Slavery Web Sites
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. These narratives were collected in the 1930s as part of
the Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and assembled
and microfilmed in 1941 as the seventeen-volume Slave Narratives: A Folk History of
Slavery in the United States from Interviews with Former Slaves.
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/snhtml/
American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers’ Project, 1936-1940
Life histories compiled and transcribed by the staff of the Folklore Project of the Federal
Writers' Project for the U.S. Works Progress (later Work Projects) Administration (WPA)
from 1936-1940. The Library of Congress collection includes 2,900 documents
representing the work of over 300 writers from 24 states. Typically 2,000-15,000 words
in length, the documents consist of drafts and revisions, varying in form from narrative to
dialogue to report to case history. The histories describe the informant's family education,
income, occupation, political views, religion and mores, medical needs, diet and
miscellaneous observations. Pseudonyms are often substituted for individuals and places
named in the narrative texts.
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/wpaintro/wpahome.html
Documenting the American South: North American Slave Narratives: This collection
includes all the existing autobiographical narratives of fugitive and former slaves
published as broadsides, pamphlets, or books in English up to 1920. Also included are
many of the biographies of fugitive and former slaves and some significant
fictionalized slave narratives published in English before 1920.
http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/
Museum of the African Diaspora (MOAD) Slave Narratives: Includes dramatic
readings of slave biographies by Maya Angelou as well as readings of excerpts from
various narratives.
http://moadsf.org/salon/exhibits/slave_narratives/flash.php
Web Site for Dr. Donna Campbell, Department of English, Washington State
University: See “The Slave Narrative” for links to biographies, narratives, etc.
http://www.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/slave.htm
American Slave Narratives: An Online Anthology (University of Virginia) provides
samples of narratives as well as images.
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/wpa/wpahome.html
African American Odyssey:
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aaohtml/exhibit/aopart1.html
The New Deal Network’s “Been Here So Long” provides excerpts from the
narratives as well as lesson ideas and other resources.
http://newdeal.feri.org/asn/
Africans in America: a great site for images, documents, interviews with historians,
and a guide to the PBS documentary.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/
American Slave Narratives: An On-line Anthology
Bruce Fort's site, at the University of Virginia, has thirteen other WPA Slave Narratives
as well as photographs and a rare audio recording of one of the interviewees
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/wpa/wpahome.html
Voices from the Days of Slavery: Audio interviews from the Slave Narratives.
Includes a gallery and biographies of the interviewers.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/voices/
Edsitement Lesson Plan: Perspective on the Slave Narrative
http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=321
The African-American Mosaic: A Library of Congress Resource Guide for the
Study of Black History & Culture. Documents, photos, and more!
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/african/afam015.html
Excerpts from Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century slave narratives (Steve Mintz,
University of Houston)
http://www.vgskole.net/prosjekt/slavrute/primary.htm
Mississippi Slave Narratives (WPA)
http://www.rootsweb.com/~msgenweb/xslaves/xslave-index.htm
Ex-Slave Narratives (CSPAN): Audio recordings of actual interviews
http://www.c-span.org/antietam/narratives.asp
Free e-book! Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/20785
Digital History Slavery Guide for Teachers
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/modules/slavery/index.cfm