Catherine Cornelius was interviewed by Hazel Breaux, a white woman, and Robert McKinney, a black man, at Lafon Old Folks’ Home in Louisiana where she resided at the time of her interview. Cornelius is described by the interviewers as ‘energetic with an unusually keen mind for a person of her age’. She goes in to considerable detail recounting her life under slavery and paints an interesting picture for readers.

Cornelius was thought to be one hundred and three years old at the time of her interview, however this does not align with the 1930 US Federal Census found on Ancestry, which records her age as eighty-six. The use of the term ‘reputed’ in the interview suggests that Cornelius herself is unaware of her exact age. Cornelius was born in a log cabin on Smithfield plantation, Louisiana. Cornelius goes into significant detail about her life in enslavement on Smithfield plantation. The interviewer states that she has “apparently led a quiet and sane life”. Cornelius describes her occupation on the plantation as working in the fields cutting cane. The plantation seems large, judging by Cornelius’ description, with more than one hundred enslaved people. She describes the white cabins where families lived together, with one cabin to each family. Information on Smithfield plantation can be found online as it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in April 1995. The plantation is described on the register as former sugar plantation with a historic mansion. During Cornelius’s interview she describes “the big house” which is most likely a reference to the mansion where her enslavers lived. Cornelius states that her parents Frederick and Nancy Brown were form Richmond, Virginia, but on the 1930 Federal Census records, the birthplace of her parents is declared as Louisiana. Cornelius also mentions a brother, Beverly Brown, who died in the war.

Cornelius recounts her memories of the plantation in a mostly positive way. She explains that when those enslaved were sick they were sent to a “nice” hospital on the large plantation with a black nurse and mid-wife as well a doctor from town, Doctor Lyles. Cornelius gives the impression that enslaved people on the plantation were well looked after by the doctor who, she recalls, gave them money at Christmas and during holidays. Cornelius reveals that they “didn’t need no money in dem days” as they got everything they wanted to eat and had clothes to wear. She states that those on the plantation had everything white people had. The way Cornelius looks back at her time on the plantation paints an interesting picture of her experience under slavery as she shares mostly positive stories. She does, however, mention that the enslavers would whip those who were “bad” and put them in stocks, but Cornelius states that they didn't have any trouble of her plantation. It could be possible that Cornelius does not want to appear to speak badly about her enslaver in front of a white interviewer.

Cornelius shares that she was named after her “young Mistress”, Miss Catherine, likely the daughter of her enslavers. It was common at the time for plantation owners to allow their young children to name the enslaved people born on their plantations, and often they would be named after the white children themselves. Cornelius doesn’t state the name of enslavers and refers to them throughout the interview as “dey”, “young mistress”, “missus” and “boss”. This makes it difficult to find archival records of the family that enslaved her. Cornelius goes into substantial detail about the Civil War. Her good memory gives her the ability to recount stories from the time and share them with Breaux and McKinney. It appears that Cornelius is open to sharing information about her experiences, implying she felt comfortable with the two interviewers and she also has a strong memory of her life under slavery. The race of the two interviewers, one being a white woman and one a black man, may have influenced some of the answers given. Cornelius shares an account of the events, including the death of her “boss”, which can be assumed to be her enslaver. She tells the interviewer that the Yankees gave her and other enslaved people on the plantation money, which she hid in a tree as she didn't know what to do with it at the time. She states that she wishes she had that money now.

Cornelius New Orleans following the end of the civil war and resided there since. The interview is written phonetically, in the style of how the interviewers perceive it to be said. It is unlikely that there was any major editing to the interview and from the amount of information shared it implies Cornelius felt comfortable around the interviewers and it does not appeared that she was interrupted or prompted often by Breaux or McKinney

References

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smithfield_Plantation_(Port_Allen,_Louisiana)

https://lib.lsu.edu/special/manuscripts/guides/smithfield-plantation

1930 United States Federal Census Record, ancestry.com, United States of America, Bureau of the Census. 3 iFifteenth Census of the United States, 1930/i. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1930. T626, 2,667 rolls, UT, USA(2002)