- "Over six thousand such narratives are estimated to exist."
Examining the slave narrative and exploring the impact of slavery on African American literature.
The Transatlantic slave trade: The system that facilitated the capture, transport, and sale of enslaved Africans to the New World.
Abolitionism: The movement to abolish slavery, which began in the late 18th century and gained momentum in the 19th century.
Plantation life: The daily life and work of enslaved people on plantation farms.
Civil War: The role of slavery in causing the Civil War and enslaved people's experiences during the conflict.
Jim Crow laws: The segregation and oppression that faced African Americans in the post-slavery era.
Frederick Douglass: A prominent figure in the abolitionist movement and author of several slave narratives.
Harriet Tubman: A former enslaved person who became a leading abolitionist and helped many people escape slavery through the Underground Railroad.
The Underground Railroad: A network of safe houses and escape routes used by enslaved people to escape to freedom before and during the Civil War.
The Emancipation Proclamation: The executive order issued by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863 that declared all enslaved people in Confederate-held territory free.
Reconstruction: The period after the Civil War when the United States government attempted to rebuild the country and ensure the rights of newly freed slaves.
Toni Morrison: A Pulitzer Prize-winning author who wrote extensively about the experiences of African Americans, including those who had been enslaved.
Narrative techniques: The literary devices and narrative techniques used in slave narratives to convey the experiences of enslaved people and their struggle for freedom.
The Harlem Renaissance: A cultural movement in the 1920s and 1930s that celebrated African American art, music, and literature and included many works that explored the experiences of enslaved people.
Chattel Slavery: A type of slavery where people are considered property and can be bought and sold like objects. Chattel slavery was prevalent throughout the United States until it was officially abolished in 1865 by the 13th Amendment.
Debt Bondage: A form of slavery where people become enslaved as a result of being unable to pay off a debt. In this type of slavery, the person is forced to work off the debt, and the debt is often passed down to future generations.
Forced Labor: A type of slavery where people are made to work against their will. It is often associated with the trafficking of people and can involve both men and women being forced to work in sweatshops, factories, or as domestic servants.
Child Slavery: A type of slavery where children are exploited for labor. This can occur in many forms, including forced labor, domestic servitude, and other forms of exploitation. Many child slaves are forced to work in hazardous and abusive conditions.
Sexual Slavery: A type of slavery where people are forced into prostitution or other forms of sexual exploitation. It is often associated with the trafficking of women and children.
Autobiographical Slave Narratives: A type of slave narrative that recounts the life of a single individual. Examples include "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass" and "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.".
Collective Slave Narratives: A type of slave narrative that recounts the experiences of a group of slaves. Examples include "The Book of Negroes" and "Slave Testimony.".
Fictional Slave Narratives: A type of slave narrative that uses fictional characters and situations to explore the experiences of slaves. Examples include "Beloved" by Toni Morrison and "The Underground Railroad" by Colson Whitehead.
Biographical Slave Narratives: A type of slave narrative that recounts the life of a single individual but is written by someone else. Examples include "A Colored Man's Reminiscences of James Madison" and "The Life of William Grimes, the Runaway Slave.".
- "About 150 narratives were published as separate books or pamphlets."
- "In the United States during the Great Depression (1930s), more than 2,300 additional oral histories on life during slavery were collected."
- "Writers sponsored and published by the Works Progress Administration, a New Deal program."
- "Most of the 26 audio-recorded interviews are held by the Library of Congress."
- "White Europeans and later Americans, captured and sometimes enslaved in North Africa by local Muslims, usually Barbary pirates."
- "These were part of a broad category of 'captivity narratives'."
- "North African accounts did not continue to compile after the Napoleonic Era."
- "Accounts from North Americans, captured by western tribes migrating west continued until the end of the 19th century."
- "Given the problem of international contemporary slavery in the 20th and 21st centuries, additional slave narratives are being written and published."
- "The slave narrative is a type of literary genre."
- "Enslaved Africans, particularly in the Americas."
- "More than 2,300 additional oral histories on life during slavery were collected."
- "Writers sponsored and published by the Works Progress Administration."
- "A New Deal program."
- "Most of the 26 audio-recorded interviews are held by the Library of Congress."
- "White Europeans and later Americans."
- "Local Muslims, usually Barbary pirates."
- "After the Napoleonic Era."
- "Until the end of the 19th century."