Slave narratives
Scope and Contents
Over 375 slave narratives printed from microfilm. These interviews of former slaves and children of former slaves took place between 1936 and 1938. A typescript of Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States from Interviews with Former Slaves. Narratives cover slavery in Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama. Accounts describe treatment of slaves: whipping, auctioning and slaves being forced by masters to steal food. Runaway slaves are mentioned, as well as the patrollers who caught them. The narratives discuss recreational slave activities such as fiddling, dancing, corn shucking and candy pulling. The end of the Civil War and its effects are explained: voting problems, sharecropping, Lincoln's visit to Atlanta, Ku Klux Klan activity, segregation and post-slavery religion.
Dates
- Creation: approximately 1936-1938
Creator
- Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration for the State of Arkansas (Organization)
Conditions Governing Access
Open for public research.
Conditions Governing Use
It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain any necessary copyright clearances. Permission to publish material from Slave narratives must be obtained from the Supervisor of Reference Services and/or the L. Tom Perry Special Collections Board of Curators.
Extent
1 box (0.5 linear ft.)
2 cartons (2.5 linear ft.)
Language of Materials
English
Custodial History
These items were donated to Special Collections in 2007.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Donated; 2007.
Appraisal
Utah and the American West and LDS cultural, social, and religious history (20th century Western & Mormon Manuscripts collection development policy, 5.VII, 2007).
- Title
- Register of Slave narratives
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Garrett Schroath
- Date
- 2011 April 4
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English in Latin script.
Repository Details
Part of the L. Tom Perry Special Collections Repository
1130 HBLL
Brigham Young University
Provo Utah 84602 United States