Student Texts

Elders

The people in these images were each enslaved from birth and then freed after the Civil War. The photos were taken by Essie Collins Matthews. They were published as part of a book that argues slavery was not bad. Collins used images of formerly enslaved people who continued to live with their enslavers after the Civil War to argue that they were loyal to their enslavers.
The book was written in 1915, 50 years after the Civil War. Many people like Collins believed that black and Indigenous people should be enslaved long after enslavement ended.

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This text is part of the Teaching Hard History Text Library and aligns with Key Concepts 5, 6 and 8 and Essential Knowledge 2E and 5D.   

Jim Lawson AL
Jim Lawson – Jim Lawson was born enslaved in Maryland. He was taken to Windsor plantation in Alabama around 1841. When this picture was taken in 1915, he still lived on the plantation.
– Essie Collins Matthews
Druella Jones
Druella Jones was 94 when this picture was taken. Collins writes, “She [Mrs. Jones] and two others were the only old slaves I found who were not loyal to their owners. During the [civil] war she tried to burn her master’s house.”
–Essie Collins Matthews
Aunt Lacy
Aunt Lucy was one of the oldest formerly enslaved people at the Hermitage plantation. She was almost 100 years old when this picture was taken.
– Essie Collins Matthews