Files
Download Full Text (1.8 MB)
Preview
Identifier
20140080-88
Description
A transcript of an Ex-Slave Narrative interview conducted by Sheldon F. Gauthier for the Works Progress Administration's Federal Writers' Project in the 1930s with John Finnely. Finnely was born into slavery in the early 1850s on the Jackson County, Alabama plantation of Martin Finnely. In the interview, he describes life as an enslaved child and young man, including work as a field hand, brutality and beatings, producing clothing and every day items, hunting, and leisure activities. He also describes the outbreak of the Civil War from his perspective as an enslaved person who wanted to escape. He talks about the factors that went into his decision to escape, and recounts the story of how he avoided the Patter rollers and reached the Union Army. After escaping, he worked with the Union Army to build breastworks in Stevenson, Alabama (possibly Fort Harker) and was later sent to Nashville, where he worked as a water carrier for the Army. During his tenure with the Union Army, he was present for battles in Nashville and Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
Archival Date
Undated
Collection Name
Works Progress Administration, Federal Writers' Project. Fort Worth City Guide Draft and Records.
Collection Number
AR316-4-6
Original Format
Paper
File Format
Rights
Rights held by The University of Texas at Arlington Libraries, Special Collections. Any use of content downloaded or printed from this page is limited to non-commercial personal or educational use, including fair use as directed by U.S. copyright laws. For more information or for reproduction requests, please contact UTA Special Collections by emailing spcoref@uta.edu.
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License