“A Quest for the Truth:” An Analysis of the Background and Context behind the Southern University Slave Narrative Project and the WPA Slave Narrative Project

Abstract

This thesis analyzes the two Great Depression Era efforts to interview the survivors of slavery. The first effort was conducted in the early 1930s by John B. Cade at Southern University, a historically Black University. The individuals involved with this project sought to dispel the popular and misleading 'contented slave argument' by interviewing survivors of slavery. The second project, conducted by the New Deal's Work's Progress Administration, was created to provide economic relief to educated Black Americans. This thesis contextualizes these projects, and evaluates how or if they met their original goals.