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by W. P. a. Writers Project (Author), Editor Stephen Payseur (Author)
In 1935, as part of the WPA, President Roosevelt created the Federal Writers Project. This was a very ambitious program designed to put unemployed writers, editors, teachers and others to work. They were paid between $20 and $25 dollars per week on average. Over 6000 people were employed by the Federal Writers Project. Some later on became quite famous in the literary world. Among those were Conrad Aiken, Nelson Algren, Saul Bellow, Anna Bontemps, John Cheever, Malcolm Cowley, Edward Dahlberg, Ralph Ellison, Zora Neale Hurston, Claude Mckay, Kenneth Patchen, Phillip Rahv, Kenneth Rexroth, Harold Rosenberg, John Steinbeck, Studs Terkel, Margaret Walker, Richard Wright, and Frank Yerby. One of the Writers Project best known projects was the Oral History Project. Interviewers went out all over the country talking to the "common" people to document their lives. Thousands of people in hundreds of groups were interviewed. One of these groups were former slaves. This book is a compilation of some of those interviews conducted in North Carolina. As you read them you will notice that the interviewers tried to write as the subjects spoke, in their own dialect. The former slaves used words and terms that are not considered politically correct in today's world. They may be offensive to some, but I hope not. It is how the subjects of the interviews actually spoke. In this book, the interviews are presented exactly as they were written during the years 1836-1938. They have not been edited. The writers at that time were instructed to stick to the exact words spoken by those interviewed. Editing it was feared would change the tone and meaning of the interview. So, here they are. If they give anyone offense, I sincerely apologize. I feel that these documents are far too important to be languishing in some collection, that most people will never see. It is my hope that you will find these stories compelling, fascinating, disturbing, interesting and an essential chronicle of an unpleasant and embarrassing period in our nation's history.
