Explore the Constellation

Charlie Crump on Work as an Enslaved Child

Slavery

I toted water, case dat’s all I wuz big enough ter do, an’ lemmie tell yo’ dat when de war wus ober I ain’t had nary a sprig of hair on my haid, case de wooden buckets what I toted on it wored it plumb off.   

Charlie Crump, North Carolina, WPA Slave Narratives, 1937

Lucy Lee Shirley’s Skirt

Slavery