Former slave in literacy class   Save
Ohio Guide Photographs
Description: Reverse reads: "Montgomery Co; People at work + play-Alfred Murphy; Never too old to learn! That's the slogan of Alfred Murphy, 105 year old ex-slave, a pupil in a literacy class conducted by the WPA in Columbus, Ohio. Mr. Murphy lived 33 years in slavery, spent two years in the Confederate Army, throwing up breastwork. He was at Richmond when General Lee surrendered. Unemployed teachers, hired by the WPA, are teaching 9,000 Ohioans to read and write. Ohio has 320,000 illiterates, America, 3,200,000." Stamped: Information Unit, W.P.A. in Ohio, Clinton Building-Columbus, Ohio In the 1930s, the Works Progress Administration sponsored a Federal Writers' Project dedicated to chronicling the experience of slavery as remembered by former slaves. African-American men and women born into slavery were interviewed. Their stories were recorded and transcribed. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B10F07_017_001
Subjects: Adult literacy--Slavery--Works Progress Administration--Civil War--Confederate--Teachers
Places: Montgomery County (Ohio)