Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States from Interviews with Former Slaves, Volume XVI, Texas Narratives, Part 2

These recordings bring together dozens of spoken testimonies gathered in the late 1930s from people who lived through slavery in Texas. The voices range from an 85‑year‑old former field hand recalling the rhythm of cotton picking to women describing the dyes they made from walnut and cedar moss for household use. Each interview preserves the speakers’ own phrasing, regional idioms and the everyday details—work, family, belief in protective charms—that shape a vivid, personal picture of a world often reduced to statistics.

Listening to this collection offers a rare, intimate window onto the lives, labor and cultural practices of those who endured bondage yet forged their own identities. The material was compiled by the Federal Writers’ Project, a New Deal effort to document American life, and is illustrated with period photographs that ground the narratives in place. Together, the stories illuminate resilience and humanity, inviting listeners to hear history directly from those who lived it.