The slave narrative is a type of literary genre involving the (written) autobiographical accounts of enslaved

Africans African or Africans may refer to: * Anything from or pertaining to the continent of Africa: ** People who are native to Africa, descendants of natives of Africa, or individuals who trace their ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa *** Ethn ...

, particularly in the

Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...

. Over six thousand such narratives are estimated to exist; about 150 narratives were published as separate books or pamphlets. In the United States during the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

(1930s), more than 2,300 additional oral histories on life during slavery were collected by writers sponsored and published by the Works Progress Administration, a

New Deal The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Cons ...

program. Most of the 26 audio-recorded interviews are held by the Library of Congress. Some of the earliest memoirs of captivity known in the English-speaking world were written by white

Europeans Europeans are the focus of European ethnology, the field of anthropology related to the various ethnic groups that reside in the states of Europe. Groups may be defined by common genetic ancestry, common language, or both. Pan and Pfeil (2004) ...

and later Americans, captured and sometimes enslaved in North Africa by local Muslims, usually

Barbary pirates The Barbary pirates, or Barbary corsairs or Ottoman corsairs, were Muslim pirates and privateers who operated from North Africa, based primarily in the ports of Salé, Rabat, Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli, Libya, Tripoli. This area was known i ...

. These were part of a broad category of " captivity narratives". Beginning in the 17th century, these included accounts by

colonists A settler is a person who has migrated to an area and established a permanent residence there, often to colonize the area. A settler who migrates to an area previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited may be described as a pioneer. Settle ...

and later American settlers in North America and the United States who were captured and held by Native Americans. Several well-known captivity narratives were published before the American Revolution, and they often followed forms established with the narratives of captivity in North Africa. North African accounts did not continue to compile after the Napoleonic Era; accounts from North Americans, captured by western tribes migrating west continued until the end of the 19th century. Given the problem of international contemporary slavery in the 20th and 21st centuries, additional slave narratives are being written and published.

As a literary genre

The development of slave narratives from autobiographical accounts to modern fictional works led to the establishment of slave narratives as a literary genre. This large rubric of this so-called "captivity literature" includes more generally "any account of the life, or a major portion of the life, of a fugitive or former slave, either written or orally related by the slave himself or herself". Whereas the first narratives told the stories of fugitive or freed slaves in a time of racial prejudice, they further developed into retrospective fictional novels and extended their influence until common days. Not only maintaining the memory and capturing the historical truth transmitted in these accounts, but slave narratives were primarily the tool for fugitive or former slaves to state their independence in the 19th century, and carry on and conserve authentic and true historical facts from a first-person perspective. They go further than just autobiographies, and are moreover "a source for reconstructing historical experience". The freed slaves that wrote the narratives are considered as historians, since "memory and history come together". These accounts link elements of the slave's personal life and destiny with key historical phenomena, such as the American Civil War and the Underground Railroad. In simple, yet powerful storylines, slave narratives follow in general a plot common to all of them: starting from the initial situation, the slave in his master's home, the protagonist escapes in the wilderness and narrates the struggle for survival and recognition throughout his uncertain journey to freedom. After all, these narratives were written retrospectively by freed slaves and/or their abolitionist advocate, hence the focus on the transformation from the dehumanized slave to the self-emancipated free man. This change often entailed literacy as a means to overcome captivity, as the case of Frederick Douglass highlights. The narratives are very graphic to the extent as extensive accounts of e.g. whipping, abuse and rape of enslaved women are exposed in detail (see Treatment of slaves in the United States). The denunciation of the slave owners, in particular their cruelty and hypocrisy, is a recurring theme in slave narratives, and in some examples took a comic stance denouncing the double standards (e.g. in Douglass's narrative, his slave owner Hopkins is a very religious, but also brutal man). According to James Olney, a typical outline looks the following way: There is no consensus about what exact type of literature slave narratives are, whether they can be considered as a proper genre, comprised in the large category captivity narrative, or are autobiographies, memoirs,

testimonial In promotion and advertising, a testimonial or show consists of a person's written or spoken statement extolling the virtue of a product. The term "testimonial" most commonly applies to the sales-pitches attributed to ordinary citizens, where ...

s, or

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

s; nonetheless, they play a big part in keeping up the memory of slavery and in approaching a topic that was considered as a taboo for a long time – especially since many denied and still deny the existence of slavery. Given the participation in the 19th century of abolitionist editors (at least in the United States), influential early 20th-century historians, such as

Ulrich B. Phillips Ulrich Bonnell Phillips (November 4, 1877 – January 21, 1934) was an American historian who largely defined the field of the social and economic studies of the history of the Antebellum South and slavery in the U.S. Phillips concentrated on t ...

in 1929, suggested that, as a class, "their authenticity was doubtful". These doubts have been criticized following better academic research of these narratives, since the late 20th-century historians have more often validated the accounts of slaves about their own experiences.

