Slave Narratives: a Folk History of Slavery in the United States

United States. Work Projects AdministrationProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 4.3

Word count: 475K words
Chapters: 48

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Slave Narratives: a Folk History of Slavery in the United StatesAuthor: United States. Work Projects Administration,Language: English, Class: E300: History: America: Revolution to the Civil War (1783-1861), Release Date: Oct 12, 2007

Editor's review

This Slave Narratives is a compilation of oral histories of African Americans who were enslaved, collected in the 1930s by the U.S. Work Projects Administration (WPA) as part of the Federal Writers’ Project; it contains a large number of firsthand recollections by formerly enslaved people and their descendants. Its value lies not in literary polish but in the preciousness of primary historical material: interviewees describe work, family, religion, escape, and emancipation in colloquial language, preserving dialect, songs, and details of daily life. It is an important primary source for studying American slavery, African American culture, and oral history methods. Readers should note that the interviews were recorded and compiled by white interviewers of the time, and the transcriptions may carry period prejudices and editorial traces, so they should be read critically with historical context in mind. It is suitable for historians, African American studies scholars, and readers interested in oral history and Southern U.S. society. The book is in English and very long; reading by theme or region is recommended rather than reading it straight through.

Who it's for

A good fit for

University teachers and students studying American slavery and African American history
Researchers engaged in oral history and the collection of folk literature
Readers interested in Southern U.S. society and dialect culture
Historical writers who need primary sources to support their work

Not a good fit for

Beginners seeking a systematic general history or a coherent historical narrative
Readers who prefer literary narration and lack patience for transcribed oral texts
Ordinary readers with limited English reading ability who need a Chinese translation

Reading tips

Read the introduction or editorial notes first to understand the background and recording methods of the WPA interview project.
Read selectively by state or theme (such as family, religion, labor) rather than all at once.
While reading, consult a historical timeline and note how interviewers’ questions shaped the answers.
Jot down dialect words and recurring images for later research and citation.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Did the interviewees write these narratives themselves?

No. Most are records transcribed and compiled after oral interviews conducted in person by WPA interviewers. They retain a colloquial flavor, but the transcription and editing were done by the interviewers, so the texts may contain the interviewers’ wording and judgments; this should be taken into account when reading.

Is this book suitable as an introductory reader on American slavery?

Not very suitable as the only introductory book. It offers fragmented, individual firsthand testimony and lacks systematic organization. It works better to read a general history first to build a framework, then use this book as supplementary primary material and corroboration.

What limitations of the historical material should readers watch for?

First, the interviewers were mostly white people of the time, and their questions and transcriptions may carry bias; second, the interviewees were elderly and their memories may be imperfect; third, some narratives were edited and polished. Cross-check with other historical sources and note traces of period discourse in the texts.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

United States. Work Projects Administration Author

The United States Work Projects Administration was a federal public works agency established in the United States in the 1930s, and its Federal Writers' Project organized the collection, compilation, and publication of a large body of oral history materials. The library holds 34 of its works, most of them centered on African American slave narratives; the representative Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States series was assembled from interviews with formerly enslaved people and their descendants. These texts preserve, in the interviewees' own voices, details of life under slavery, folk songs, and dialect expressions, making them both valuable historical sources and works of plain folk literature. As public information about the agency is limited, this note introduces only its editorial direction and the subject matter of its works.