Interview Summary: Slavery Before The Civil War

Carl Stearne
Professor Byrn
History 18
2 May 2014
Interview Paper
Before the Civil War and Reconstruction, slavery ran rapid throughout the United States. Slave owners treated their slaves as animals and deemed them as barbarian. It is argued that since it would have been cheaper if Whites had others perform free labor, Whites would have traded goods and war prisoners with the African leaders. The result of this, created a system of slavery far more degrading than any other form of servitude in mankind. Enslavement caused men and women to write about their lives in captivity so that it could be past down to the generations. Each one of the narratives gave readers a first-hand account of how blacks were treated. These specific narratives
She told me that her dad was a cook during those times. She lived in a small house in Memphis, Tennessee along with her seven brothers and sisters. She lived a very simple life by just going to school and coming home cooking and helping her dad around the house. Her mother died in child birth, so sadly she never knew her mother. She however, looked just her mother; so when her dad seen her he always told her she was beautiful just like her mother. My grandmother said she loved to help her father out by cooking at home while he was at work. She told me he’s father was a great cook and how during that time what he did was one of the only few jobs blacks could have at that time. “My father could really cook some fried chicken; he had to be one of the best cooks in town.”(Lois Stearne) She was the youngest of them all, and she told me how she hated to be picking on by them. She told me that her and her siblings use to always get into because they would pick on her about how her hair was too short. My grandmother didn’t have many friends in her early childhood her father was very protective and had them stay home. Back in those days, neighbors would watch over the kids in the neighborhood when the parents were away at work or some activity. When she could go out she also informed me about how she could get a bag of candy for twenty five cents during that time. She told me everything was very affordable during that
People had been living a fairly conservative way in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Blacks didn 't have legal equality. Many women didn 't work outside the home. Most people obeyed their parents and trusted the government. People were just letting the government do what they wanted to do, because it was a safe. African American’s never really understood what real freedom was and would be in the future. The civil rights movement was a heroic episode in American history. The civil rights movement aimed to give African Americans the same citizenship rights that whites took for granted. It was a war waged on many fronts. In the 1960s it achieved impressive judicial and legislative victories against discrimination in public places and voting. It had less complete but still significant success in battling job and housing discrimination. Those best able to take advantage of new opportunities were middle-class blacks the teachers, lawyers, doctors, and other professionals who had served as role models for the black community. Their departure for formerly all-white areas left all-black neighborhoods segregated not only by race but now also by class. The problem of poverty, compounded by drugs, crime, and broken families, was not solved by the civil rights