Essay Topic:

The confrontation of different interviews taken on the topic of slavery.

Essay Questions:
In what way slave is an unnatural phenomenon?
What is the attitude of the Federal Writers to slavery?
How do the WPA interviews reveal the notion of slavery?
Thesis Statement:
Nevertheless, there is still much to say about it and a lot of thing to recall. It is common
knowledge that slavery was eliminated with the end of the Civil War.

Slavery Essay

Table of contents:
1. Introduction
2. Federal Writers Project
3. The theme of slavery in the WPA interviews
a. Interview with William Ballard
b. Interviewing Walter Calloway
c. Born in slavery: Mary Reynolds
4. Conclusion
Yes Lawd! I have been here so long I ain't forgot nothin'. I can remember things way back
Matilda Hatchett

1. Introduction
Slavery has always been the most shocking phenomena of our world. Slavery, by itself seems
very unnatural and provokes mixed feelings from the heart of each person. Some people are
descendants of those who used to be slaves years ago. Some faced slavery even in the
contemporary times. And some people just simply do not understand the possibility of one
human being considering another human being its slave. Slavery, by definition, is the first
historical form of exploitation, under which a slave along with different implements of
production becomes the private property of the slave owner. So, in other words slavery converts
an individual human being into a thing or even some kind of consumer item. This phenomena
has done a lot of harm to million of people, taking away lives and destroying the fate of the
people who could have been happy. What does a contemporary person know about slavery? The
answer will not be very profound. Nevertheless, there is still much to say about it and a lot of
thing to recall. It is common knowledge that slavery was eliminated with the end of the Civil
War. The South was released from the burden that made the slavery to stop and that started
destroying the prejudices concerning the color of skin. Nowadays, it is already history. And
could be Americans would not have much information on this important historical issue if it was
not for a project Works Projects Administration (WPA), which was introduced by federal
government.
2. Federal Writers Project
Before starting analyzing the phenomenon of slavery it is necessary to enlighten the source of the
main information on the topic. The mentioned above Works Project Administration (WPA) had
the goal of stimulating the economy of the country and providing work for people on relief. The
Federal Writers Project (FWP) was designed as a branch of the WPA. The FWPs main
directivity was the history of the United States of America made on the bases of oral stories of
the eyewitnesses. It was made by a group of scholars, artists, and writers on relief who
interviewed different people along the country making historical interviews. One of the issues
the respondents were eager to talk about was slavery. It is necessary to mention that all these
interviews were made throughout 1936-1940 and most of the people who could remember the
terrible period of slavery were around 80. What these interviews describe is the respondents
education, political views, religion, needs, observations, historical events he can share the
impressions about. These interviews are nowadays known as WPA interviews and are highly
valuable for any person who has the aim to examine the life of slaves during that period and to
analyze different aspects of their life. Obviously, the majority of the interviews concerning the
slave-issue were carried out with people living in the southern states of America that is to say
with those who used to be slaves. Most of the slaves talked about their owners, the way they
treated them and it did to their families.

3. The theme of slavery in the WPA interviews

The stories of the ex-slaves are full of unexpected details, unspoken feelings, and hidden
meanings. Nevertheless, what they were principally about were the brutalities all of them
experienced being under slavery. These are the stories of people who lived their lives with the

perception of being unworthy and obeying white supremacy as a law. The 2,300 ex-slaves who
were interviewed in the frames of the WPA project have a lot in common in their stories. They
mainly speak about religion, gender elations, material life, slave-master relations and other
aspects. These are the stories of what was being black in the South and what a black person had
to do in order to survive and protect his right to live on this land.

3.a. Interview with William Ballard

The most impressive thing about the interviews in general and this interview in particular is the
description of extremely different slave-master relations in different situations and different
regions. It is an interview taken June 10, 1937. William Ballard was from Winnsboro in Fairfield
County situated in South Caroline. He was born in a family with several other children. William
Ballard belonged to Jim Aiken who was a large and famous landowner at Winnsboro. Jim Aiken
was a very powerful man, as he owned the land on which the town itself was built. He also
possessed seven huge plantations on which his slaves worked. Thought William Ballards master
was a very powerful man he never treated his slaves brutally. His wife was very good for the
slaves, too and actually took care about them. William recalls:HE was good to us and give us
plenty to eat, and good
quarters to live in. The only awful thing William could remember about is the treatment of the
son of Jim Aiken - Dr. Aiken, who seemed to really enjoy whipping the slaves a lot, especially
when his father was out. Dr. Aiken whipped some of de niggers, lots. One time he whipped a
slave for stealing when he did not. William remembers being very devoted to his master, as he
knew the terrible way that other masters treated their slaves. William never starved and does not
remember not getting enough food: We was allowed three pounds omeat, one quart omolasses,
grits and other things each week; plenty for us to eat. William continues by telling that even
when freedom came some slaved wanted to still stay wit their master, because he provided
everything they needed, gave them stability and treated them as man, and not slaves in the first
place: When freedom came, he told us we was free, and if we wanted to stay on with him, he
would do the best he could for us. Most of us stayed, and after a few months, he paid wages.
Another important fact to mention is the sick-house that the master possessed in order to treat
the slaves. After the war the master gave the slaves the opportunity to learn how to read and how
to write.
Here we see a bright example or it is even better to say an exception of a very human attitude
to the slaves from the side of their master. Nevertheless, slavery still remains slavery no matter
how well people are treated. William Ballard even after having spent so many years in slavery,
though in good conditions said: Of course I think slavery was bad. We is free now and better off
to work. This is an excellent example of how some slave-master relations were very
constructive. All the petitions of the slaves were heard and taken into count.

