Subject
Enslaved persons -- Mississippi -- Biography Books
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United States. Work Projects Administration
Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States from Interviews with Former Slaves, Volume IX, Mississippi Narratives
"Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States from Interviews with Former Slaves" is a collection compiled between 1936 and 1938 by the Federal Writers' Project. Over 2,000 interviews with formerly enslaved people across seventeen states resulted in more than 10,000 typed pages preserving their life stories. While these narratives offer invaluable firsthand accounts, historians debate whether white interviewers' presence influenced how subjects shared their experiences during Jim Crow America, making the collection both a treasured historical resource and contested territory.
Charles Thompson
Biography of a Slave, Being the Experiences of Rev. Charles Thompson, a Preacher of the United Brethren Church, While a Slave in the South. Together with Startling Occurrences Incidental to Slave Life.
"Biography of a Slave, Being the Experiences of Rev. Charles Thompson" is a slave narrative published in 1875. Thompson recounts his childhood in Mississippi, where he witnessed families torn apart to prevent rebellion after his owner's death. He describes his mother's passing, his uncle's desperate attempt to remain with his wife, and his own experiences being hired out to different plantations. As an adult slave, Thompson taught Christianity to fellow enslaved people, later becoming a preacher in the United Brethren Church.
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