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Contents : READINGS FROM THE SLAVE NARRATIVES What was it like to be enslaved in the United States More than 2 000 African Americans answered that question in interviews conducted during the 1930s. Their voices come to life inside the pages of this magazine -- and in the extraordinary new documentary Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narratives. Premiering Monday February 10 2003 at 8PM/7C. www.hbo.com/unchained NOTEBOOK From Africa to America: Enslaved Africans' Countries of Origin (1619-1865) can constitute a state. I think we must get rid of slavery or we must get rid of freedom." --Ralph Waldo Emerson poet 1856 S L AV E R Y B Y T H E NUMBERS 12 000 000 Approximate number of Africans shipped across the Atlantic Ocean between 1450 and 1850 primarily to colonies in North America South America and the West Indies. "Democratic liberty exists solely because we have slaves ... freedom is not possible without slavery." --Richmond Enquirer 1856 "Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally." --President Abraham Lincoln 1865 3 953 760 Total number of enslaved people in the southern states in 1860. 0 Total number of enslaved people in the free states of the North as of 1860. in T I M E "I had crossed the line. I was free but there was no one to welcome me to the land of freedom. I was a stranger in a strange land." "No man can put a chain around the ankle of his fellow man without at last finding the other end fastened about his own neck." --Frederick Douglass liberated slave and civil rights activist 1883 --Harriet Tubman who escaped from slavery in 1849 and went on to lead 300 slaves to freedom 100 000 Number of ex-slaves still alive in the late 1930s. 2 300 Ex-slaves interviewed in the 1930s for the Slave Narratives now housed at Library of Congress. "If I had my life to live over I would die fighting rather than be a slave again." --Robert Falls former slave in WPA interview conducted in the 1930s AMERICAN ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY "I do not see how a barbarous community and a civilized community LIBRARY OF CONGRESS A NATION DIVIDED: This 1856 map shows the division between slave and free states. The numbers in white indicate the percentage of families in each southern state that owned slaves. Under the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 the question of slavery in the territories was supposed to be decided by a vote of settlers. But instead of providing a peaceful solution the Kansas-Nebraska Act led to fierce and bloody conflict propelling the U.S. toward civil war. HUMAN CARGO: Flyers like this one distributed in Charleston South Carolina in 1769 advertised the sale of enslaved Africans. 2 W HAT ARE THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS (2) S LAVE N ARRATIVES U N C H A I N E D uring the Great Depression of the 1930s the Federal Government came up with a creative new way to put unemployed writers back to work. Armed with tape recorders and lists of questions members of the Federal Writers' Project set out to record the experiences and opinions of everyday people. As part of this project thousands of former slaves in 17 states were interviewed. One result of these oral history interviews was the Slave Narrative Collection an extraordinary set of 2 300 autobiographical documents now housed at the Library of Congress. These interviews all of which were conducted between 1936 and 1938 gave former slaves an unparalleled chance to share their memories of life in bondage. For contemporary Americans these narratives provide a riveting chronicle of what it was like to be enslaved in the United States. D FROM SLAVERY TO FREEDOM: This rare photograph shows a group of ex-slaves in Cumberland Landing Virginia in 1862 the year after the Civil War began. About the Language of the Slave Narratives In his instructions to interviewers the director of the Federal Writers' Project noted that "details of the interview should be reported as accurately as possible in the language of the original statements." In response the interviewers--most of whom were white-- made an effort to capture in writing the speech patterns of the men and women with whom they spoke. (Some interviewers tape-recorded the conversations while many relied solely on written notes.) In some cases the resulting transcripts contain clear exaggerations or racist notions of African Americans. As one historian has noted the transcripts are a mix "of accuracy and fantasy of sensitivity and stereotype of empathy and racism." When reading or listening to the narratives it is important to remember the process by which the interviewees' words were recorded on paper. It is also important to remember the historical context in which the narratives