3.b. Interviewing Walter Calloway

This man with a very hard life was born in Richmond, Virginia, in 1848. The first thing Walter
remembers is being purchased as a slave by John Calloway. John Calloway took the family to the
plantation that was situated 10 several miles of Montgomery in Alabama. The life of the family
was very hard there; it is necessary to say that at the age of 10 any of his attempts to evade the
work that caused too much pain for him resulted in a punishment. That was the reason it was
better not even to say a word against the masters will. The most ordinary punishment for black
people not obeying were whippings and the most awful thing about it was that white overseer
never did it themselves but always had another black slave to do it. In other words that made one
brother whip another brother. One thirteen-year-old girl was whipped almost to death he
recalls still experiencing shock and pain in his mind. Sometimes dogs depending on the will of
their master first chased and then murdered the slaves. The underlines the awful treatment that
the slaves got on the plantation he worked. The punishments the slaves got seemed to be not
punishments but pure mockery, including humiliation and severe beating. For every small
misdeed slaves were always punished without any exceptions. The slaves who spied for the
master had some privileges as getting being in favor with the master. By spying the only aim
they pursued was to escape the possible physical punishment. The story of Walter Calloway is a
story of a very hard life with constant brutal attitude towards the black slaves, which were not
treated as man but as things that belonged to their master.

3.c. Born in slavery: Mary Reynolds

Mary Reynolds was born to slavery. At the moment she was interviewed she was already blind as
she was older than one hundred years. Mary Reynolds was born in Louisiana. She recalls being
very friendly with other slaves on the plantation but she also remembers some slave to act
indecently trying to make the master be favorable to them. Marys master Dr. Reynolds often
uncoupled families for with the intention of trading the older slave for a younger one. Mary
Reynolds recalls feeling constant tension and fear because of the constant brutal beatings the
slaves experienced on the plantation: poor colored people in slavery time, dey give dem very
little rest en would whip some of dem most to death. Her master did not have any mercy for his
slaves and was very cruel. The lash which was used for the punishments was: made out of
leather plaited most all the way and den all that part down to de bottom. Mary supports the
information gained from another interviews that usually masters had children from their black
women-slaves. These women had no other choice than to fulfill masters desires or otherwise
they were severely punished for a fictitious reason. May outlines that the slaves were primarily
used as working force, as the white people could not perform as much work as black people did.
The conditions that the master offered to the slaves were completely awful and no
communication or petitions helped to improve them.

4. Conclusion
These are only some of the 2,300 interview people whose stories a very alike. Nevertheless,
analyzing the majority of the interviews it is necessary to point out strange facts: the slaves were
very devoted to their masters. And even after they could leave on their own after the Civil War
some of them stayed until the very end to do it. These black people, who experienced slavery
impress the reader of the interviews with the ability of their families to preserve love inside no
matter what was going on outside. These people were brutally treated, experienced inhuman pain
and still had the strength to try to learn to read or al least to listen to somebody reading. Slavery
brought a lot of fear to the lives of black people: black women were forced to have sexual
encounters with their masters, slaves were punished by being whipped almost to death and their
brother and sisters were forced to administrate the whippings; they had to work in any
temperature conditions, sometimes even freezing; they had to lose their family members - just
for being black and therefore slaves. It is necessary to pay tribute to all these people who in spite
of the cruelty in their lives managed to remain kind inside and some of them even tried to
understand their masters. Thought the master-slave relations did have exceptions they still
remained unilateral, where the only side expressing its opinion was the masters side.
Nevertheless, this has become one of the most important lessons for the human nation there is
no condition under which one person can possess supremacy over another one.
Bibliography:
1. Mangione, Jerre The Dream and the Deal: The Federal Writer's Project, 1935-1943/Avon
Books/1972.
2. Stott, William Documentary Expression and Thirties America/Oxford University
Press/1973.