About
CONTENT WARNING: Some of these texts contain offensive and racist language used by the creators of these documents.
W. T. Couch (1901), a white publisher and editor, was also a part-time official of the Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration, as assistant and associate director for North Carolina, 1936-1937, and as director for the southern region, 1938-1939. These papers include his correspondence relating to the project and narratives (called "life histories") of about 1,200 individuals, written by about 60 members of the project after one or more oral history interviews with the subjects. Persons interviewed, many of them African Americans, described life in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.
Works
03709_0113: I Don't Do No Votin'
Lula Gray, circa 1902, Manna, S.C., Black housewife; Rich Gray, 1888, Robertsville, S.C., Black turpentine foreman, Carters, no date given
03709_0115: William and Corneal Jackson
William Jackson, Ocala, 1903, Black, phosphate miner; Corneal Jackson, 1908, Key West, Black, housewife, Lakeland, 20 January 1939
03709_0125: Mister Homer
Homer Jordan, no date given, Dinsmore, white salesman and installment collector, Jacksonville, 3 February 1939
Collaboration is restricted.
03709_0126: Martin Cross, Wood and Fuel Dealer
Montgomery Corse, [1865?], [Virginia?], white, wood and fuel dealer, Jacksonville, 2 February 1939
03709_0127: Reverend W. C. Sale
Reverend W. C. Sale, no date given, Alabama, white, clergyman, Jacksonville, no date given
03709_0128: George Harmon Kirby
James Kerby Ward, no date given, Togo, white, bus driver, Jacksonville, no date given
Collaboration is restricted.
03709_0130: Ceceilia Patrourtsa
Cecelia Janes Lazos Poulos, no date given, Greece, Greek, wife of a restaurateur, Jacksonville, 21 April 1939
Collaboration is restricted.
03709_0131: James Kerby Ward
James Kerby Ward, no date given, Togo, white, bus driver, Jacksonville, 17 February 1939
03709_0133: Mayselle Sweat Green (another version)
Mayselle Sweat Green, circa 1917, no place given, white, cigar factory worker, Jacksonville, 20 February 1939
03709_0134: Robert Smith
David Smith, circa 1901, no place given, white, sharecropper, elevator operator in a pulp mill, Jacksonville, 22 December 1938
Collaboration is restricted.