were produced. Certain words that the former slaves used may be offensive or disturbing. But the narratives are a reflection of the time and place at which they were created. As such they illuminate a world that is important for all Americans to explore. s MEMORIES WILBERFORCE HOUSE MUSEUM KINGSTON UPON HULL CITY MUSEUM AND ART GALLERY The Slave Narratives on the Web More than 2 000 slave narratives-- along with 500 photos--are available online at the Library of Congress' "Born in Slavery" website at http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/snhtml/snhome.html. For more information about the new HBO documentary Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narratives visit www.hbo.com/unchained. And for teaching materials and additional resources related to the slave narratives go to www.timeclassroom.com/unchained. BRUTAL CONDITIONS: Devices such as this one were used to restrain slaves. 3 MEMORIES "None of us was allowed to see a book or try to learn." Mush and Beans " LIBRARY OF CONGRESS (7) U N C H A I N E D I remember quite well how those poor little children used to have to eat. They were fed in boxes and troughs under the house. They were fed cornmeal mush and beans. When this was poured into their box they would gather around it the same as we see pigs horses and cattle gather around troughs today." --Octavia George Oklahoma Born in 1847 in Victoria County Texas MARTIN JACKSON was 90 when this 1937 photo was taken. Studying the Spelling Book E NSLAVED PEOPLE STARTED WORKING AT a very early age: many began their labors in the master's house where they served as playmates for white children. Despite this closeness black and white children could not attend school together. In fact in most states it was against the law for slaves to be educated. " None of us was 'lowed to see a book or try to learn. Dey say we git smarter den dey was if we learn anything but we slips around and gits hold of dat Webster's old blue-back speller and we hides it 'til way in de night and den we lights a little pine torch and studies dat spellin' book. We learn it too." --Jenny Proctor Texas My New Master Was Only Two PLANTATION LIFE: This group of slaves photographed in 1862 worked on Smith's Plantation in Beaufort South Carolina. " 4 My earliest recollection is the day my old boss presented me to his son Joe as his property. I was about five years old and my new master was only two ... No sir I never went into books. I used to handle a big dictionary three times a day but it was only to put it on a chair so my young master could sit up higher at the table. I never went to school. I learned to talk pretty good by associating with my masters in their big house." --Martin Jackson Texas JENNY PROCTOR began working in the cotton fields when she was 10. She was 87 when she shared her memories of slavery. U N C H A I N E D about 75 field niggers and go by de toolshed and git our hoes or maybe go hitch up de mules to de plows." --Charley Williams Arkansas 300 Pounds of Cotton " COMING AND GOING: Horns like this one I used to have to pick cotton and sometime I pick 300 pound and tote it a mile to de cotton house. Some pick 300 to 800 pound cotton and have to tote de bag de whole mile to de gin. Iffen dey didn't do dey work dey git whip till dey have blister on 'em ... I never git whip cause I allus git my 300 pound." --Sarah Ashley Texas SARAH ASHLEY was 93 when she recalled MEMORIES her days on a Texas plantation. were used to call slaves to work. B Y AGE 12 MOST CHILDREN WORKED in the fields where they grew crops like tobacco rice and cotton. Slaves generally worked six days a week from sunrise to sundown. The children "were fed in boxes and troughs ... same as we see pigs horses and cattle." A PPROXIMATELY ONE IN THREE SLAVE families was split apart. One-fifth of all enslaved children were separated from their parents. JAMES GREEN shown here Bells and Horns in 1937 told of being bought for $800. " Bells and horns! Bells for dis and horns for dat! All we knowed was go and come by de bells and horns! Old ram horn blow to send us all to de field. We all line up The Last Time I Heard Her Speak " I never knowed my age till after de war ... and then marster gits out a big book an it shows I's 25 year old. It shows I's 12 when I is bought and $800 is paid for me ... My mammy was owned by John Williams in Petersburg in Virginia and I come born to her on dat plantation ... Then one day along come a Friday and that a unlucky star day and I playin' round de house and Marster Williams come up and say Delis will you 'low Jim walk down de street with me ' My mammy say All right Jim you be a good boy ' and dat de las' time I ever heard her speak or ever see her." --James Green Texas 5

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