Between 1936-1938, many interviews of formerly enslaved people took place as the result of the Federal Writers Project. In 1936 Esther de Sola, a single mother in Mississippi, interviewed Charlie Moses because she had been assigned to public emergency work. Moses was an 84-year-old formerly enslaved man who lived in Brookhaven and was interviewed on two separate occasions. From these two interviews he revealed a lot of extremely important details regarding his specific experience of slavery and what happened to him after emancipation occurred in 1862. The topics that Moses spoke about can be explained by the scripts that Sola used when conducting the interviews. One script was created by John Lomax, who was interested in enslaved peoples clothing and songs, whereas the second was developed by Sterling brown, who was interested in experiences of violence and experiences after emancipation. When looking at another interview conducted by Sola, of an enslaved man known as Gabe Emanuel, it is clear that what was produced was due to these scripts as there are many similarities in what was spoken about. One main difference between the two interviews though was that Sola did not comment on Moses’s race whereas it was extremely apparent in the interview of Emanuel.

Although Moses was interviewed on two separate occasions and spoke a lot in both of them, it is clear when comparing the official edited version with the original interviews that what he said was condensed down and altered to great extent. This was done by Pauline Loveless, who rewrote it, and Clara E Stokes, who edited it. They even went as far as to add a sentence that tries to explain his extremely negative recall of slavery as a deviation from the normal enslaver. Both women were born in the South and had Southern parents, which may give some insight into why they were part of editing Moses’s interview to make the whole institution of slavery in Mississippi appear in a more positive and condoning light.

Moses recalls that he lived on a plantation in Marion County and his enslaver was Jim Rankin, otherwise known as William James Rankin, however what is not mentioned was the crop produced on the farm. Records show that Rankin lived in the John Ford home and was part of an extremely important and wealthy family, who had had a leading position in the political and social circles since the early nineteenth century. From further investigation, it can be found that Rankin owned in total 28 slaves and purchased 160 acres of land in 1860. When comparing these figures with the 1860 census and the tables below, it shows that Moses’ enslaver was part of the top 6% in regard to how many he enslaved and part of the top 27% in regard to how much land he owned. To be in such a high percentile of the population in the south is a testimony to how wealthy Rankin was. Another testimony to his wealth was the fact that each family had their own separate cabins on the plantation.

In the third version of his interview, Moses seem to mention how cruel his master was; however, it is nothing compared to what he describes in his first two interviews. In his original two interviews, Moses constantly remarks in great detail the extreme violence that he was witness and subjected to on the plantation. He even goes as far as discussing specific occasions on which this violence occurred, suggesting that Moses could recall his experience of slavery with an important degree of accuracy. When comparing the two it is clear how much his published interview had been manipulated when it was edited to tone down the level of violence that he originally spoke about.

Many families were formed as well as separated during slavery, and at times this was the result of sexual assault that enslaved people were victim to. Moses’s interview shows that his family was no exception to this and sheds a lot of light on this aspect of slavery and how it impacted families. What is clear from his interview is that Moses’s mother was previously a slave in South Carolina until she was purchased by Rankin in Columbia. He talks about how she had to leave her family and her husband, yet soon married Moses’s dad soon after she arrived at the plantation in Marion County. From this it is clear to see how enslaved people were just bought and sold regardless of any roots they had established. Moses does not go into great detail about his dad, Allen Rankin and just states that he was purchased from a young age by Rankin. However, when looking further into Moses’s dad it turns out that he was the half-brother of William James Rankin as they both shared the same dad, making Moses the half-nephew of William Rankin. This is just one example of how integrated relations were on plantations between enslaved people and their enslavers. The fact that Rankin enslaved both his half-brother and half-nephew is also a testimony to how little these blood relations meant as Moses constantly remarks on the extreme violence he was subjected to. Moses’s mother was also previously married to a man who had the last name Rankin and research shows he was also born in Mississippi, despite this however there is no information to make a connection between him and the Rankin family that William was a part of.

After emancipation, Moses discusses how him, and his family travelled together to work in different places until he eventually lost contact with them. When he did settle down, however, he had many children and re-established this element of family around him.

The three of Moses’s interviews are extremely telling of what is was like for formerly enslaved people, and by looking into each lead he mentions further it sheds light and allows us to assemble a more accurate picture of what his individual experience was like.