Wednesday, February 11, 2009

AMERICAN SLAVERY: A COMPOSITE AUTOBIOGRAPHY

During Black History Month, we'd like to remind the community about a resource that the University Library added several years ago at the request of our former president, Dr. Corts.
The source is "American Slavery: a Composite Autobiography." Click here to access it.

Published online in 2000, this Greenwood product reproduces over 2,000 American slave narratives. The database is searchable by name of the narrator, subject under discussion, “master,” interviewer, and county. These narratives are a primary source treasure trove for researchers. The narratives are filled with detail and provide first-hand accounts of slave life and life after slavery. They were recorded in the 1930’s by the Works Project Administration, and the interviewing methods and questions as well as the interviewers are themselves potential subjects for research. Several sound files, recorded in the South in the mid-‘30s by Alan Lomax, Zora Neale Hurston, and Mary Elizabeth Barnicle, are also included in the collection.

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