African American Studies

From 1936 to 1938, over 2,300 former slaves from across the American South were interviewed by writers and journalists under the Works Progress Administration. This website, from the University of Virginia, provides access to some narratives and photographs. The entire collection of narratives can be found in this text: George P. Rawick, ed., The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1972-79).

The entire project of "Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1938" contains over 2,300 firsthand accounts of slavery in the American South. This online collection is a joint project of the Manuscript and Prints and Photographs Divisions of the Library of Congress. It contains 200+ photographs and many narratives.

"North American Slave Narratives" collects books and articles documenting both the individual and collective story of African Americans struggling for freedom and human rights from the 18th-early 20th centuries. This project from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill includes autobiographical, biographical, and fictional accounts of slavery. Materials were published in many formats including books, broadsides, and pamphlets, and all were published in English prior to 1920.

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.