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Nightline (199) Found Voices: Slave Narratives

Originally broadcast on Jan. 12, 1999 as a Nightline program. Program tells of sound recordings made of interviews with former slaves in the 1930s and 1940s. Tapes have been digitally remastered and video includes transcript as subtitles. Slaves interviewed include Fountain Hughes (VA), Laura Smalley (TX), Harriet Smith (TX); interviewers include John Henry Faulk.

Segments in this Video

  • Voices of Eighteenth Century Slaves (03:54) Modern technology resurrects the voices and memories of ex-slaves. Former slaves describe living in bondage and being sold at auction like animals.
  • Laura Smalley Remembers Abuse (04:36) Laura Smalley, a 91-year-old former slave, is recorded by folklorists in the 1940s. She describes the whipping and burning of a female slave who has an argument with a white woman.
  • Conditions Vary for Slaves (03:29) Harriet Smith had a home similar to her master's and attended his church but at different times. Smalley and Fountain Hughes remember slaves being whipped for praying and the relentless work.
  • Leaving One Hell for Another (03:27) Cotton farmers devise an elaborate "pass system" which require slaves to carry a permission note. When emancipation comes, ex-slaves have to provide for themselves in a war-devastated South.
  • Folklorists Provide Slave Narratives (05:19) During the 1930s while gathering African-American folk traditions, John Henry Faulk, the Lomaxes, and Zora Neal Hurston make the ex-slave audio tapes. Ironically, freedom is born in slaveholding societies.

"This reproduction of an ABC Nightline News program, hosted by Ted Koppel, brings to life actual voices and memories of slaves through now digitally remastered tapes originally recorded in the 1930s and 1940s. Thousands of interviews with ex-slaves were conducted by John Henry Falke, Zora Neale Hurston, and other folklorists. Most of them were written down and published in pamphlets and some were recorded by phonographs. These tapes have been cleaned up with the newest computer technology, which results in remarkable audibility. One of the voices belongs to 101-year-old Fountain Hugh who was born in 1848 into slavery and was a grandson of a slave owned by Thomas Jefferson. Slave narratives like his describe treacherous and harsh living conditions under bondage and after emancipation. For the study of history instruction, gaining the knowledge of primary sources is valuable. Slave narratives serve as rich primary source material. This program does an excellent job of informing the viewers of the possibilities of using narrative as a primary source. However, this short program does not and cannot possibly provide sufficient accounts of slavery. Viewers will benefit from reading printed slave narratives in addition to watching this program." —Electronic Magazine of Multicultural Education

Film Media Group sells this program "Found Voices: The Slave Narratives" on VHS for $99-$149 https://films.com/id/11092/Found_Voices_The_Slave_Narratives.htm

How did it feel to be bought and sold like cattle, only to be liberated with nowhere to go and no one to turn to for help? In this profoundly moving program, Ted Koppel of ABC News presents the African-American slave experience in the voices of those who knew it firsthand. Thanks to tapes—now digitally remastered—from a project undertaken during the 1930s and 40s by John Henry Falke and others, 101-year-old Fountain Hughes, who was born in 1848, and other ex-slaves give their recollections of life before Emancipation and during Reconstruction.

ISBN: 978-1-4213-1723-6

Copyright date: ©1999

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