LibGuides: African American History: Narratives & Oral Histories of Enslaved Persons

Narratives & Oral Histories of Enslaved Persons

Featured Resources: Slavery

Slave Narratives & Oral Histories

"Former slaves made numerous references to their cruel treatment in the Work Progress Administration (WPA) interviews collected during the 1930s and 1940s. The WPA Slave Narrative Project sought to capture the experiences of people during their enslavement before they passed away. It also provided work to unemployed writers during the Great Depression."

-From the article cited below, Recollections of Cruelty from Former Slaves (c. 1850–1865)

Featured Slave Narratives

Linked below are a collection of first-hand accounts from those enslaved. Find written materials, images, other primary sources, and more.

Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936 to 1938
"Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1938 contains more than 2,300 first-person accounts of slavery and 500 black-and-white photographs of former slaves. "
Documenting the American South
A full-text online database of primary documents about the American South.
Early Caribbean Slave Narratives
From the Early Caribbean Digital Archive, search through a collection of early slave narratives
Freedom Narratives
"Freedom Narratives focuses on the enforced migration of "Atlantic Africans," that is enslaved Africans in the Atlantic world during the era of the slave trade, through an examination of biographical accounts of individuals born in West Africa who were enslaved from the 16th to the 19th century."
Lesser Known Stories - NMAAHC
A collection of biographies of lesser African Americans of note in history - includes images, ephemera, and more - from the National Museum of African American History and Culture
Library of Congress: American Memory - Slave Narratives
These narratives were gathered in the 1930s from thousands of former slaves in the U.S. and have been organized by the US Library of Congress as part of the American Memory project.
North American Slave Narratives - Documenting the American South
This collection includes all the existing autobiographical narratives of self-emancipated and formerly enslaved people published as broadsides, pamphlets, or books in English up to 1920. Also included are many of the biographies of self-emancipated and formerly enslaved people and some significant fictionalized first-person accounts of enslavement published in English before 1920.
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From the larger "Documenting the American South" collection, find "books and articles that document the individual and collective story of Black people struggling for freedom and human rights in the eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth centuries.
Recovered Histories - Slave narratives
"The collection of pamphlets and supplementary texts ...covers a century of campaigning in Europe and America, capturing the voices of the enslaved, enslavers, slave ship surgeons, abolitionists, parliamentarians, the clergy, planters and rebels. "
Samuel Williams and His World: Before the War and After the Union
From the Lowcountry Digital Library at the College of Charleston - a first hand account of slavery and freedome from Samuel Williams "born into slavery in Charleston, South Carolina in 1852. In his later years, Williams penned his recollections about his life before and after slavery"
Slave Memoirs & Oral Histories - Monticello
Search through a number or articles and slave accounts of those who were enslaved at Jefferson's home of Monticello - now a preserved site and museum
Slave Narratives: a Folk History of Slavery in the United States
A collection of digitized books - accessed with Project Gutenberg - with accounts of slave narratives from many southern, midwest, and northern east coast states
Slavery at Monticello
Thomas Jefferson enslaved hundreds of people at his Monticello home - which is now a museum with a collection of online exhibits and a virtual tour. Access slave narratives, videos, and articles about the slavery that took place there.

Slave Narratives & Oral Histories

Featured Oral History Collections

Consider the featured recorded interview here, or click on the links below to search for other oral histories.

"You wasn't no more than a dog to some of them in them days. You wasn't treated as good as they treat dogs now. But still I didn't like to talk about it. Because it makes, makes people feel bad you know. Uh, I, I could say a whole lot I don't like to say. And I won't say a whole lot more."

- Fountain Hughes - linked in the collection below.