North American slave narratives

Slave narratives by African slaves from North America were first published in England in the 18th century. They soon became the main form of African-American literature in the 19th century. Slave narratives were publicized by abolitionists, who sometimes participated as editors, or writers if slaves were not literate. During the first half of the 19th century, the controversy over slavery in the United States led to impassioned literature on both sides of the issue. To present the reality of slavery, a number of former slaves, such as Harriet Tubman, Harriet Jacobs, and Frederick Douglass, published accounts of their enslavement and their escapes to freedom.

Lucy Delaney Lucy Delaney ( Lucy Ann Berry; c. 1828–1830 – August 31, 1910) was an African-American woman, who when she was free was a seamstress, slave narrator, and community leader. She was born into slavery and was primarily held by the Major Taylor ...

wrote an account that included the freedom suit waged by her mother in Missouri for their freedom. Eventually some 6,000 former slaves from North America and the Caribbean wrote accounts of their lives, and over 100 book-length accounts were published from formerly enslaved people worldwide. Before the American Civil War, some authors wrote fictional accounts of slavery to create support for abolitionism. The prime example is '' Uncle Tom's Cabin'' (1852) by

Harriet Beecher Stowe Harriet Elisabeth Beecher Stowe (; June 14, 1811 – July 1, 1896) was an American author and abolitionist. She came from the religious Beecher family and became best known for her novel ''Uncle Tom's Cabin'' (1852), which depicts the harsh ...

. The success of her novel and the social tensions of the time brought a response by white Southern writers, such as William Gilmore Simms and Mary Eastman, who published what were called

anti-Tom novels Anti-Tom literature consists of the 19th century pro- slavery novels and other literary works written in response to Harriet Beecher Stowe's '' Uncle Tom's Cabin''. Also called plantation literature, these writings were generally written by autho ...

. Both kinds of novels were bestsellers in the 1850s.

Tales of religious redemption

From the 1770s to the 1820s, slave narratives generally gave an account of a spiritual journey leading to Christian redemption. The authors usually characterized themselves as Africans rather than slaves, as most were born in Africa. Examples include: * Ukawsaw Gronniosaw, ''A Narrative of the Most Remarkable Particulars in the Life of James Albert "Ukawsaw Gronniosaw", an African Prince'', Bath, England, 1772 * Olaudah Equiano, '' The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano'', London, 1789 * Venture Smith, ''A Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Venture, a Native of Africa: But Resident Above Sixty Years in the United States of America'', New London, 1798 *

Jeffrey Brace Jeffrey Brace (born Boyrereau Brinch; – April 20, 1827) was a formerly enslaved person who was taken from West Africa around 1750 and a veteran of the American Revolutionary War. He became the first African-American citizen of Poultney, Verm ...

, ''The Blind African Slave, Or Memoirs of Boyrereau Brinch, Nicknamed Jeffrey Brace'', as told to Benjamin F. Prentiss, Esq.,

St. Albans, Vermont St. Albans, Vermont may refer to: * St. Albans (town), Vermont, established 1763, a town in Franklin County, Vermont, U.S. *St. Albans (city), Vermont, established 1902, a city in Franklin County, Vermont, U.S. See also * St. Albans Bay, Vermont, ...

, 1810; edited and with an introduction by Kari J. Winter, Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 2004, * John Jea, ''The Life, History, and Unparalleled Sufferings of John Jea, the African Preacher'', 1811 *

Greensbury Washington Offley Greensbury Washington Offley (December 18, 1808 – March 22, 1896) was an American slave narrative author and minister. Born into slavery in Maryland and eventually freed, Offley wrote ''A Narrative of the Life and Labors of the Rev. G. W. Offl ...

