Slave Narratives: African American Experiences

This assignment analyzes 'Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers’ Project', a collection of first-person narratives by over 2,300 former slaves. It examines the significance of these narratives, particularly those by prominent figures like Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass, in revealing the realities of slavery. The essay also discusses the challenges of interpreting these narratives due to their colloquial language and inherent emotional complexities.

Running head: AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY
AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

1AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY
Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers’ Project composed from the
year 1936 to 1938 is a collection of narratives of more than 2300 slaves in first-person. The
collection also containing 500 black-and-white photographs of former slaves is in a form
interview by the writers of the Work Progress Administration (Bryant, 1938). In this essay, the
narratives are mostly by the slaves from Africa who were taken to North America for slavery
during 1930s.
The foremost remarkable initiative was taken from some former slaves like Harriet
Tubman, Harriet Jacobs and Fredrick Douglas who for the first time took an initiative to publish
their personal experience of enslavement that they suffered (Douglass, 2015). They not only
composed their sufferings but also highlighted the struggles that they confronted while escaping.
This gave them an opportunity to present the realism of slavery. It is believed that there were 294
slave narratives in total that were mostly from the personal experiences of the slaves (Bryant,
1938).
The narratives which are generally in the colloquial language is quite challenging as there
were pauses, discrepancies and repetitions. The narrative is a worth reading as it brings out the
unpredicted details, the unexpressed feelings and concealed meanings that were embedded in the
thoughts of the sufferers (Smithers, 2012). For instance, when Emma Crockett, a slave, spoke
about beatings and thrashings she told the interviewers that “All I knowed, ‘twas bad times and
folks got whupped, but I kain’t say who was to blame; some was good and some was bad’
(Smithers, 2012).
Thus, it can be concluded that narrative, Book on Slavery: Slave Narratives from the
Federal Writers highlights the life and struggles that these African-American slave encountered.

2AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY
These writings and the narratives remain an inspirational piece of inscription for one and all to
overcome the hurdles in their life.

3AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY
References
Bryant, R. Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers’ Project, 1936–
1938. Missouri Narratives, 10, 61.
Douglass, F. (2015). Narrative of the life of Fredrick Douglass. Xist Publishing.
Smithers, G. D. (2012). Slave breeding: sex, violence, and memory in African American History.
University Press of Florida.