Charlie Smith Oral History Interview

Branna Keeler

Charlie Smith: Oral History Interview

Elmer Sparks interviews Charlie Smith, in Bartow, Florida on March 17, 1975. The context of the article is built around Sparks desire to hear the life experiences of slave, Charlie Smith. However, Sparks’ real purpose is to determine how old Charlie Smith really is at the time of the interview. I chose to do this interview because I am also taking U.S. History on-line, currently we are studying slavery. I thought it would be interesting to hear a true story from someone who lived as a slave.

Elmer Sparks begins the interview by asking Charlie Smith his full name. This is where Charlie Smith begins his life story of explaining to Sparks who he really is. Charlie was born in Africa to parents

Charlie was raised as one of the cattleman’s son, resulting in him receiving the same treatment as the biological boys. Throughout Charlie’s childhood he was taught the cowboy way and learned lifelong lessons from his adopted father. Charlie refers to his adopted father many times throughout the interview, continually committing about how he was named after him and some of the lessons he learned as a child. One statement that Charlie mentioned multiply times that Mr. Smith would say to his children was, “Enjoy your money when you living. You can’t carry none of it with you when you dead.” Charlie was an uneducated man but was proud of his hard work ethic and well as being “the only black cowboy in Texas.” Charlie was skilled at shooting rifles and pistols, resulting in his nickname as “Trigger Kid.” He was proud to say that he and Billy the Kid were hired by the states to seek out the man that killed, President Garfield. After Sparks gathered Charlie’s historical information, he quickly turned to seeking out the true age of Charlie Smith. Sparks begins to provoke Charlie in attempts to finding out Charlie’s true age. He starts question if Social Security came to visit him, at this time Charlie begins to get flustered and confused, furthermore repeating himself,

Charlie Smith made a name for himself throughout the West as a young black cowboy. Charlie was also known through Texas because he was part of a wealthy ranch family that had a lot of cattle and land. Charlie was highlighted because at the time he was “on the block,” it was not a common practice to treat a slave like part of the family. Charlie made it very clear throughout his story that he was never mistreated and was treated like the biological children of Mr. Charlie Smith. Due to fact that Mr. Charlie Smith named a slave to his namesake, could have made Elmer Sparks even more interested. It is evident that Charlie Smith is old; furthermore it could be possible that some could consider him senile. Charlie remains confused and repetitive multiply times in the interview. Sparks gradually moves into the purpose of the interview, in hopes of Charlie feeling comfortable. After, Charlie is able to speak open and freely of several highlights in his life, Sparks out of the blue attempts to question, Charlie’s age. Sparks was not able to determine, Charlie’s age and politely returned to allowing Charlie to switch subjects back to highlights. Rather than continuing provoking and frustrating Charlie, Sparks backed off the question and allowed Charlie to start to end the interview. Even though Sparks clearly wanted the recognition of ending the age mystery, he back off and