July 7, 1871
Testimony of Alfred Richardson
Question: Where do you live?
Answer: In Clarke County, Georgia.
Question: What is your age?
Answer: About thirty-four years.
Question: Were you born in that county?
Answer: No, sir; in Walton County, the adjoining county to Clarke.
Question: Were you born a freeman or a slave?
Answer: I was born a slave.
Question: Did you remain a slave until the general emancipation?
Answer: Yes, sir.
Question: What was your master’s name?
Answer: William Murray.
Question: Were you ever owned by any other master?
Answer: I was born the property of his mother-in-law. She owned me until I was about seven years old.
She got in debt some way or other, and he bought me and the rest of the family all in.
Question: Did he live in the same place where you now live?
Answer: Yes, sir; he is living in the same place.
Question: Since you became a freeman what have you been doing?
Answer: I have been house-carpentering.
Question: Have you a family?
Answer: Yes, sir.
Question: Of how many does your family consist?
Answer: My wife and three children.
Question: Since you became a freeman have you voted?
Answer: Yes, sir.
Question: With what party have you voted?
Answer: The republican party.
This is the opening testimony of Alfred Richardson who appeared before a joint Senate-House committee investigating the activities of the Ku Klux Klan. The committee took depositions from whites and African Americans in North and South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida. The testimonies published in a thirteen volume report provide valuable information on former slaves, their families, as well as white residents.
Information in the testimony varies but may include family relationships, former owners, birthplace, and residence. Testifying in Atlanta, Maria Carter stated that “I will be twenty-eight years old on the 4th day of next March; I was born in South Carolina; and I live in Haralson County, now.” She was married to Jasper Carter. On October 26, 1871 Thomas Allen testified that he was thirty-eight, that he was born in Charleston, South Carolina, and that he was a pastor of the Baptist church at Marietta, Jaspar County, Georgia. When asked if he was a slave he responded “Partly so. My father was a white man, and he set us free at his death.” A member of the committee asked Mervin Givens “Your name in old times was Mery Moss?” Givens replied “Yes sir; but since freedom I don’t go by master’s name. My name now is Givens.” Elias Hill of South Carolina, born a slave, told the committee that he learned how to read and write. His father purchased his own freedom and that of his wife.
Have you used congressional hearings in your research? What types of information have you found?
Testimony of Alfred Richardson
Question: Where do you live?
Answer: In Clarke County, Georgia.
Question: What is your age?
Answer: About thirty-four years.
Question: Were you born in that county?
Answer: No, sir; in Walton County, the adjoining county to Clarke.
Question: Were you born a freeman or a slave?
Answer: I was born a slave.
Question: Did you remain a slave until the general emancipation?
Answer: Yes, sir.
Question: What was your master’s name?
Answer: William Murray.
Question: Were you ever owned by any other master?
Answer: I was born the property of his mother-in-law. She owned me until I was about seven years old.
She got in debt some way or other, and he bought me and the rest of the family all in.
Question: Did he live in the same place where you now live?
Answer: Yes, sir; he is living in the same place.
Question: Since you became a freeman what have you been doing?
Answer: I have been house-carpentering.
Question: Have you a family?
Answer: Yes, sir.
Question: Of how many does your family consist?
Answer: My wife and three children.
Question: Since you became a freeman have you voted?
Answer: Yes, sir.
Question: With what party have you voted?
Answer: The republican party.
This is the opening testimony of Alfred Richardson who appeared before a joint Senate-House committee investigating the activities of the Ku Klux Klan. The committee took depositions from whites and African Americans in North and South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida. The testimonies published in a thirteen volume report provide valuable information on former slaves, their families, as well as white residents.
Information in the testimony varies but may include family relationships, former owners, birthplace, and residence. Testifying in Atlanta, Maria Carter stated that “I will be twenty-eight years old on the 4th day of next March; I was born in South Carolina; and I live in Haralson County, now.” She was married to Jasper Carter. On October 26, 1871 Thomas Allen testified that he was thirty-eight, that he was born in Charleston, South Carolina, and that he was a pastor of the Baptist church at Marietta, Jaspar County, Georgia. When asked if he was a slave he responded “Partly so. My father was a white man, and he set us free at his death.” A member of the committee asked Mervin Givens “Your name in old times was Mery Moss?” Givens replied “Yes sir; but since freedom I don’t go by master’s name. My name now is Givens.” Elias Hill of South Carolina, born a slave, told the committee that he learned how to read and write. His father purchased his own freedom and that of his wife.
Have you used congressional hearings in your research? What types of information have you found?