, ''A Narrative of the Life and Labors of the Rev. G. W. Offley, a Colored Man, Local Preacher and Missionary'', 1859 Some more recent narratives, such as

Petro Kilekwa Petro Kilekwa (also Chilekwa, late 1860s/early 1870s – 1967) was an African man who, after having been enslaved, became a teacher and later an Anglican priest. His autobiography, published in 1937, was titled ''Slave Boy to Priest: The Auto ...

's ''Slave Boy to Priest: The Autobiography of Padre Petro Kilekwa'' (1937), followed a similar theme.

Tales to inspire the abolitionist movement

From the mid-1820s, writers consciously chose the autobiographical form to generate enthusiasms for the abolitionist movement. Some writers adopted literary techniques, including the use of fictionalized dialogue. Between 1835 and 1865 more than 80 such narratives were published. Recurrent features include: slave auctions, the break-up of families, and frequently two accounts of escapes, one of which is successful. As this was the period of the forced migration of an estimated one million slaves from the Upper South to the

Deep South The Deep South or the Lower South is a cultural and geographic subregion in the Southern United States. The term was first used to describe the states most dependent on plantations and slavery prior to the American Civil War. Following the war ...

through the internal slave trade, the experiences of auctions and separation of families were common to many. Examples include: * William Grimes, ''Life of William Grimes, the Runaway Slave'', New York, 1825 *

Solomon Bayley Solomon Bayley (1771 1839)Gates, Higginbotham (2004), p. 59. was an African American freed slave who is best known for his 1825 autobiography entitled ''A Narrative of Some Remarkable Incidents in the Life of Solomon Bayley, Formerly a Slave in th ...

, ''A Narrative of Some Remarkable Incidents in the Life of Solomon Bayley, Formerly a Slave in the State of Delaware, North America'', 1825 * Mary Prince, ''The History of Mary Prince, a West Indian Slave'', London, 1831 * Charles Ball, ''Slavery in the United States: A Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Charles Ball, A Black Man'', Lewistown, 1836 * Moses Roper, ''A Narrative of Adventures and Escape of Moses Roper from American Slavery'', London, 1837 *

Lunsford Lane Lunsford Lane (May 30, 1803 – June 27, 1879) was an entrepreneur tobacconist from North Carolina who bought freedom for himself and his family. He became a vocal Abolitionism in the United States, opponent of slavery and wrote a slave narrative a ...

, ''The Narrative of Lunsford Lane, Formerly of Raleigh, N.C. Embracing an Account of His Early Life, the Redemption by Purchase of Himself and Family from Slavery, and His Banishment from the Place of His Birth for the Crime of Wearing a Colored Skin'', 1842 * Frederick Douglass, '' Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave'', Boston, 1845 * Lewis and Milton Clarke, ''Narratives of the Sufferings of Lewis and Milton Clarke, Sons of a Soldier of the Revolution, During a Captivity of More Than Twenty Years Among the Slaveholders of Kentucky, One of the So-Called Christian States of North America.'' Boston, 1846 * William Wells Brown, ''Narrative of William Wells Brown, a Fugitive Slave'', Boston, 1847 * Henry Box Brown, ''Narrative of the Life of Henry Box Brown'', Boston, 1849 * Josiah Henson, '' The Life of Josiah Henson, Formerly a Slave, Now an Inhabitant of Canada, as Narrated by Himself'', Boston, 1849 * Henry Bibb, ''Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Henry Bibb, an American Slave'',

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, 1849 *

James W. C. Pennington James William Charles Pennington ( – October 22, 1870) was an American abolitionist, orator, minister and writer active in Brooklyn, New York. He escaped at the age of 19 from slavery in western Maryland and reached New York. After working in ...

, ''The Fugitive Blacksmith, or Events in the History of James W. C. Pennington'', London, 1849 *Henry Watson, ''

Narrative of Henry Watson, A Fugitive Slave ''Narrative of Henry Watson, a fugitive slave'' is a slave narrative by Henry Watson (b. about 1813), an African-American slave and abolitionist. His work is autobiographical, characteristic of the slave narratives of fugitive slaves of the perio ...

'', Boston, 1848. *

Solomon Northup Solomon Northup (born July 10, 1807-1808) was an American abolitionist and the primary author of the memoir ''Twelve Years a Slave''. A free-born African American from New York, he was the son of a freed slave and a free woman of color. A far ...

