XV. TENNESSEE

XVI. TEXAS

XVII. VIRGINIA




INTRODUCTION


I

This collection of slave narratives had its beginning in the second year
of the former Federal Writers' Project (now the Writers' Program), 1936,
when several state Writers' Projects--notably those of Florida, Georgia,
and South Carolina--recorded interviews with ex-slaves residing in those
states. On April 22, 1937, a standard questionnaire for field workers
drawn up by John A. Lomax, then National Advisor on Folklore and
Folkways for the Federal Writers' Project[1], was issued from Washington
as "Supplementary Instructions #9-E to The American Guide Manual"
(appended below). Also associated with the direction and criticism of
the work in the Washington office of the Federal Writers' Project were
Henry G. Alsberg, Director; George Cronyn, Associate Director; Sterling
A. Brown, Editor on Negro Affairs; Mary Lloyd, Editor; and B.A. Botkin,
Folklore Editor succeeding Mr. Lomax.[2]

[Footnote 1: Mr. Lomax served from June 25, 1936, to October 23, 1937,
with a ninety-day furlough beginning July 24, 1937. According to a