My third great grandfather Warren McKinney’s Slave Narrative

My third great-grandfather Warren McKinney (1859-1938) participated in the Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves. The interviews took place between 1936-1938 and were conducted by the Federal Writers’ Project of the Works Progress Administration for the State of Arkansas. These records are in the Library of Congress. My great, great, great father’s interview was took place in Hazen, Arkansas. He was 85 at the time. He died in 1938 so finding this has been an invaluable treasure for my family. I was shocked that we found this. My aunt and my dad rightly said, “We come from courageous people.” This proves it. I want to share his story with you. If you want to read other slave narratives specifically told through the voices of our people or possibly discover your own ancestors stories go to http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/snhtml/snintro18.html.

George J. Strother. Slave owner and confederate

The man who owned my great grandfather 3x and great grandmother 4x was named George James Strother. He was a confederate solider, woman beater and enslaver. He died in 1881. They were enslaved at Old Strother Place which is now a historic landmark