, '' Twelve Years a Slave'', Auburn, and Buffalo, New York, and London, 1853 *

John Brown John Brown most often refers to: *John Brown (abolitionist) (1800–1859), American who led an anti-slavery raid in Harpers Ferry, Virginia in 1859 John Brown or Johnny Brown may also refer to: Academia * John Brown (educator) (1763–1842), Ir ...

, ''Slave Life in Georgia: A Narrative of the Life, Sufferings, and Escape of John Brown, a Fugitive Slave, Now in England'', 1855 *''The Life of John Thompson, A Fugitive Slave'', Worcester, Massachusetts, 1855 *Kate E. R. Pickard, ''The Kidnapped and the Ransomed, Being the Personal Recollections of Peter Still and his Wife "Vina," after Forty Years of Slavery'', New York, 1856 * Jermain Wesley Loguen, ''The Rev. J. W. Loguen, as a Slave and as a Freeman, a Narrative of Real Life'', 1859 * Ellen and William Craft, ''Running a thousand Miles for Freedom, or the Escape of William and Ellen Craft from Slavery'', London, 1860 * Harriet Jacobs, '' Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl'', Boston, 1861 *

John Andrew Jackson John Andrew Jackson was an American abolitionist in the nineteenth century. He was born into slavery on a country plantation in Sumter County, South Carolina. His escape north to Canada may have been one of many slave experiences that inspired Har ...

, ''The Experience of a Slave in South Carolina'', London, 1862 *

Jacob D. Green Jacob D. Green (August 24, 1813 – unknown) was an African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partia ...

, ''Narrative of the Life of J. D. Green, a Runaway Slave from Kentucky'', Huddersfield, 1864 *"Recollections of Slavery by a Runaway Slave", ''The Emancipator'', August 23, September 13, September 20, October 11, October 18, 1838, http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/runaway/menu.html, retrieved 09/15/2014

Tales of progress

SlaveNarrativeTheExperienceOfThomasHJones1871

Following the defeat of the slave states of the

Confederate South The Confederate States of America (CSA), commonly referred to as the Confederate States or the Confederacy was an unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United States that existed from February 8, 1861, to May 9, 1865. The Confede ...

, the authors had less need to convey the evils of slavery. Some gave a sentimental account of plantation life and ended with the narrator adjusting to the new life of freedom. The emphasis of writers shifted conceptually toward a recounting of individual and racial progress rather than securing

freedom Freedom is understood as either having the ability to act or change without constraint or to possess the power and resources to fulfill one's purposes unhindered. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving on ...

. Examples include: * James Mars, ''The Life of James Mars, A Slave Born and Sold in Connecticut'', Hartford, 1864 * Paul Jennings, ''A Colored Man's Reminiscences of James Madison'', 1865 * William Parker, ''The Freedman's Story'', published in '' The Atlantic Monthly'', 1866 * Elizabeth Keckley, ''Behind the Scenes: Or, Thirty Years a Slave and Four Years in the White House'', 1868 * William Still, ''

The Underground Railroad Records ''The Underground Railroad Records'' is an 1872 book by William Still, who is known as the Father of the Underground Railroad. It is subtitled ''A record of facts, authentic narratives, letters, &c., narrating the hardships, hair-breadth escapes ...

'', 1872, recounts the experiences of hundreds of slaves *

James Lindsay Smith James Lindsay Smith (ca. 1816 – ca. 1883) was an American slave narrative author, minister, and shoemaker. His memoir ''Autobiography of James L. Smith'' (1881) was one of only six slave narratives published in Connecticut. Life Born a slav ...

, ''Autobiography of James L. Smith'', 1881, published by the '' Norwich Bulletin'' *

, ''

From the Darkness Cometh the Light, or, Struggles for Freedom Lucy Delaney ( Lucy Ann Berry; c. 1828–1830 – August 31, 1910) was an African-American woman, who when she was free was a seamstress, slave narrator, and community leader. She was born into slavery and was primarily held by the Major Taylor ...

'', 1892 — this is unique as the only first-person account of a successful freedom suit * Louis Hughes, ''Thirty Years a Slave: From Bondage to Freedom'', Milwaukee, 1897 * Booker T. Washington, '' Up From Slavery'',

Garden City, New York Garden City is a village located on Long Island in Nassau County New York. It is the Greater Garden City area's anchor community. The population was 23,272 at the 2020 census. The Incorporated Village of Garden City is primarily located within ...

