Photocopy of a microfilmed copy of a typescript of an interview. Dowd was interviewed by T. Pat Matthews in 1937 as part of the Federal Writer's Project for the Works Progress Administration. The item includes handwritten corrections. Dowd talks about his life as a slave. He was afraid of Federal forces when they moved into the area at the end of the Civil War, but he did not know he was free until five years later. He also talks about his early religious instruction.