# Who was the last living American slave?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-last-living-american-slave/153886
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [February 9, 2003, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-last-living-american-slave/153886 "2003-02-09T15:09:33Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2003, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-last-living-american-slave/153886/1 "2003-02-09T15:09:33Z")
I’ve found references to a Charlie Smith, who died in 1979, and claimed to be 137 years old.
One of the Charlie Smith references says that a more authenticated possibility is Sylvester Magee, who died in 1970 and claimed to be 130. But when I search on Sylvester Magee, I see the claim that he was the last surviving American Civil War veteran, and I wonder if the two claims got confused.
Is there a consensus among historians who the last surviving American slave was, among the traditional Southern pre-civil war slave system?
---
### Author:  [@Daoloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daoloth)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2003, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-last-living-american-slave/153886/2 "2003-02-09T18:21:23Z")
I posted a thread very similar to this a few months back. Feel free to search for it, it may be helpful. Long story short: Charlie had a legit SS number and is on record for being that old. Was he really that old? We’ll probably never know.
---
### Author:  [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2003, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-last-living-american-slave/153886/3 "2003-02-09T18:44:59Z")
I did search for threads this the word “slave” in the title, but it didn’t come up. I guess I could do another search for “Charlie Smith” in the thread and see what happens.
---
### Author:  [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2003, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-last-living-american-slave/153886/4 "2003-02-09T18:47:31Z")
Found it:
[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=152182&highlight=Charlie+Smith](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=152182&highlight=Charlie+Smith)
I guess I missed it on my first search somehow; “slave” is indeed in the title!!
Thanks **Daoloth**