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READINGS FROM THE SLAVE NARRATIVES What was it like to be enslaved in the United States? More than 2,000 African Americans answered that question in interviews conducted during the 1930s. Their voices come to life inside the pages of this magazine — and in the extraordinary new documentary Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narratives. Premiering Monday, February 10, 2003, at 8PM/7C.

www.hbo.com/unchained inTIME/Unchained Memories

can constitute a state. I think we From Africa to America: S LAVERY BY THE Enslaved Africans’ Countries of Origin must get rid of or we must get rid of freedom.” N UMBERS (1619-1865) —Ralph Waldo Emerson, poet, 1856 TIME Imaging 12,000,000 Approximate number of Africans shipped across K “Democratic liberty exists solely the Atlantic Ocean between 1450 Y because we have slaves … freedom and 1850, primarily to colonies in M is not possible without slavery.” North America, South America and

C —Richmond Enquirer, 1856 the West Indies.

“Whenever I hear anyone arguing 3,953,760 Total number of enslaved people in the southern

NOTEBOOK for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to states in 1860. see it tried on him personally.” —President Abraham Lincoln, 1865 0 Total number of enslaved people in the free states of the North “I had crossed the line. I was free; as of 1860. but there was no one to welcome me to the land of freedom. I was a 100,000 Number of ex-slaves stranger in a strange land.” still alive in the late 1930s. “No man can put a chain around the —, who escaped 2,300 Ex-slaves interviewed in ankle of his fellow man without at from slavery in 1849 and went on the 1930s for the Slave Narratives TIME last finding the other end fastened to lead 300 slaves to freedom now housed at Library of Congress. about his own neck.” n —, liberated slave “If I had my life to live over, I would

i and civil rights activist, 1883 die fighting rather than be a slave AMERICAN ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY again.” “I do not see how a barbarous com- —Robert Falls, former slave, in WPA munity and a civilized community interview conducted in the 1930s LIBRARY OF CONGRESS A NATION DIVIDED: This 1856 map shows the division between slave and free HUMAN CARGO: Flyers states. The numbers in white indicate the per- like this one, distributed centage of families in each southern state that in Charleston, South owned slaves. Under the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, the question of slavery Carolina in 1769, in the territories was supposed to be decided by a vote of settlers. But instead of providing a peaceful solution, the Kansas-Nebraska Act led to fierce and advertised the sale of bloody conflict, propelling the U.S. toward civil war. enslaved Africans.

2 inTIME/Unchained Memories UNCHAINED WHAT ARE THE SLAVE NARRATIVES?

uring the Great Depression of the 1930s, the Federal Government came up with a creative new way to put unemployed writers back LIBRARY OF CONGRESS (2)

to work. Armed with tape C

recordersD and lists of questions, mem- M

bers of the Federal Writers’ Project set Y

out to record the experiences and K

opinions of everyday people. As part TIME Imaging of this project, thousands of former slaves in 17 states were interviewed. One result of these oral history inter- views was the Col- lection, an extraordinary set of 2,300 FROM SLAVERY TO FREEDOM: This rare photograph shows a group of ex-slaves autobiographical documents now in Cumberland Landing, Virginia in 1862, the year after the Civil War began. housed at the Library of Congress. These interviews, all of which were on written notes.) In some cases, the conducted between 1936 and 1938, resulting transcripts contain clear

gave former slaves an unparalleled exaggerations or racist notions of MEMORIES chance to share their memories of African Americans. As one historian life in bondage. For contemporary has noted, the transcripts are a mix Americans, these narratives provide a “of accuracy and fantasy, of sensitivity riveting chronicle of what it was like and stereotype, of empathy and racism.” to be enslaved in the United States. When reading or listening to the narratives, it is important to remember About the Language the process by which the interviewees’ words were recorded on paper. It is of the Slave Narratives also important to remember the his- In his instructions to interviewers, the torical context in which the narratives director of the Federal Writers’ Project statements.” In response, the inter- were produced. Certain words that noted that “details of the interview viewers—most of whom were white— the former slaves used may be offen- should be reported as accurately as made an effort to capture in writing sive or disturbing. But the narratives possible in the language of the original the speech patterns of the men and are a reflection of the time and place at women with whom they spoke. (Some which they were created. As such, they interviewers tape-recorded the con- illuminate a world that is important versations, while many relied solely for all Americans to explore. ■ The Slave Narratives on the Web

