Creative Intellect

Slave Talks

*Caution: contents of this post may be harsher than usual*

         After listening to and reading an interview between Fountain Hughes and Hermond Norwood, I was rather surprised at the many new pieces of information I learned from listening. Also, even though Hughes was 101 years of age at the time of the interview, I found it interesting how his speech was mostly slurred and the words were blurred. Hughes offered many insightful details regarding his life in slavery, and also offered pragmatic advice.
         There were a few shocking points in the interview, which I noted. Hughes makes the analogy of the slave trade being the equivalent of cattle auctions. "They'd sell us like they sell horses and cows and hogs and all like that. Have a auction bench, and they'd put you on, up on the bench and bid on you just same as you bidding on cattle you know" correlates with what Frederick Douglass wrote in his autobiography, about being examined at the auction, and then priced like items.
         The most surprising statement I remember Fountain brought up was what would happen if a slave was ornery, or in poor condition: he/she would be sold to a "nigga trader". I was previously aware of how slaves were sold and "traded" between masters, but having it addressed in such a manner astonished me. In textbooks, it was always much more mild: "slave traders", or "people who bought the slaves". I don't even remember reading something like that in Roots, but then that was in seventh grade, so I could most definitely be mistaken. One other detail I recall from Roots was masters cutting off parts of slaves, or going into female slaves' places at night, and the females would get an extra income from obeying the master. Hughes states "Dogs has got it now better than we had it when we come along." I can imagine that, if the events in Roots were accurate.
         A few less shocking, but equally intriguing topics Hughes imparted in the interview regarded money and clothes. He advises listeners to never buy anything on "trust", or in modern terms, "credit". He describes his mentality on this with an example: he would never buy clothes unless he could pay the full amount in cash. If one payed with "trust", Hughes explains, then the shopkeeper will put the payer through many hassles not worth the time, and the payer will end up paying more, anyways, because "they (the buyers) want something for, for waiting on you for, uh, till you get ready to pay them." It also gives the buyer a peace of mind, knowing somebody will not randomly barge into the house at night, demanding "you owe me a quarter, you owe me a dollar, [or] you owe me five cents."

         Listening to the interview before reading it was definitely a smart idea, because I realized after replaying the recording multiple times- there was no way I would understand certain parts of Hughes' interview. I ended up replaying it and reading along after a few runs. It greatly improved my comprehension of the interview.


Works Cited:
Hughes, Fountain. Web. 11 June 1949. http://memory.loc.gov/service/afc/afc9999001/9990a.mp3}
Hughes, Fountain, Web. 11 June 1929. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/afcesn:@field(DOCID+afc9999001t9990a)} Interview transcript