Peonage letter leads to Oprah Winfrey's childhood home

This episode of Nurturing Our Roots is a mandatory course requirement for African-Americans and 20th-Century Slavery being taught by Professor Clare Washington of Portland State University.  Please join Professor Washington and Host, Genealogist, and Peonage researcher, Antoinette Harrell along with Peonage blogger, researcher, and Co-Host Robin Foster as we teach about the concepts and the impact it had on African Americans.

Genealogist and Peonage researcher, Antoinette Harrell,  discovered a letter written on February 9, 1927 in the National Archives from James Weldon Johnson, secretary of the NAACP, revealing the existence of peonage in Kosciusko, Mississippi, the birth place of Oprah Winfrey.

James Weldon Johnson alleges that a letter from a correspondent charges that the Justice of the Peace at Kosciusko and the constable, Jeff Thurrell, were in a conspiracy to arrest colored people on trumped up charges, and fines were imposed.

(See Peonage letter leads Harrell to Oprah Winfrey's childhood home.)

Students are required to call in to share insights while our valued regular guests listen and post questions and comments in the Nurturing Our Roots Chat Room.