More than 2,000 slave narratives— along with 500 photos—are available online at the Library of Congress’ “Born in Slavery” website at http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/snhtml/snhome.html. For more information about the new HBO documentary Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narratives, visit www.hbo.com/unchained. And for teaching materials and additional resources related to the slave WILBERFORCE HOUSE MUSEUM, KINGSTON UPON HULL CITY MUSEUM AND ART GALLERY narratives, go to www.timeclassroom.com/unchained. BRUTAL CONDITIONS: Devices such as this one were used to restrain slaves. 3 inTIME/Unchained Memories

“None of us was allowed to see TIME Imaging

K a book or try to learn.” Y M

C Mush and Beans I remember quite well how those poor little children used to have to eat. They were fed in MEMORIES “boxes and troughs, under the house. They were fed cornmeal mush and beans. When this was poured into their box, they would gather around it the same as we see pigs, horses and LIBRARY OF CONGRESS (7) cattle gather around troughs today.” —Octavia George, Oklahoma Studying the

Born in 1847 in Victoria County, Texas, Spelling Book MARTIN JACKSON was 90 when this None of us was ’lowed to see 1937 photo was taken. a book or try to learn. Dey say we git smarter den dey was if we ENSLAVED PEOPLE STARTED WORKING AT “learn anything, but we slips around a very early age: many began their and gits hold of dat Webster’s old labors in the master’s house, where blue-back speller and we hides it ’til they served as playmates for white way in de night and den we lights a children. Despite this closeness, little pine torch and studies dat black and white children could not spellin’ book. We learn it, too.” attend school together. In fact, in —Jenny Proctor, Texas most states it was against the law for slaves to be educated.

UNCHAINED PLANTATION LIFE: This group of My New Master slaves, photographed in 1862, worked on Smith’s Plantation in Was Only Two Beaufort, South Carolina. My earliest recollection is the day my old boss presented me to his son, Joe, as his property. I was “about five years old and my new master was only two … No, sir, I never went into books. I used to handle a big dictionary three times a day, but it was only to put it on a chair so my young master could sit up higher at the table. I never went to school. I learned to talk pretty JENNY PROCTOR began working in the good by associating with my masters cotton fields when she was 10. She in their big house.” was 87 when she shared her memories —Martin Jackson, Texas of slavery. 4 inTIME/Unchained Memories UNCHAINED

about 75 field niggers, and go by de

toolshed and git our hoes, or maybe C

go hitch up de mules to de plows.” M

—Charley Williams, Arkansas Y K

300 Pounds of Cotton TIME Imaging I used to have to pick cotton and sometime I pick 300 pound and tote it a mile to de cotton house. “Some pick 300 to 800 pound cotton and have to tote de bag de whole mile to de gin. Iffen dey didn’t do dey work, dey git whip till dey have blister on ’em … I never git whip, cause I allus

git my 300 pound.” SARAH ASHLEY was 93 when she recalled MEMORIES —Sarah Ashley, Texas her days on a Texas plantation.

COMING AND GOING: Horns like this one The children “were fed in were used to call slaves to work. boxes and troughs … same as BYAGE12, MOST CHILDREN WORKED in the fields, where they grew crops we see pigs, horses and cattle.” like tobacco, rice and cotton. Slaves generally worked six days a week, APPROXIMATELY ONE IN THREE SLAVE from sunrise to sundown. families was split apart. One-fifth of JAMES GREEN, shown here all enslaved children were separated in 1937, told of being Bells and Horns from their parents. bought for $800. Bells and horns! Bells for dis The Last Time and horns for dat! All we knowed was go and come by de bells I Heard Her Speak “and horns! Old ram horn blow to I never knowed my age till send us all to de field. We all line up, after de war … and then marster gits out a big book an it “shows I’s 25 year old. It shows I’s 12 when I is bought and $800 is paid for me … My mammy was owned by John Williams in Petersburg, in Vir- ginia, and I come born to her on dat plantation … Then, one day along come a Friday and that a unlucky star day, and I playin’ round de house and Marster Williams come up and say, ‘Delis, will you ’low Jim walk down de street with me?’ My mammy say, ‘All right, Jim, you be a good boy,’ and dat de las’ time I ever heard her speak, or ever see her.” —James Green, Texas 5 inTIME/Unchained Memories