, 1901 *

Sam Aleckson Samuel Williams (c. 1852 – 1946?), better known by his pen name Sam Aleckson, was an American emancipated and author of ''Before the War and After the Union: An Autobiography''. Written in 1914 and published in 1929, His memoir gives a rare look ...

, ''Before the War, and After the Union: An Autobiography'', Boston, 1929

WPA slave narratives

During the

of the 1930s, the

Works Projects Administration (WPA) employed writers and researchers from the

Federal Writers' Project The Federal Writers' Project (FWP) was a federal government project in the United States created to provide jobs for out-of-work writers during the Great Depression. It was part of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), a New Deal program. It ...

to interview and document the stories of African Americans who were former slaves. Most had been children when the Thirteenth Amendment was passed. Produced between 1936 and 1938, the narratives recount the experiences of more than 2,300 former slaves. Some interviews were recorded; 23 of 26 known audio recordings are held by the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress. The last interview of a former slave was with Fountain Hughes, then 101, in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1949."Interview with Fountain Hughes, Baltimore, Maryland, June 11, 1949"
American Folklife Center, Library of Congress, World Digital Library. Retrieved May 26, 2013. He was a grandson of a slave owned by President Thomas Jefferson at Monticello.

North American slave narratives as travel literature

Slave narratives inherently involved travel and form a significant type of travel writing. As John Cox says in ''Traveling South'', "travel was a necessary prelude to the publication of a narrative by a slave, for slavery could not be simultaneously experienced and written." Where many travel narratives are written by privileged travelers, slave narratives show people traveling despite significant legal barriers to their actions, and in this way are a distinct and essential element in how travel narratives formed the American character.

North African slave narratives

In comparison to North American and Caribbean slave narratives, the North African slave narratives in English were written by British and American

white slaves White slavery (also white slave trade or white slave trafficking) refers to the slavery of Europeans, whether by non-Europeans (such as West Asians and North Africans), or by other Europeans (for example naval galley slaves or the Vikings' thr ...

captured (often at sea or through

) and enslaved in North Africa in the 18th and early 19th centuries. These narratives have a distinct form in that they highlight the "otherness" of the Muslim slave traders, whereas the African-American slave narratives often call slave traders to account as fellow Christians. Narratives focused on the central themes of freedom and liberty which drew inspiration from the American Revolution. Since the narratives include the recurrence of themes and events, quoting, and relying heavily upon each other it is believed by scholars that the main source of information was other narratives more so than real captivities. Female captives were depicted as Gothic fiction characters clinging to the hope of freedom thus more relatable to the audience. Examples include: * *''A True and Faithful Account of the Religion and Manners of the Mahometans'' by Joseph Pitts (1663–1735) tells his capture as a boy age 14 or 15 by pirates while fishing off Newfoundland. His sale as a slave and his life under three different masters in North Africa, and his travels to Mecca are all described. *'' Tyrkja-Gudda'', 1952 and 2001 * Thomas Pellow, ''The History of the Long Captivity and Adventures of Thomas Pellow, In South Barbary'', 1740 *''A Curious, Historical and Entertaining Narrative of the Captivity and almost unheard of Sufferings and Cruel treatment of Mr Robert White'', 1790 *''A Journal of the Captivity and Suffering of John Foss; Several Years a Prisoner in Algiers'', 1798 *''History of the Captivity and Sufferings of Mrs Maria Martin who was six years a slave in Algiers; two of which she was confined in a dismal dungeon, loaded with irons, by the command of an inhuman Turkish officer. Written by herself. To which is added, a concise history of Algiers, with the manners and customs of the people,'' 1812 *Captain James Riley, ''

Sufferings in Africa ''Sufferings in Africa'' is an 1817 memoir by James Riley. The memoir relates how Riley and his crew were captured in Africa after being shipwrecked in 1815. Riley was the Captain of the American merchant ship . He led his crew through the Sahara ...

