crawford	305	(17)
Lulu Wilson	322	(6)
William Moore	328	(7)
Voices:
The Civil War and Statutory Freedom	335	(22)
Narratives:
Neal Upson	357	(14)
Charlie Davenport	371	(9)
Ellen Betts	380	(9)
Voices:
The Reconstruction Era, Sharecropping, Voting, and the Ku Klux Klan	389	(20)
Narratives:
Mary Grayson	409	(9)
William Colbert	418	(3)
Mollie Dawson	421	(18)
Voices:
The Younger Generation, Reflections and Conclusions	439