Kevin and Anita make excellent points about these narratives--which
are, be it noted, on the *Library of Congress* Web site
(http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/snhtml/snhome.html), not that of the
National Archives! And Nancy's points about the great human complexity
of slavery are also important to bear in mind when approaching these
materials.
For a fuller discussion of the reasons why these narratives cannot be
taken at face value, vitally informative though they can be with
skillful interpretation, please see the introductory essay by Norman
Yetman (http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/snhtml/snintro00.html),
particularly the sections on:
"The Limitations of the Slave Narrative Collection: Problems of Memory"
(http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/snhtml/snintro14.html)
"The Limitations of the Slave Narrative Collection: Race and
Representativeness" (http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/snhtml/snintro15.html)
"Should the Slave Narrative Collection Be Used?"
(http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/snhtml/snintro16.html)
For more guidance on how to make sense of these materials, see
particularly the following works, included in the bibliography at
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/snhtml/snrelated.html#bib:
Blassingame, John W. "Using the Testimony of Ex-Slaves: Approaches and
Problems." Journal of Southern History 41 (1975): 473-92.
Woodward, C. Vann. "History from Slave Sources." American Historical
Review 79 (1974): 470-81.
And this work also, which is a case study in how one set of interviews
was heavily edited to bring them into accord with white WPA workers'
preconceptions:
Musher, Sharon Ann. "Contesting 'The Way the Almighty Wants It':
Crafting Memories of Ex-Slaves in the Slave Narrative Collection."
American Quarterly 53 (2001): 1-31.
Best wishes--
--Jurretta
>> On Feb 28, 2007, at 10:21 PM, Basil Forest wrote:
>>
>>> I just finished reviewing the slave narratives taken from former
>>> slaves by
>>> the WPA during the Depression that is available from the National
>>> Archives. I
>>> was surprised at how many of the former slaves were so nostalgic
>>> for the
>>> days when they were slaves (it seemed to be the clear majority),
>>> and their
>>> comments on how well they were provided for by their masters. I
>>> was equally
>>> surprised by how few of the former slaves complained about their
>>> treatment by
>>> their masters.
>>>
>>> Has anyone compiled data on the positive versus negative comments
>>> of these
>>> 2300 former slaves that were part of the WPA project?
>>>
>>> I reviewed the entire group of interviews, not just those selected by
>>> ancestry.com for their CD.
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