[Linganth] Voices from the Days of Slavery: Former Slaves Tell Their Stories

[P. Kerim Friedman]

Voices from the Days of Slavery: Former Slaves Tell Their Stories
provides the opportunity to listen to former slaves describe their
lives. These interviews, conducted between 1932 and 1975, capture the
recollections of twenty-three identifiable people born between 1823 and
the early 1860s and known to have been former slaves. Several of the
people interviewed were centenarians, the oldest being 130 at the time
of the interview. The almost seven hours of recordings were made in
nine Southern states and provide an important glimpse of what life was
like for slaves and freedmen. The former slaves discuss how they felt
about slavery, slaveholders, how slaves were coerced, their families,
and, of course, freedom. It is important to keep in mind, however, that
all of those interviewed spoke sixty or more years after the end of
their enslavement, and it is their full lives, rather than their lives
during slavery, that are reflected in their words. They have much to
say about living as African Americans from the 1870s to the 1930s, and
beyond. As part of their testimony, several of the ex-slaves sing
songs, many of which were learned during the time of their enslavement.

<http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/vfshtml/vfshome.html>