ESCAPING FROM SLAVERY WAS EXTRAORDINARILY DIFFICULT, TIME Imaging and the penalty for being caught could be mutilation or

K death. Nevertheless, about 50,000 slaves ran away each Y year—but only a small fraction succeeded in attaining

M freedom. Many escaping slaves made use of the

C Underground Railroad, an informal network of safe houses and assistance for runaway slaves.

MEMORIES Going Across the River “An old woman … told me she had a real pretty girl there who wanted to go across the river to Ripley, Ohio, and would I take her? I was scared, and backed out in a hurry. But then I saw the girl, and she was such a pretty little thing … I don’t know how I ever rowed the boat across the river; the current was strong and I was trem- bling. I couldn’t see a thing there in the dark, but I felt the girl’s eyes … Well, pretty soon I saw a tall light and when I got up to it, two men reached down and grabbed her. I started tremblin’ all over again and OHIO HISTORICAL SOCIETY prayin’. Then, one of the men took my arm and I just felt down inside of me that the Lord had got ready for me. ‘You hungry, Boy?’ is what he asked me. “That was my first trip; it took me a long time to get over my scared feelin’, but I finally did, and I soon found my- self goin’ back across the river, with two and three people, and sometimes a whole boatload. I got so I used to make three and four trips a month … “I never saw my passengers. It

UNCHAINED would have to be the ‘black nights’ of the moon when I would carry them … I guess you wonder what I did with them after I got them over the river. Well, there in Ripley was a man named Mr. Rankins; I think the rest of his name was John. He had a regular station there on his place for escaping slaves. You see, Ohio was a free state and once STAIRWAY TO FREEDOM: they got over the river from Kentucky or Virginia, Mr. Some 2,000 escaping Rankins could strut them all around town, and nobody slaves climbed these steps would bother ’em … Didn’t many of ’em stay around from the Ohio River up to that part of Ohio, though, because there was too much the house of John Rankin, a danger that you would be walking along free one night, Presbyterian minister who feel a hand over your mouth, and be back across the devoted much of his life to river and in slavery again in the morning. opposing slavery. Rankin’s “And nobody in the world ever got a chance to know as house in Ripley, Ohio, was much misery as a slave that had escaped and been caught.” a key stop on the —Arnold Gragston, Florida Underground Railroad. 6 inTIME/Unchained Memories UNCHAINED OHIO HISTORICAL SOCIETY

“It was de fourth day of June C in 1865 [that] I begins to live." M Y K

WHEN CIVIL WAR BROKE OUT IN 1861, TIME Imaging Americans were deeply divided over whether slavery should be abolished or preserved. President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclama- tion in 1863—but the freedom that Lincoln promised did not become a reality until the Union’s 1865 victory in the Civil War. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS (2) Freedom at Last MEMORIES “I never forget de day we was set free! Dat morning we all go to de cotton field early … After while, de old horn blow … and we all stop and listen, ’cause it de wrong time of day for de KATIE ROWE recalled the day freedom came. horn. We start chopping again, and dar go de horn again. De lead row by de horn no more. You is your own nigger holler, ‘Hold up!’ And we all bosses now … I wants to bless you stop again. ‘We better go on in. Dat and hope you always is happy, and our horn’ … So we line up and go in. tell you got all de right and life dat any “Setting on de gallery in a hide- white people got,’ … and then he git on bottom chair was a man we never his hoss and ride off. see before. He had on a big broad “It was de fourth day of June in black hat lak de Yankees wore … His 1865 I begins to live, and I gwine take hair was plumb gray and so was his de picture of dat old man in de big beard, and it come way down here on black hat and long whiskers, setting his chest … on de gallery and talking kind to us, “De man say, ‘You darkies know clean into my grave wid me.” ■ what day dis is? … Well dis de fourth —Katie Rowe, Oklahoma day of June, and dis is 1865, and I want you all to ’member de date, ’cause you allus going ’member de day. To- day you is free, just lak I is, and Mr. Saunders and your Mistress and all us white people. “ ‘I come to tell you,’ he say, ‘and I wants to be sho’ you all under- stand, ’cause you don’t have to git up and go 7 inTIME/Unchained Memories

