“Voices Remembering Slavery: Freed People Tell Their Stories” explores the way in which such narratives have impacted modern-day Black History. The individuals documented in these various presentations say much about living life as African Americans between the 1870s to the 1930s.
In connection with the audio collection from “Voices Remembering Slavery: Freed People Tell Their Stories”, “Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers’ Project” is a narrative collection that consists of texts derived from the oral interviews. The interviewers were writers that were trained in the phonetic transcription of speech.
An interview with Wallace Quarterman at Fort Frederica, St. Simons Island, Georgia was conducted by Alan Lomax, Zora Neale Hurston, and Mary Elizabeth Barnicle. Quarterman describes Quarterman’s life during enslavement. He discusses the time he heard gunshots and began to sing “I surrender, surrender, surrender” listen for he and his had to “leave their land for the sake of Uncle Sam”. listen
Enslaved African Americans were nothing more than property. They worked as domestic house servants, providing services for their master’s and were overseer’s of families. In the second part of this interview, Quarterman discusses being set free and expresses such with much zeal. He then breaks into song listen. Though a freed man, he was unable to seek opportunities that the white man could have because listen. Without an education, resources were limited and work was scarce.
Embedding the audio of Wallace Quarterman engages the reader as it offers a real-world experience, stimulating the mind and creating a sense of imagery. Giving insight as it can tell us about character, place, and time. It also informs us as well as moves us in ways visuals cannot.
Hearing Quarterman describe his life as a slave in the 1930s has raised concerns. We are aware of the cruel and inhumane treatment endured by slaves though, why must history be a never ending cycle of unfortunate events. Black history has been repressed, rewritten, and condensed in the cataloging of American history. Modern-day history continues to showcase the prejudice against African- Americans through racial discrimination,oppression, and marginalization of people of African descent have all contributed to an under-representation of black voices.
“Interview with Wallace Quarterman, Fort Frederica, St. Simons Island, Georgia, June 1935 (part 1 of 2)”, Voices Remembering Slavery: Freed People Tell Their Stories, Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/afc1935001_afs00342a/ .
“Interview with Wallace Quarterman, Fort Frederica, St. Simons Island, Georgia, June 1935 (part 2 of 2)”, Voices Remembering Slavery: Freed People Tell Their Stories, Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/afc1935001_afs00342b/ .
