Federal Writers' Project – Life Histories/2021/Fall/Section018/Uncle John Peebles

Biography

Uncle John Peebles was an African American man born in Creeksville, N.C. around 1845. He spent all of his life there, and his father was Harry Peebles. John Peebles, and his wife Lucy, who was a white woman, were both slaves who belonged to a man named Mr. Deloatch. It is unknown when John and Lucy were freed, but they both moved into a ten acre piece of land Lucy was given as soon as they were given freedom. They raised nine children together, and all but two made it into adulthood. They spent their years of freedom tending to the land they lived on, attending Allen Chapel Methodist every Sunday, and singing. John Peebles loved to sing, and he was a minstrel at Harvey Long's store. He would teach everyone how to sing, including his wife. He also taught his wife how to read and write, after he taught himself how to read and write. Lucy died around 1919, and after her death John Peebles lived on their land alone until he became blind and got dementia with old age and had to move in with his son, who also lived in Creeksville.

Social Issues

Great Depression

President Roosevelt declared that the South was the Nation's number one economic problem, so it is clear that in Creeksville, N.C. the effects of the Great Depression were felt heavily. The Great Depression started in 1939, and was an immensely difficult time for everyone, with industries and banks failing, and job opportunities rapidly decreasing, the hard ships faced during this era in history are not forgotten. Education was a serious problem during this time. Many schools had to close down due to lack of funding, and for the schools that stayed open attendance dropped because many children had to help their parents work. Hunger, disease, and death crippled the Nation, and especially the South during the Great Depression.

The Life of a Freed Slave

For many freed slaves, freedom was not felt at all after the 13th Amendment was ratified in 1865. There were many practices and unfair treatment to oppress African Americans, and even still forms of slavery after it was supposed to be abolished. During this transition from slavery to freedom it was very difficult for black people to find sustainable job opportunities, and those who could get jobs were paid as little as one dollar a day for eleven hours of intense labor. They were convicted of crimes unfairly, and there was far from equal treatment between white and black people. A black man could get imprisoned for cursing near a white woman, forced into labor, and living the same life as before freedom.

Bibliography

Davis, Anita Price. North Carolina during the Great Depression: A Documentary Portrait of A Decade. Jefferson, N.C: McFarland & Co., 2003.
Mailonline, Iain Burns For. “How Little Life Changed for Slaves after Emancipation.” Daily Mail Online. Associated Newspapers, September 28, 2017.
“Race Relations in the 1930s and 1940s : Great Depression and World War II, 1929-1945 : U.S. History Primary Source Timeline : Classroom Materials at the Library of Congress : Library of Congress.” The Library of Congress. Accessed October 14, 2021.
Romano, Renee Christine. Race Mixing: Black-White Marriage in Postwar America. Gainesville etc.: University Press of Florida, 2006.
Winkler, Allan M. Home Front U.S.A. America during World War II. Wheeling, IL: Harlan Davidson, Inc, 2012.