Key Dates in the

February 12, 1793 The Fugitive 1849 Maryland slave Harriet Tubman Slave Act becomes a federal law, allowing (below) escapes to the North and begins TIME Imaging owners to seize fugitive slaves a career as “conductor” on

K in free states and territories. the Underground Rail- Y road. Between 1849 and LIBRARY OF CONGRESS M 1820-1821 The Missouri 1860, Tubman makes 19

C Compromise admits Missouri trips back to the South to and Maine as slave and free free upward of 300 slaves. states, respectively. 1850 Congress passes

May 24, 1619 A Dutch ship arrives 1831 William Lloyd Garrison LIBRARY OF CONGRESS the Compromise of 1850, at Jamestown, Virginia, carrying enslaved begins the newspaper The Liberator, ad- attempting to settle the slavery issue. The people from Africa. Twenty Africans vocating the emancipation of slaves who Compromise adds a new Fugitive Slave are traded for rations and food. These account for one-third of U.S. population. Act, allowing slaveholders to retrieve captives came to North America via the slaves in northern states and free terri- infamous and brutal tories; admits California as a free state; (pictured above), the second leg of a and bans slave-trading (but not slavery) three-part voyage that began in Europe, in the District of Columbia. landed on Africa’s “slave coast” to obtain captives, set out for the New World, March 6, 1857 In the Dred Scott and then returned to the European port decision, the U.S. Supreme Court asserts of origin. that a slave does not become free when taken into a free state, Congress cannot

1624 Two of the Africans who arrived THE GRANGER COLLECTION bar slavery from a territory, and blacks in 1619, Isabella and Antoney, marry cannot be citizens. and have a son named William—the first child of African descent born in English April 12, 1861 Civil War begins when America, and thus the first African Confederate forces attack Fort Sumter American. in Charleston, South Carolina. August 1831 In Virginia, African- 1664-1667 Maryland and Virginia American slave Nat Turner (pictured January 1, 1863 In the Emancipa- pass laws stating that baptism into above) leads the most serious slave tion Proclamation, President Abraham Christianity does not a free a slave. rebellion in U.S. history. Fifty-five whites Lincoln declares that “all persons held as die; the organized abolition movement in slaves” within Confederate territory “are, 1688 Quakers in Penn- the South comes to a vir- and henceforward shall be free.” sylvania sign an anti- tual end. Turner is caught slavery resolution, the first and hanged six weeks later. April 9, 1865 Robert E. Lee surren- formal protest against ders at Appomattox, ending Civil War. slavery in the Western 1838 Frederick Douglass Hemisphere. (left), famed abolitionist December 18, 1865 The 13th and orator, escapes from Amendment is ratified, ending slavery. 1777-1820 Slavery is slavery. abolished in northern states. 1936-1938 More than 2,300 former NATIONAL ARCHIVES March 9, 1841 In the slaves share their memories with inter- June 21, 1788 The Amistad case, the U.S. viewers from the Federal Writers’ Project. U.S. Constitution is ratified, Supreme Court rules in extending slavery for 20 favor of 50 Africans who Think About It years and counting each slave as three- had been seized by a U.S. government At the time of the wpa interviews, how fifths of a free man for purposes of ship after having successfully revolted far had African Americans gone toward representation and taxation. aboard a slave ship. achieving equality?

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