Voices: WPA Narratives

Oral histories conducted with former slaves and the generation born after emancipation speak to the resilience and initiative shown by African Americans in the aftermath of the Civil War.

Beginning in 1936, a unit of the Virginia Writers' Project staffed by African Americans conducted interviews with more than 300 formerly enslaved men and women. The interviews and research in libraries and courthouses resulted in the publication of The Negro in Virginia in 1940. About half of the interviews have been lost and the rest are located at various repositories around the state. Approximately fifty are part of the Library of Virginia's collection of WPA Life Histories. Many of the extant interviews were published as Weevils in the Wheat: Interviews with Virginia Ex-slaves (University Press of Virginia, 1976).

Although the narratives should be read carefully, they do provide an opportunity for formerly enslaved men and women to tell their own stories about life under slavery and freedom. The interview with former Hampton student Lorenzo Ivy presents a fascinating case study in the highly mediated environments of these oral histories. In 1937 Interviewer Claude W. Anderson transcribed Ivy’s speech with heavy dialect, although Ivy's voice shows no indication of vernacular inflection in the 1874 publication Hampton and Its Students. Placing these two sources side by side demonstrates the different agendas and perspectives that arbitrated the experiences of African Americans after the end of slavery.

Lorenzo Ivy describes life during slavery, the Civil War, and attending school after the war's end. Contrast the heavy use of dialect in the interview transcription with Ivy's voice in Hampton and Its Students.

Lorenzo Ivy describes his family's life during slavery and after the Civil War. Contrast the style of this statement published in Hampton and Its Students (1874) with the Virginia Writers' Project interview transcription.

Arthur Greene describes the treatment of enslaved laborers, including punishments, as well as conditions faced by the freedpeople after the Civil War.

George Lewis describes the entry of U.S. Colored Troops in Richmond and his later education and work as an attorney.

Annie Perry Wallace, mother to Isaiah Wallace, describes her childhood and lack of education during slavery and the diffcult conditions in which she raised thirteen children in the years after the Civil War.

Isaiah Wallace, the son of Annie Wallace, provides details on the educational opportunities for African Americans in the decades after the Civil War, including his efforts to build a school in Culpeper County.

Mary Dangerfield Wallace, wife of Isaiah Wallace, describes her childhood, education, and career as an educator.

Mr. and Mrs. W (likely Walker) discuss their family backgrounds, education, and work for racial justice.

William I. Johnson Jr., describes auctions of slaves, how he escaped to Union lines during the Civil War, and his career as a builder afterwards.

Willis J. Madden describes growing up after the Civil War, his education, and his career as a teacher and as a Baptist minister.