History forever changed on October 29, 1929, also know as “Black Thursday.” On this day, the stock market crashed and a momentary crisis led to a decade long depression, marked by an overwhelming rate of unemployment. The country turned into a state of shock when the banking system turned to shambles and people held whatever currency they possessed. Times would become extremely hard for many due to the immense rate of unemployment. The United States elected Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1932 with hopes of saving this depleted country. President Roosevelt worked feverishly to create relief programs, jobs, and economic recovery. Many jobs were created, such as the Public Works Association, Tennessee Valley Authority, Civil Works Administration, and Social Security.
This work program was capable of generating many questions regarding not only the slaves, but also who the interviewer was and how he or she was picked to perform these interviews in a time of unemployment. With women involved in these interviews, what were the race relations like between ex-slaves and white educated women? Class relations would also be extremely important during these times, especially since the slaves were most likely poor and the purpose behind these interviews was to stimulate jobs. The Federal Writers Project was designed to give a first-person account of former slaves and job opportunities to the unemployed. How the interviewers accounted for the life and times of the slaves is something of amazement.
The Federal Writers’ Project was involved in seventeen different states and southern states, such as Georgia, were responsible for collecting the stories of former slaves. One such Georgia interviewer was Gracie McCune of Fulton County, Georgia. Gracie, or Grace, was a single white female in her mid to upper thirties during the time of the Great Depression. Grace was a roomer, who rented a room from a family during the 1930’s. She was employed as a seamstress in a factory also during this time, so how she also became a worker for the Federal Writers’ Project poses a peculiar question. Why was she accepted into the worker’s program if she was already employed in an alternative occupation? Since this program was established to send out-of-work writers back into the field for documentary purposes, Grace surely had some writing experience from her past. She was obviously educated with the capabilities of writing documentaries captivating the life and times of former slaves. What’s most interesting is the idea of her age and how a woman reaching the later part of her life is single and trying to provide on her own. The Depression clearly defines people of being stripped of everything they own and forced to poverty, so the idea of Grace renting a room outside of her family means times were very tough. Perhaps her involvement with the Federal Writers’ Project was a way of generating extra revenue to survive during these terrible times.
The interviews were given by both genders of African Americans and almost all were stories of their early slave life, since oleaning to not only Paul, but also the rest of the slaves. Every one of the slaves was baptized, which is a pretty amazing fact. Religion is a pretty powerful thing to takeover someone’s life, especially since the African slaves were being exposed to a religion unlike their own. The slave might have found refuge in religion and as a way to escape from the nightmare many were living. When the slaves explained to the whites they wished to have the their own place of worship, Paul was reluctant to say the whites give them an old meeting house to pray in and they were able to get started on the right track. Religion also played an important role in death with the slaves. If a slave died, everybody came and paid their respects. Songs and prayer were important and were displayed over the corpse. Paul Smith was one of the few slaves during this time who was paid for the work he provided. He didn’t begin to receive his earnings until he had grown in years, but it is interesting to see that slaves were actually paid. This was truly a luxury for a slave to be paid for his services. As Grace finished the interview with Paul, he thanked her for coming and explained he had had a “good time” bringing back memories and sharing them with her.
Grace McCune revealed many interesting and intriguing facts about southern slave life. Even though Paul Smith was a slave, his slave life contained many luxuries that other slaves never experienced. The Mistress of the house took him in under her wing and made sure he was raised and taught correctly. He may have never been involved with school, but was raised like the actual human being he truly was. Life was still hard for Paul and he was never able to express his opinions or concerns about the world. What an achievement, from his perspective, to later in his life be able to sit back and relax in freedom and tell a story about how things really were at one time and how they have evolved to better times.
Paul Smith and the rest of the slaves contained in the Slave Narratives would never have been able to share their story if it hadn’t been for the Federal Writers’ Project wanting to capture the stories of slave life, but what about the race relations during this time? What was running through the minds of these slaves for an educated white person to come in and want to learn about their life and history. The 1930’s were a turbulent time for race relations in America. Racism was as strong as ever in the Southern states and a constant controversy existed, but blacks were not left out of the New Deal programs. Just as they were able to participate with the Federal Writers’ Project, many programs like the Federal Music Project or Federal Theatre Project, allowed blacks to become involved with employment opportunities. There was also a substantial amount of blacks who left the South and headed North in search of better equality and jobs. The Great Depression did not help to make things easier and many had trouble trying to survive during these harsh times.
After studying and researching the Slave Narratives, I have a different perspective on what really happened during slavery. It was known that times were terrible, but just how bad they really were is not clear until told on a first-hand account of a former slave. The hardships faced could never be imaginable until spoken by the words of an ex-slave in the slave interviews. Even though Grace McCune was just doing her job by directing the interview and preserving what was left of history, it’s just imaginable to believe the thoughts that may have been in her mind while listening to the numerous slave stories. Would it have been awkward, to be there as a white person, in the home of an African American during the 1930’s. The neighborhoods of the time were pretty much segregated, so Grace would have been in a completely different environment compared to that of her own. The stories told were of some good times, but mostly of bad times with the numerous hardships that were faced each day. The Slave Narratives will forever hold a piece of history in our lives. They are lessons and ideas given directly from the era and the people who told their stories were courageous and full-hearted.