Slave Narratives
Characteristics & Importance
 Firsthand accounts written or recounted by slaves.
 Tales of harrowing journeys from the enslavement of
the South to the freedom of the North
 Detailed records of physical and mental oppression
 They serve as historical documents that provide
eyewitness accounts of slavery
 They give a voice to the disenfranchised
 They constitute the beginning of the AfricanAmerican contribution to literature
Origins
 Began in the Abolitionist movement:
 Speeches to educate people of conditions
 Anti-slavery publications such as journals and
newspapers
 Advocacy of public policies
 WPA: The Works Progress Administration of the 1930s
(this is way after the period we are currently
studying)
 The Federal Writer’s Project employed writers to
interview former slaves and their descendants. These
are documented in a large collection:
 http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/snhtml/
Ben Horry
 God knows Missus, glad to yeddy dat! Picture in
Washington! You mean bout my fadder? Been in duh lemme see now kin I remember - 'casionally he would
drink a little 'sumpting. Gone to town. Come back.
Drink. Bring Jug from town. Drop 'em. Broke 'em. To
disencourage him from doing that again - (boss man
lowing nobody to whip my fadder thout he do it!) overseer, them men give my fadder a piece of the broke
Jug (every time he share out rations) to disencourage
him bout drink. Thought that a great way to broke him
off. And he do so. Fadder have the three brudder Daniel, Summer and Define
Legacy
 African-American writers and politicians continue(d)
to influence artists today:




The Autobiography of Malcolm X
Invisible Man
Beloved
The Confessions of Nat Turner
from The Narrative of the Life of
Frederick Douglass
 Recounts a critical episode in his life as a slave
 Asks the universal question What makes a man free:
his mind or body?
 Depicts the brutality of slavery and those who ruled
as well as his reactions to these conditions
Diction (Style)
 Writer’s Choice of Words
monosyllabic
one syllable in length
polysyllabic
more than one syllable in length (the higher ratio of polysyllabic words, the more
difficult the content
colloquial
slang
informal
conversational
formal
literary
old-fashioned
words dated according to time period
denotative
containing an exact meaning (dress)
connotative
containing a suggested meaning (gown)
concrete
specific
abstract
general or conceptual
euphonious
pleasant sounding (languid, murmur)
cacophonous
harsh sounding (raucous, croak)
Diction
 Word choice helps to convey tone, theme, and
purpose.
 The assiduous plebian perspired under the sweltering
orb.
 The busy worker sweated under the hot sun.
Author’s Purpose
 Often writers use a variety of methods to convey
purpose:




Narration
Description
Exposition
Persuasion
 Douglas uses each of these techniques to convey
theme or purpose
Homework
 Go to the following website and access one narrative:
 http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/wpa/wpahome.html
 Write a one-page response (hand-written) as to why it
is important. Be sure to specifically reference the
narrative.