In the 1930s, thousands of former American slaves
dictated their full life stories
to interviewers working for the US government.
Inside American Slavery contains the translation of the narratives that were dictated by those former American slaves. Accompanied by archival photographs, their testimonies unveil little-known details of events during that period of American history. Originally transcribed in southern dialect, the quotes have been translated into Standard English for this introductory mini-ebook.
Most of the formerly enslaved, elderly people dictated their life stories in southern USA dialect. To read the narratives in their original dialect, see I WAS A SLAVE, the full-length paperback book series. For the full-length Standard English ebook series, see American Slaves.
As revealed by former slaves...
JULIA MALONE: The size of the plantation was about 1,000 acres. I don’t know the number of slaves on the place but there were so many of us who were coming and going that it looked like a beehive. There were so many buildings and sheds that it appeared to be a small town.
...in quotes from their full life stories
Fannie Moore
The overseer hated my mother because she fought him for beating her children. She got more whippings for that than for anything else. She had twelve children. I remember seeing the three oldest ones standing in snow that was up to their knees while they split rails as the overseer stood nearby and grinned. ... The slaves always had to get a written pass to leave the plantation. ... When hired white patrollers saw them away from the plantation, the slaves had to show their passes. If they had none, the patrollers would strip them and beat them. ... It was terrible when the speculators came to the plantation. All of the slaves would start shaking. No one knew who was going to be sold. The speculators went through the fields, made their choice of slaves, and then bought them.
Lewis Jones
Master Tate owned my mother, my father, and all of my brothers and sisters. How many brothers and sisters did I have? Lord Almighty! My mother often told the number to me but it is hard for me to remember. There was my mother. My father had twelve children with her and he had twelve with Mary. You keep the count. Then, there was Eliza. He had ten with her. There was Mandy. He had eight with her and there was Betty. He had five or six with her. Now, let me remember some more. W-e-l-l, I can’t think of their names but there were two or three with just one or two children. Now, how many does that make? Yes, sir. That’s right. Close to fifty children. You don’t understand that? The reason was that my father was used as the breeding man.
Jenny Proctor
When Old Master came down to the cotton patch to tell us about being free, he said: I hate to tell you but I know that I must. You’re free – just as free as I am or as anybody else who’s white. We didn’t know what he meant. We just huddled together like scared rabbits. After we realized what he meant, most of us didn’t leave because we didn’t know where to go. ... But all of us went to work. ... When we planted the corn and cotton, we planted even in the corners of the fence. I have never seen so much crop in all of my life. The corn grew with several ears on each stalk. The cotton stalks were so heavy that they were bending to the ground. ... We were making progress. Before long, we were building better houses and feeling rather happy.
REMINDER: These excerpts of quotes and most of the quotes in Inside American Slavery are Standard English translations of the southern dialect in I WAS A SLAVE, the original full-length paperback books that remain in the former slaves' own words. See iwasaslave.com
MANDY McCULLOUGH COSBY: I’m now 95 years old. What I remember the most is the way that the children rolled around in the big nurse’s room. Mr. McCullough raised slaves to sell. The little black children played until about sundown. Then, they received their supper. A long trough was in a cool place in the backyard and was filled with good cold buttermilk with cornbread crumbled into it. Spoons were given to the children and they would eat until they were full. Then, they were ready for bed. Some of them just fell over on the ground and went to sleep. They were picked up and put on their pallets in the big children’s room. There was an old woman who was called the nurse. She tended to them. They got good care because the master expected that they would bring good money [when sold at auction].