A Day in the life of an Ex-Slave

I was searching through the state of Oklahoma government records looking for information when I stumbled across biographies of former slaves. I opened the PDF and read the first story told by Ethel Wolfe Barrison. Her story was like nothing I had read in school text books in our history class. Ethel explains her day to day life through her eyes, yet to me it was a whole new outlook and perspective of the pain, sorrow, loneliness, fear, unstable lives they had to live. She also describes the day the army rode up on horses, yelling “the slaves are free”, and how her life changed, but her memories were buried deep within.

Times have truly changed, right? or have they? I wish everyone would take a second to read these biographies and really let it sink in what they went through, and where we are today, in the present time. The lack of respect that most individuals have for one another, and themselves, the names we jokingly call our friends and loved ones as well as ourselves when speaking in 3rd person (that’s my bitch, that’s my dog, that’s my nigga) all in the name of love right? No. Its disrespectful, its degrading and truly should be looked at as an insult. Change starts with self. If we all hold ourselves accountable, think of the possibilities and change that could manifest from that one simple action. Its not hard, so whats stopping you from taking that initial step? Leader is the only name you should be called.

***I have attached the full PDF here Ex-Slave Biographies

PDF file
Description Contains biographies of former slaves written by the employees of the FWP