Quotes from Work Projects Administration

The cause of general education was retarded by the fact that the prosperous patronized private schools and the poor were indifferent. Agitation continued. One writer suggested that not only should the poor be educated, but poor parents who needed the labor of their children should be compensated for the time their children spent in school.

bewildered like. I had alluz been skeered o

When my ma went off a old woman called Aunt Emmaline kep' me. (She kep' all de orphunt chillun an' dem who's mammas had been sent off to de breedin' quarters. When dem women had chillun dey brung 'em an' let somebody lak Aunt Emmaline raise em.)

When I 'bout 17 I left Kentucky and goes to Indiana and white folks sends me to school to larn readin' and writin', but I got tired of dat and run off and jine de army. Dat in 1876 and dey sends me to Arizona.