Research Catalog

Details

Additional authors

1. Tate, James.
2. Berry, Henry S.

Description

1. 1 folder (7 items)

Summary

1. The Berry Family Collection consists of correspondence and a typescript written by members of this family. The correspondence begins with an 1863 letter from James Tate, an enslaved man living in West Point, Georgia, to his wife, Olivia, in Mobile, Alabama, where she and their children lived with their owner. Tate's letter, written for him by his master's wife or daughter, expresses the anguish and difficulties African Americans faced in trying to establish and maintain a family while enslaved. The other letters are from both James and Olivia Tate to Henry S. Berry, their nephew; James's son John to Henry S., his uncle and to Henry Jr., his cousin; and two letters from Henry Jr. to his sister Fannie. An 1868 letter mentions the role of an African-American church serving also as a "post office;" the writer says that mail for him and others can be sent in care of the church pastor. Of considerable interest are letters written by Henry S. Berry in 1918 describing his experience in the Army's Medical Unit, 331st Labor Bureau. He also authored a twenty five-page typescript entitled, "My Bit in the World War, or the Story of 2921486." As a member of the American Expeditionary Forces, he discusses his military experiences, from receipt of the telegram calling him to duty, to being one of fifty men chosen for the Army Medical Department in France. The typescript appears not to have been finished.

Subject

1. Enslaved persons > United States > Social conditions
2. World War, 1914-1918 > African Americans
3. Tate, James
4. Diaries
5. World War, 1914-1918 > Personal narratives, American
6. Letters (Correspondence)
7. African Americans > History > 1863-1877
8. African American soldiers
9. Black author
10. United States > Army > African American troops > History > 20th century
11. African Americans > History > 1877-1964
12. African Americans > Social conditions > To 1964
13. African American families
14. France > Armée > African American troops > History > 20th century
15. Berry, Henry S
16. Berry family
17. United States > Army > Medical Corps

Genre/Form

1. Letters (Correspondence)
2. Diaries.

Call number

1. Sc MG 483

Biography (note)

1. The Berry family lived in Atlanta and West Point, Georgia; Mobile, Alabama; and Cincinnati, Ohio. Henry S. Berry authored a typescript describing his experiences as a soldier in France during World War I..

Title

1. Berry family collection, 1863-1918.

Biography

1. The Berry family lived in Atlanta and West Point, Georgia; Mobile, Alabama; and Cincinnati, Ohio. Henry S. Berry authored a typescript describing his experiences as a soldier in France during World War I..

Finding aids

1. Inventory available.

Connect to:

1. Finding Aid

Local subject

1. Black author.

Added author

1. Tate, James.
2. Berry, Henry S.

Research call number

1. Sc MG 483