'', 1815 *'' The Narrative of Robert Adams, An American Sailor who was wrecked on the West Coast of Africa in the year 1810; was detained Three Years in Slavery by the Arabs of the Great Desert'', 1816 * James Leander Cathcart, ''The Captives, Eleven Years a Prisoner in Algiers'', published in 1899, many years after his captivity

Women's slave narratives

Narratives by enslaved women include the memoirs of Harriet Jacobs, Mary Prince, Mattie J. Jackson, and "old Elizabeth," among others. In her narrative, Mary Prince, a Bermuda-born woman and slave discusses her deep connection with her master's wife and the pity she felt for the wife as she witnessed the "ill-treatment" the wife suffered at the hands of her husband.Prince, Mary. ''The History of Mary Prince, a West Indian Slave: Related by Herself'', University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library, 2017. ProQuest Ebook Central. Prince was taught to read by Moravian missionaries. Literacy, however, was not a common theme for all enslaved women. The life story of "old Elizabeth" was transcribed from her oral account at the age of 97.

Other historical slave narratives

As slavery has been practised all over the world for millennia, some narratives cover places and times other than these main two. One example is the account given by John R. Jewitt, an English armourer enslaved for years by Maquinna of the Nootka people in the Pacific Northwest. The '' Canadian Encyclopedia'' calls his memoir a "classic of captivity literature" and it is a rich source of information about the indigenous people of Vancouver Island. *''Narrative of the Adventures and Sufferings of John R. Jewitt, only survivor of the crew of the ship Boston, during a captivity of nearly three years among the savages of Nootka Sound: with an account of the manners, mode of living, and religious opinions of the natives.'' Middletown, Connecticut, printed by Loomis and Richards, 1815 Maria ter Meetelen (1704 in Amsterdam – fl. 1751), was a Dutch writer of an autobiography. Her biography is considered to be a valuable witness statement of the life of a former slave (1748). * Maria ter Meetelen, ''The Curious and Amazing Adventures of Maria ter Meetelen; Twelve Years a Slave (1731- 43)'', Translated and Introduced by Caroline Stone. (Hardinge Simpole, 2010

Contemporary slave narratives

Nonfiction

A contemporary slave narrative is a recent memoir written by a former slave, or ghost writer, ghost-written on their behalf. Modern areas of the world in which slavery occurs include the Sudan. ''Escape from Slavery: The True Story of My Ten Years in Captivity – and My Journey to Freedom in America'' (2003) by Francis Bok and Edward Tivnan, and ''Slave'' by Mende Nazer and Damien Lewis, describe from slavery experiences in the Sudan. "Another Slave Narrative", a film series, was launched by filmmaker Michelle Jackson on December 18, 2016. Jackson, inspired by an interview with a former slave, decided to present the stories of previously enslaved people in a series of short films. A cast of 22 actors of mixed sex, race, and age, read out individual slaves' interviews from the

Slave Narrative Collection ''Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States'' (often referred to as the WPA Slave Narrative Collection) is a collection of histories by formerly enslaved people undertaken by the Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progre ...

which includes more than 2,300 interviews conducted from 1936–38. Jackson's aim is to document every single fate and hence approach the taboo of slavery, and keep the memory of the slaves alive through these videos.

Fictional

'' The Underground Railroad'' by National Book Award winner Colson Whitehead takes place in an alternative version of the 19th century. Cora, a slave on a cotton farm in Georgia escapes via the Underground Railroad. The novel was well received. It was said to possess "the chilling, matter-of-fact power of the slave narratives collected by the Federal Writers' Project in the 1930s, with echoes of Toni Morrison's '' Beloved''" and could be considered as a modern-tale fictional slave narrative.

Neo-slave narratives

A neo-slave narrative — a term coined by

Ishmael Reed Ishmael Scott Reed (born February 22, 1938) is an American poet, novelist, essayist, songwriter, composer, playwright, editor and publisher known for his satirical works challenging American political culture. Perhaps his best-known work is '' M ...

while working on his 1976 novel Flight to Canada and used by him in a 1984 interview — is a modern fictional work set in the slavery era by contemporary authors or substantially concerned with depicting the experience or the effects of enslavement in the New World. The works are largely classified as

s, but may pertain to poetical works as well. The renaissance of the postmodern slave narratives in the 20th century was a means to deal retrospectively with slavery, and to give a fictional account of historical facts from the first-person perspective. Examples include: * Madison Smartt Bell, ''

All Souls' Rising All or ALL may refer to: Language * All, an indefinite pronoun in English * All, one of the English determiners * Allar language (ISO 639-3 code) * Allative case (abbreviated ALL) Music * All (band), an American punk rock band * ''All'' (All a ...

