Slave narrative: Dempsey Pitts

Slave narrative: Dempsey Pitts

In the 1930s, the Federal Writers' Project collected oral histories from those who had been slaves prior to the civil war. This is a fascinating example by a 107 year old man named Dempsey Pitts, who went on after the Civil War and his emancipation to become a preacher. At the very end he mentions that he doesn't care for the singing the old time spirituals at church, but "my voice rings out, loud as the next one, when they sings some beautiful hymn out of the book like "How firm the Foundation ye Saints of the Lord."