Slave Narratives

by Work Projects Administration

A folk history of slavery in the United States from interviews with former slaves.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

First published January 1, 1938

Reviews

[Jessica Baumgartner · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very valuable collection of accounts from people who lived as slaves and after freedom was won. It is a tough read because there are so many different tales of brutality and even some of the nicer stories about slave owners have undertones of degradation. But reading this gives people a more realistic view if how slavery existed in the U.S.

[Natascha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must read, a lot of information and sometimes hard to decipher but it is the best record of slavery. I wish it was published because I would save up to buy the volumes.

[Clint · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of narratives by former slaves collected by the federal writers project from 1936 to 1938. The first-hand recollections of these people of their time as slaves are very interesting as are their descriptions of their later lives after emancipation. These people were all elderly when interviewed and some of them do not seem to have a real clear memory of their early lives. The view of slavery is also distorted because they were all slaves as children and did not have a full picture of an adult slaves' life.

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

It seems as if the majority of these narratives recall -- with nostalgia -- the good days on the plantation and regret the changes the war brought! I have read only the Mississippi narratives and must thus read more to get a better overall view. In any case, these tales of ex-slaves are as interesting as they are sad . . .

[Jeanne Fellers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book.

I love these type books I could read this forever.....I have read many slave books ...this book was awesome.. I have more books awaiting to read.....