I was having a conversation with my mother the other day, and we were trying to figure out if there were any former slaves alive when she was born. She was born in 1961, and the 13th Amendment was ratified in 1865, so I figure there must have been, right, even if they were only kids when they were emancipated. But I looked it up on Wikipedia, and couldn't get a straight answer. There were two people described as "one of the last" former slaves, but they died in 1948 and and 1951. Which seems too early for the last former slaves to have died, especially given that they were born in the 1840s.
Do we know who the last living former slave was? And if not, do we at least have a general idea of when the last ones died?
Do we know who the last living former slave was?
There are several people who claimed to have been born into slavery who lived into the 1970s and even the 1980s, the issue is determining whether or not they were actually born in the days of slavery as they claimed.
Claimants:
Charlie Smith was invited to the launch of the Apollo 17 as a VIP guest, with newspapers reporting that a former slave was to watch a rocket ship launch, however subsequent research suggests he was 30 years younger than he claimed and that he was born well after the Emancipation Act.
There is not evidence to support the age claims of Magee, Crosby, Lee, Brown and Reed, and given the immensity of their claimed ages in comparison in lifespans that have been verified (Magee, Crosby and Reed all claim to be the oldest person ever), they should all be assumed to be longevity myths in the vein of Charlie Smith's claim unless some new evidence is found.
That leaves us with Mr Peter Mills, who claimed a reasonable age (110) and who actually has some evidence to support his age claim, 1910 and 1920 censuses have been located which support Mr Mill's claimed age.
Thus, the last living former slave that we know about is Mr Mills (who died in 1972), but note history books often cite Eliza Moore or Teen Blackburn as "the last slave". Not necessarily because Mr Mills is a less reliable claimant than them, but rather because they are more interested in former slaves who were old enough to have done slave work and have memories of doing so.
Sources:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3062986/
There were two people described as "one of the last" former slaves, but they died in 1948 and and 1951. Which seems too early for the last former slaves to have died, especially given that they were born in the 1840s.
Could you explain what you mean here?
Maybe it doesn't count, but I recall that there was a secret planation with slaves discovered in Texas in the early 40s. So, some of those slaves might had lived a while past that time... but may not count since they were post-emancipation slaves. I'm having trouble pulling up info on this in google. I recall that it was a pretty obscure piece of history, but made national newspapers at the time.