1. Fountain Hughes was interviewed in June 1949 about his life by the Library of Congress as part of the Federal Writers' Project of former slaves' oral histories.
10 Facts About Fountain Hughes
1. 2.
Fountain Hughes appealed to Jefferson's grandson to try to keep his family together; Thomas Jefferson Randolph purchased Fountain Hughes' wife and his three sons and took them with Wormley to his plantation of Edge Hill at Shadwell, Virginia.
3.
Three daughters of Fountain Hughes were sold ultimately to people in Missouri and Mississippi; others stayed closer.
4.
Fountain Hughes's father was killed in the American Civil War.
5.
Fountain Hughes said none of the enslaved boys were given shoes until they were about 12 or 13; they always went barefoot.
6.
Fountain Hughes describes moments when his feet bled due to not being able to wear shoes.
7.
Fountain Hughes said that boys had to wear dresses like women.
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Thomas Jefferson 8.
Fountain Hughes described sleeping on pallets on the floor of their quarters; they did not have beds until after freedom.
9.
Fountain Hughes noted changes from how people lived in the early 20th century.
10.
Fountain Hughes said that in the 1940s, many people bought things on credit instead of saving up for them.