State Records
The 2,300 interviews in the FWP's "Ex-Slave Project" provide an extraordinary account of the last generation of Americans who were enslaved. Many are deeply disturbing, with accounts of brutality, terror, and loss. Some speakers describe their experiences with literacy, during and after enslavement. The state records provided here offer a digest of information on literacy and schooling, as presented in the interview transcripts. (Additional state records will be posted as available.)
This page presents some of the questions given to FWP interviewers, or field workers, in the Supplementary Instructions--#9E to the The American Guide Manual. Question 9 asks, "Did the white folks help you learn to read and write?" The interview transcripts in the FWP "Ex-Slave Project" provide rich information about access to literacy and schooling. Many of these accounts reveal, "white folks" opposed efforts by those they had enslaved to read or write, sometimes on pain of death.
The state records provided here include information related to literacy and schooling, as recorded in the transcripts. Many of the interviewers attempted to represent "dialect," using the list of "Negro Dialect Suggestions" provided by John Lomax, the FWP's first national advisor on folklore. (See "Reading the Transcripts" for more information on language in these records.) The language used in interviews collected by members of the Negro Writers' Unit differ markedly from other accounts and are indicated as NWU.