Federal Writers' Project – Life Histories/2013/Spring/Walter C. Smith

This page is connected with English 105 at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill - Federal Writers' Project - Life Histories

Justice of the Peace in Graham, Alamance County, North Carolina

Overview

Walter C. smith was a North Carolina native and worked as a farmer and politician during the late 1800s and early 1900s. Most importantly, he worked as a justice of the peace and participated as a Red Shirt. He is one of the many people who was interviewed by the Federal Writers’ Project, which was conducted on February 10, 1939.

Biography

Family and Farming Life

Walter C. Smith was born in 1869 in Midvale, North Carolina, where he lived on a farm. Using his knowledge of farming from his childhood, he began his independent career by renting out a farm in his hometown of Midvale by acquiring a line of credit. It was during this time that he married his wife, Mary. After farming in Midvale and earning enough money to invest, Mr. Smith decided to purchase a farm of his own on Bynum Road in Seaboard, North Carolina. Later, Mr. and Mrs. Smith had several children together. When of age, their children left the home and became scattered across the nation. They moved to Chicago, Petersburg, Norfolk, and Murfreesboro. After some time, Mr. Smith chose to retire from farming. Unable to tend to his land, he chose to rent it out to others. This gave him more time to take care of his wife. At the time of the Federal Writers’ Project interview, Mr. and Mrs. Smith had been married for forty-seven years.

Political Career

It was in Seaboard that Mr. Smith became heavily engaged in political matters where he was a magistrate, justice of the peace, Red Shirt, proud southern Democrat, and a potential candidate for the North Carolina Legislature. For instance, in 1900, as a Red Shirt, he participated in the disenfranchisement of African-Americans. His engagement in political matters increased when Governor Kitchen appointed him as justice of the peace. In his tenure as the justice of the peace, he settled disputes of violence, boundary conflicts, marital issues, rare murders, and other cases of complaint. Among other things, he also attempted to run for the North Carolina Legislature, but was advised not to by a good friend. After some time he was forced to retire from politics because he felt he was responsible for taking care of his “feeble” wife.

Social Issues

Lynching in North Carolina

Walter C. Smith had a multitude of public duties that came along with being the justice of the peace in Seaboard, North Carolina. In some rare cases, he was confronted with cases of lynching, the unlawful hanging of African-Americans. The due process of law was ignored in these cases, which resulted in mob violence. Lynching was prevalent in the post-Civil War era of the United States and it was used as a scare tactic until the Civil Rights movements of the late 1960s. The lynching of African-Americans was used with the ultimate goal of establishing strict racial boundaries by instilling fear within African Americans and making them feel subordinate. This was also the case in North Carolina where lynching was “‘an unwritten part of North Carolina history.’ Its violence directed state politics and was intended ‘to remind blacks of their inferior social status." Overall, lynching was an expression of anger toward newly freed slaves by the white population. As the justice of the peace, Mr. Smith saw the process of lynching as a social norm.

Disenfranchisement of African-Americans

Walter C. Smith participated as a Red Shirt in 1900. In general, the North Carolina Red Shirt movement, between 1898-1900, sought to elevate the Democratic Party and advance white supremacy. One of the most important roles of the Red Shirt movement was to disenfranchise African-Americans with the goal of protecting a democratic stronghold in the South. In most cases, the disenfranchisement process was violent and was meant to instill fear within African- Americans. For instance, Prather states, “They [Red Shirts] rode out of the dawn and into the light of sunsets as red as their shirts into the Negro sections, and by the houses of Negro farmers…leaving terror in their wake.” Walter C. Smith took similar measures of terrorizing tactics to disenfranchise African-Americans in the area of Seaboard, North Carolina.

Federal Writers' Project

The Federal Writers’ Project, established in 1935 by the United States Work Progress Administration, was a program under the New Deal. Its goal was to employ various historians, poets, writers, teachers, and other white-collar workers to transcribe the life histories of common day American citizens. In most cases, it was an essential program that included personal histories that may have been otherwise forgotten; however, it had its flaws. In many cases, the transcribed life histories contained a certain degree of censorship generated by the interviewee. For instance, Soapes states that “blacks in the South in the 1930s necessarily concealed their feelings toward whites, and white interviewers could not expect to receive full and truthful answers to their questions.” This same reasoning applied to white interviewees who attempted to conceal certain feelings toward African-Americans, which was the case in Mr. Smith’s interview. Even though Mr. Smith talks about lynching and disenfranchisement, he strays away from the topic of racism and racial boundaries. He seems to censor certain parts of information as a tactic of maintaining a better reputation that is free of ignorance. In general, interviewees diminished the authenticity of their life histories by purposely incorporating or refraining from discussing certain issues within their interviews.