These statements are from a series of oral histories collected from former slaves under the New Deal’s WPA Writers Project. Although the interviews were conducted during the 1930s, they describe events that took place in the 1860s and 1870s. They describe in detail some of the tactics of the Klan, whose goal, according to U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant, was "to reduce the colored people to a condition closely allied to that of slavery." The transcriber of these audio tapes chose to spell the words to reflect the colloquial speech of the former slaves. If you have a hard time understanding the source, try reading it out loud (but not in the library).
Pierce Harper
After de colored people was considered free an' turned loose de Klu Klux broke out. Some of de colored people commenced to farming like I tol' you an' all de ol' stock dey could pick up after de Yankees left dey took an' took care of. If you got so you made good money an' had a good farm de Klu Klux'd come an' murder you. De gov'ment built de colored people school houses an' de Klu Klux went to work an' burn 'em down. Dey'd go to de jails an' take de colored men out an' knock der brains out an' break der necks an' throw 'em in de river.
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