[log in to unmask] wrote:
> Has anyone done an analysis of the positive recollections versus the  
> negative recollections in these narratives?  I would also be curious what  that would 
> disclose.  Perhaps it would indicate something that no one wants  to 
> admit....that slavery in fact was not all that dehumanizing or cruel as far  as the 
> actual participants were concerned.
>  
> I assume these are first hand narratives with actual  former slaves.  I think 
> it is interesting that some of you want to  argue with the first hand 
> recollections of the actual participants in slavery as  to whether they knew what 
> they were talking about in describing their actual  experience.
>  
>  
> JD South
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Historians must always appraise the reliability of the sources they use. 
Yes, there are quite a few evaluations of the WPA slave narratives. The 
reflections of the late John Blassingame are worth considering (see the 
introduction to his edited collection, Slave Testimony). 

In my classes, I have students read and interpret what they believe to 
be interviews with two different ex-slaves. The interviews present very 
different views of the institution, but in fact are both interviews of 
the same person (one by a young black man, the other by a middle-aged 
white woman). We discuss the differences and the precautions one must 
take in using interviews such as these.

Doug Deal

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