I listened to the Interview with Fountain Hughes, in Baltimore, Md which took place on June 11th 1949.
Hughes is over one hundred years old, and states he was born in Charlottesville, Va. The first thing Hughes discusses is staying out of debt. He talks about not spending money until he has money.
It’s obvious Hughes was greatly effected by the Great Depression by how important saving money and paying in cash for everything.
After discussing money, the interviewer than asks Hughes how far back he remembers..
He discusses having nothing after he was freed from slavery. Not having any education or home. He compares being freed to freeing cattle.
He remembers very little about the civil war, except the soldiers passing by and stealing everything they had.
He compares being a slave to being nothing but a dog. He said he would end his life if he had to go back to slavery.
This interview is about 30 minutes long and is available in audio only. An audiotape reel was used to record this “field interview”
One direct quote that stuck out to me:
“If I thought.. that’d I’d ever be a slave again I’d take a gun and end it all right away”
This quote was profound because he discusses beforehand that some freed slaves would rather go back to slavery as they had nothing and nowhere to go when freed.
URL: https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.afc/afc1950037_afs09990a
Interviewer: Norwood, Hermond
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