'' (1995), first of trilogy about the

Haitian Revolution The Haitian Revolution (french: révolution haïtienne ; ht, revolisyon ayisyen) was a successful insurrection by slave revolt, self-liberated slaves against French colonial rule in Saint-Domingue, now the sovereign state of Haiti. The revolt ...

* David Bradley, '' The Chaneysville Incident'' (1981) * Octavia E. Butler, '' Kindred'' (1979) *

Noni Carter Noni Carter is an American author from Fayetteville, Georgia, whose first book, ''Good Fortune'', was released by Simon & Schuster in January 2010. The young-adult novel is about the life of a slave girl who was snatched from her homeland in Afr ...

, ''Good Fortune'' (2010), young adult novel *

David Anthony Durham David Anthony Durham (born March 23, 1969) is an American novelist, author of historical fiction and fantasy. Durham's first novel, ''Gabriel's Story'', centered on African American settlers in the American West. ''Walk Through Darkness'' fo ...

, '' Walk Through Darkness'' (2002) * Ernest J. Gaines, '' The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman'' (1971) *

Alex Haley Alexander Murray Palmer Haley (August 11, 1921 – February 10, 1992) was an American writer and the author of the 1976 book '' Roots: The Saga of an American Family.'' ABC adapted the book as a television miniseries of the same name and a ...

, ''

Roots: The Saga of an American Family ''Roots: The Saga of an American Family'' is a 1976 novel written by Alex Haley. It tells the story of Kunta Kinte, an 18th-century African, captured as an adolescent, sold into slavery in Africa, and transported to North America; it follows h ...

'' (1976) * Marie-Elena John, '' Unburnable'' (2006) * Edward P. Jones, '' The Known World'' (2003) * Toni Morrison, '' Beloved'' (1987) * William Styron, ''

Confessions of Nat Turner ''The Confessions of Nat Turner'' is a 1967 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by American writer William Styron. Presented as a first-person narrative by historical figure Nat Turner, the novel concerns Nat Turner's slave rebellion in Virginia in 18 ...

'' (1967) * Natasha Trethewey, ''

Native Guard Native may refer to: People * Jus soli, citizenship by right of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Native Americans (disambiguation) In arts and entertai ...

'' (2006) * Margaret Walker, '' Jubilee'' (1966) * Sherley Anne Williams, ''

Dessa Rose ''Dessa Rose'' is a novel by Sherley Anne Williams published in 1986 by HarperCollins. The book is a neo-slave narrative, incorporating many elements of traditional slave narratives. The book is divided into three sections: "The Darky", "The We ...

'' (1986) * Évelyne Trouillot, ''

The Infamous Rosalie ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in E ...

'' (2003) *

Manu Herbstein Manu Herbstein (born 1936) is the South African author of '' Ama, a Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade'' (2001), which won the 2002 Commonwealth Writers Prize Commonwealth Foundation presented a number of prizes between 1987 and 2011. The main awa ...

, '' Ama: A Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade'' (2001) *

, ''

Brave Music of a Distant Drum Brave most commonly refers to: *Brave, an adjective for one who possesses courage *Braves (Native Americans), a EuroAmerican stereotype for Native American warriors Brave(s) or The Brave(s) may also refer to: Film and television * ''Brave'' (199 ...

'' (2011) * Colson Whitehead, '' The Underground Railroad'' (2016)

References

External links

"Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936–1938"
''American Memory'', Library of Congress.
"North American Slave Narratives, Beginnings to 1920"
''Documenting the American South'', University of North Carolina.

– WPA oral histories of former US slaves collected in the 1930s, American Studies, University of Virginia.
eTexts
– Oral histories of former US slaves collected in the 1930s by the Work Projects Administration hosted at Project Gutenberg.
University of South Florida Libraries: Florida Slave Narratives
Narratives of African-Americans who spent their childhood and teenage years as slaves. {{Authority control American literature Cultural history of the United States Oral history African-American cultural history Narrative Narrative Literary genres

As a literary genre

North American slave narratives

Tales of religious redemption

Tales to inspire the abolitionist movement

Tales of progress

WPA slave narratives

North American slave narratives as travel literature

North African slave narratives

Women's slave narratives

Other historical slave narratives

Contemporary slave narratives

Nonfiction

Fictional

Neo-slave narratives

See also

Literature

Authors of slave narratives

Other

References

External links