Who was the last living American slave? Some contend it was a man named Charlie Smith, who allegedly lived to 137 years of age, although this is very doubtful, given that the Guiness Book says the oldest documented person ever lived only to 122.
So what’s the Straight Dope?
I’ve just checked the Social Security Death Index, (via Rootsweb’s genealogy site), and it shows a Charlie Smith, born 4 July 1842, died October 1979, in Bartow. His SSN and all on the list.
All the sites I’ve viewed so far claim that this gentleman was recognised as to his date of birth by the Social Security Administration. If it is a hoax, it’s a good one.
…
Wow.
According to Guinness (and a plethora of other reputable sources - Google for “longest lived person”), the oldest person who ever lived whose birth can be completely authenticated was a French woman named Madam Jeanne Louise Calment who died in 1997.
Of course, there are many people who have claimed to be older than that (this page mentions a person from the Caucasus who claimed to be 168), but their claims have not have been proven.
Of course, a slave’s birth probably wouldn’t be the easiest thing in the world to get accurate information on, so maybe old Charlie really did live to be 137. Or perhaps he assumed the identity of an older sibling or something to gain his oldest man status. I guess it’s impossible to say for sure.
The Social Security Administration would only need assurance that a person has passed the ages 59-65. Given that the Social Security Act was passed in 1935, and the first Social Security numbers issued in late 1936, when Charlie Smith was already allegedly 93 years old, the S.S.A. probably saw no need for strict verification about his actual age; he no doubt was over 65. And since he would not have contributed anything to the S.S.A.'s retirement benefits plan through work, he probably qualified only for Medicare, which was established in 1965, by which time Charlie Smith was allegedly 123 years old.
So, “recognition” of Charlie Smith’s date of birth by the Social Security Administration does not necessarily mean verification by them.
Getting accurate primary sources on slavery is one of the big historigraphy problems of US history. Little to nothing was written by anyone but the upper crust of slaves, and even then it was illegal. Though youd imagine plantations would keep records on at least the birth year of slaves and such.
Charlie Smith claimed to have been captured in Africa and brought to the US as a slave while he was still young, so finding records of his birth is impossible. NASA apparently believed that he was amongst the oldest living Americans as they brought him to the launch of Apollo 17 so that he could watch it. Charlie, however, didn’t believe that anyone ever went to the Moon. (My source for this is A Man on the Moon by Andrew Chaikin.)
Charlie Smith also claimed to have been part of Jesse James’ gang. I think an interesting movie could be made of Smith’s life, whether all his claims were true or not.
Absent birth records, the next most common method of establishing proof of age would be a person’s appearance in federal and state census schedules. Charlie Smith should have appeared in the schedules of the U.S. censuses of 1870, 1880, etc. Charlie Smith should have been able to give an account of where he lived in those years. Whether anyone actually checked up on this, I don’t know.
Did slaves appear in the censuses by name?
Haj
The last CONFIRMED slave was Mary Walker (1853-1969), upon whom THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MISS JANE PITTMAN was partly based. There is a foundation in her honor; a google for “mary walker foundation” will find info on her, but you’re better off looking in books.
Samuel Anderson (1813-1903) was the last surviving New York City slave, incidentally.
So, if Charlie Smith went up against Jack “Little Big Man” Crabbe, no holds barred, who’d win?
Slaves appeared only by age, not name, in U.S. censuses taken in 1850 and 1860 (before 1850, only the heads of household were named in U.S. censuses; all others in the household, white or black, were only tabulated). But with the abolition of slavery in 1865 and the granting of citizenship to all former slaves in 1866, former slaves appeared in the censuses from 1870 onward. There was especially an incentive during Reconstruction and the federal occupation of the South to fully represent the total number of African Americans in a state’s population.
For more on Charlie Smith:
Smith, Charlie 1842-1979
Biography Index. A cumulative index to biographical material in books and magazines Volume 12: September, 1979-August, 1982. New York: H.W. Wilson Co., 1983.
In Black and White. A guide to magazine articles, newspaper articles, and books concerning Black individuals and groups. Third edition. Two volumes. Edited by Mary Mace Spradling. Detroit: Gale Research, 1980.
Re the reliability of ages in the Social Security Death Index, it should be noted that Charlie Smith was not the only person who claimed to have been born in 1842. Some of his cohort in the SSDI:
LAWRENCE ELFBAUM, b. 26 June 1842 - d. Sept. 1966 (122 years).
AIDA PHILLIPPE, b. 25 Nov. 1842 - d. Dec. 1955 (113 years).
JOHN SWIONTAK, b. 2 Aug. 1842 - d. June 1969 (126 years).
HAROLD ANDERSON, b. 3 May 1842 - d. March 1976 (125 years).
CONNA ARNOLD, b. 21 March 1842- d. Feb. 1968 (125 years).
KATHRYN LUBBERTS, b. 5 Feb. 1842 - d. Dec. 1986 (144 years).
Weighing the extraordinarily unlikely possibility that someone actually lived to 137, with this being well outside the limit of even the most extreme ages verifiably recorded to date, vs the likelihood that someone might fib about their age to gain notoriety and attention… well …let’s just say 'ol Charlie lived a good long time.