Inheritance: A Project About American History, Black Life, and the Resilience of Memory
From The Atlantic, this online collection features topical videos, articles, and more - with links to other online resources, all relating to the importance of Black life in American history.
North American Slave Narratives - Documenting the American South
This collection includes all the existing autobiographical narratives of self-emancipated and formerly enslaved people published as broadsides, pamphlets, or books in English up to 1920. Also included are many of the biographies of self-emancipated and formerly enslaved people and some significant fictionalized first-person accounts of enslavement published in English before 1920.
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From the larger "Documenting the American South" collection, find "books and articles that document the individual and collective story of Black people struggling for freedom and human rights in the eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth centuries.
Oral Histories of the American South
From "Documenting the American South" website - search through oral histories by topic.
Slave Memoirs & Oral Histories - Monticello
Search through a number or articles and slave accounts of those who were enslaved at Jefferson's home of Monticello - now a preserved site and museum
Slavery at Monticello
Thomas Jefferson enslaved hundreds of people at his Monticello home - which is now a museum with a collection of online exhibits and a virtual tour. Access slave narratives, videos, and articles about the slavery that took place there.
Voices Remembering Slavery: Freed People Tell Their Stories
"The recordings of former slaves in Voices Remembering Slavery: Freed People Tell Their Stories took place between 1932 and 1975 in nine states. Twenty-three interviewees discuss how they felt about slavery, slaveholders, coercion of slaves, their families, and freedom. Several individuals sing songs, many of which were learned during the time of their enslavement."

Slave Narratives & Oral Histories

Featured Articles

Background Articles

Learn about why and when many slave narratives were recorded, as well as the importance of such narratives.

Freedwomen: Excerpts from Works Projects Administration Slave Narratives (1937) A 2017 article from Women in American History: A Social, Political, and Cultural Encyclopedia and Document Collection
Slave Narratives From American History Through Literature 1820-1870
Slave Narratives From the Encyclopedia of the Great Depression
Slave Narratives: Ex-Slaves as Organic Intellectuals A 2020 article from Daily Life of African American Slaves in the Antebellum South
Slave Narratives of the Caribbean and Latin America From the Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History

Scholarly Articles

Juries and Race in the Nineteenth Century
A 2004 article from Yale Law Journal
Discourse of Slavery: Freedom and the Negotiation of Power and Identity in Context
An article by Lori Lee, from the journal Transatlantica

Slave Narratives & Oral Histories

Featured Podcasts

Found Voices - Slave Narratives
A 2015 video of a featured episode of Nightline, originally aired in 1999, featuring oral histories from enslaved people. - Streaming on YouTube
Enslavement to Emancipation
A 2012 video of OCTDC ""Enslavement to Emancipation" is an informative and compelling television documentary chronicling the history of the Compensated Emancipation Act of April 16, 1862, freeing the enslaved people of Washington, DC. "
Aunt Jemima: American Racism on Your Grocery Shelf
An episode of Dig: A History Podcast
1619 (New York Times Podcast)
"1619 is a New York Times audio series, hosted by Nikole Hannah-Jones, that examines the long shadow of American slavery. "
15 Minute History: The Senses of Slavery
Episode 42 from the University of Texas podcast, 15 Minute History
Unchained Memories - Readings from the Slave Narratives
"Unchained Memories is a 2003 documentary film about the stories of former slaves interviewed during the 1930s as part of the Federal Writers' Project and preserved in the WPA Slave Narrative Collection. This HBO film interpretation directed by Ed Bell and Thomas Lennon is a compilation of slave narratives, narrated by actors, emulating the original conversation with the interviewer. " Streaming on YouTube

Source citation:

Recollections of Cruelty from Former Slaves (c. 1850–1865). (2020). In H. C. Covey & D. Eisnach (Eds.), Daily Life of African Americans in Primary Documents (Vol. 1, pp. 67-68). Greenwood. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX8057600048/GVRL?u=aubu98092&sid=bookmark-GVRL&xid=3f0d62cc

Holman Library

African American History

Please Note:

Narratives & Oral Histories of Enslaved Persons

Featured Resources: Slavery

Slave Narratives & Oral Histories

Featured Slave Narratives

Slave Narratives & Oral Histories

Featured Oral History Collections

Slave Narratives & Oral Histories

Featured Articles

Background Articles

Popular Source Articles

Scholarly Articles

Slave Narratives & Oral Histories

Featured Podcasts