Slave Grandchildren Remember

• In Event: Including Students in Oral History Projects: Preserving Black History for Another Century

Abstract

To preserve precious details and memories for historical discussion and analysis before it is too late, the Slave Grandchildren Remember project collects oral histories of the dying last generation who personally knew American slaves. Grandchildren remember and share what they experienced directly from their grandparent who was enslaved in the Confederate States of America and/or the United States of America prior to 1865.

In addition to being in the spirit of the centenarian slaves who were named and interviewed for the 1860 U.S. Census and the Works Progress Administration slave narratives of the 1930s, this project honors the 2011-2015 sesquicentennial of the Civil War, including the January 1, 1863, implementation of the Emancipation Proclamation, and it provides material for a digital mass memorial to the enslaved on the 400th anniversary of slavery in the American colonies in 2019.

These oral histories help raise global awareness about what U.S.A. and C.S.A. slaves passed on to their descendents, and they provide information about the past to inform our understanding of current events. Preserving these last words of slave grandchildren about their enslaved ancestors is a way to facilitate public education, family heritage documentation, and understanding about modern race relations.

This paper explores the context of the Slave Grandchildren Remember project; its origin, goals, and debut presentation at the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society 34th National Conference in Nashville; and a case study of what one oral history can reveal about an enslaved person’s life, including work, education, language, dress, habits, and reputation.

Authors

• Pamela E. Foster, Afro-American Historical and Genelogical Society

• Learotha Williams, Tennessee State University