Name of Site: American Slave Narratives: An Online Anthology

Maintained by: Bruce Fort at The University of Virginia

URL: http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/wpa/wpahome.html

Description of the Site: This site is a collection of interviews with former slaves who were interviewed from 1936 to 1938 by writers and journalists from the Works Progress Administration. The site includes the following:

annotated index of narratives with pictures of the slaves related readings

a bibliography related to American slavery

links to U.S. history resources

procedures for reading and understanding the narratives which are written in dialect and include sound files

conversation between the former slave and the interviewer

explanation of the source of the narratives which is a 41-volume series called The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography

Benefit of the Site: The site was beneficial in presenting information about American slavery through the written words and voices of former slaves who related their recollections of life before and after slavery. One of the greatest benefits of this site was the discovery of a possible ancestor. As I was scanning the index of narratives, I saw the name Fountain Hughes. I continued to read more and discovered that Fountain Hughes was a 101 year old ex-slave who had been born in Charlottesville, Va. I was stunned because my mother’s maiden name was Hughes, and she was born in Charlottesville,Va. I continued to read and discovered that Fountain Hughes was the grandson of a slave owned by Thomas Jefferson. I listened to the sound file as Hughes described his life in Charlottesville, thinking that I could be one of his descendants. This web site has given me a new sense of my heritage that I hope to document through more research.