Curricular Resources > 1985 Volume V > Unit 2 (85.05.02) > Section 5

Odysseys: Nineteenth and Twentieth-Century African-American History ThroughPersonal Narrative

CONTENTS OF CURRICULUM UNIT 85.05.02

Unit Guide

Slave Narratives: Black Autobiography in Nineteenth-Century America

Robert A. Gibson

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A SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books Recommended for Teachers

Allen, Richard. The Life Experience and Gospel Labors of the Right Reverend Richard Allen . Nashville: Abingdon Press, [1833] 1960.

Narrative of Richard Allen, founding Bishop of the A.M.E. Church.

Ball, Charles. Fifty Years in Chains; Or The Life Of An American Slave . New York: H. Dayton, 1858.

Narrative of Charles Ball.

Bibb, Henry. Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Henry Bibb, An American Slave, Written by Himself . New York: Negro Universities Press, [1849] 1969.

Narrative of Henry Bibb.

Blassingame, John W. ed. Slave Testimony: Two Centuries of Letters, Speeches, Interviews and Autobiographies . Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1977.

A large collection of primary sources relating to the slave experience in the United States including slave narratives.

Bontemps, Arna, ed. Five Black Lives . Middletown: Wesleyan University Press, 1971.

A collection of narratives written by ex-slaves who lived in Connecticut: Venture Smith, James Mars, William Grimes, Rev. G. W. Offley, and James L. Smith.

Bontemps, Arna, ed. Great Slave Narratives. Boston: Beacon Press, 1969.

A collection of the narratives of Olaudah Equiano, James Pennington, and William and Ellen Craft.

Botkin, B. A., ed. Lay My Burden Down: A Folk History of Slavery . Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1945.

A selection of excerpts and several complete narratives from the WPA Slave Narrative Collection.

Brown, Henry Box. Narrative of the Life of Henry Box Brown, Written by Himself . Philadelphia: Rhistoric Publishers [1851] 1969.

Narrative of Henry Box Brown.

Davis, Charles T. and Henry L. Gates, Jr., eds. The Slave’s Narrative. New York: Oxford University Press, 1985.

A comprehensive collection of critical and analytical essays and reviews of the slave narrative literature by several authors.

Douglass, Frederick. My Bondage and My Freedom . New York: Arno, [1855] 1968.

Narrative of Douglass’ life up to 1850s.

———. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Written by Himself . Garden City: Doubleday [1845] 1963.

Douglass’ first narrative; considered the best of the slave narrative genre.

Egypt, Ophelia Settle et al., eds. Unwritten History of Slavery: Autobiographical Accounts of Negro Ex-Slaves . Nashville: Social Science Institute, 1945.

A collection of slave interviews made by Fisk University in the 1920s.

Elkins, Stanley. Slavery . Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1959.

A controversial study of slavery which argues that American slavery was so psychologically repressive that blacks were reduced to fawning, dependent, childlike “Sambos.”

Escott, Paul D. Slavery Remembered: A Record of Twentieth-Century Slave Narratives . Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1979.

An analysis of the slave experience based on the WPA and Fisk University slave narratives.

Genovese, Eugene D. Roll, Jordon, Roll: The World The Slaves Made . New York: Pantheon Books, 1974.

An analysis of the American slave experience.

Gutman, Herbert. The Black Family in Slavery and Freedom, 1750-1925 . New York: Pantheon Books, 1976.

An important study of African American family and cultural development.

Henson, Josiah. Truth Stranger Than Fiction, Father Henson’s Story of His Own Life . Chicago: Afro-American Press, [1858] 1970.

Narrative of Josiah Henson.

Hurmence, Belinda, ed. My Folks Don’t Want Me to Talk About Slavery . Winston-Salem: John F. Blair, 1984.

A selection of 21 interviews of former North Carolina slaves from the WPA Slave Narrative Collection.

Jacobs, Harriet. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl . Detroit: Negro History Press, [1861] 1969.

Narrative of Linda Brent.

Katz, William L., ed. Five Slave Narratives . New York: Arno Press, 1969.

A collection of narratives by Lunceford Lane, James Pennington, William Wells Brown, Jacob Stroyer and Moses Granby.

Killion, Ronald and Charles Waller, eds. Slavery Time When I Was Chillun Down On Marster’s Plantation: Interviews with Georgia Slaves. Savannah: The Beehive Press, 1973.

A collection of WPA interviews of former slaves from Georgia.

Lane, Lunceford. The Narrative of Lunceford Lane, Formerly of Raleigh, N. C. New York: Arno Press, [1842] 1968.

Narrative of Lunceford Lane.

Levine, Lawrence W. Black Culture and Black Consciousness . New York: Oxford University Press, 1977.

An important study which uses slave narratives to analyze the cultural and religious life of Afro-Americans.

Loguen, Jermain W. The Rev. J. W. Loguen, As A Slave and As A Freeman: A narrative of Real Life . New York: Negro Universities Press, [1859] 1968.

Narrative of J. W. Loguen.

Nichols, Charles H., ed. Many Thousand Gone: The Ex-Slaves’ Account Of Their Bondage and Freedom. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1963.

An important study of slavery which relies heavily on slave narratives.

Northup, Solomon. Twelve Years A Slave . Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, [1853] 1968.

Narrative of a free black who was kidnapped and sold into slavery for twelve years.

Osofsky, Gilbert, ed. Puttin’ On Ole Massa . New York: Harper and Rowe, 1969.

An anthology of narratives by Henry Bibb, William Wells Brown and Solomon Northup.

Owens, Leslie Howard. This Species of Property . New York: Oxford University Press, 1976.

An analysis of antebellum slave life and culture.

Phillips, Ulrich B. American Negro Slavery. New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1918.

A classic study of slavery which portrays slavery as an essentially benign institution that conferred many benefits upon a backward race.

Rawick, George P., ed. The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography , 31 vols. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1972-78.

A multi-volume compilation of all known WPA slave narratives, including two volumes of Fisk University interviews of ex-slaves and an interpretive essay on slave life by the editor.

Redpath, James. The Roving Editor: or, Talks with Slaves in the Southern States . New York: Negro Universities Press, [1859] 1969.

Interviews with slaves prior to the Civil War made by a northern journalist.

Stampp, Kenneth. The Peculiar Institution . New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1956.

A study which depicts slavery as a primarily harsh, repressive system for the exploitation of cheap labor.

Starling, Marion Wilson. The Slave Narrative: Its Place in American Literary History . Doctoral thesis, New York University, 1946.

An important history and analysis of the slave narrative literature.

Starobin, Robert S., ed. Blacks in Bondage: Letters of American Slaves. New York: New Viewpoints, 1974.

A collection of letters written by slaves.

Stern, Sheldon M. The Black Response To Enslavement: Reinterpretations of the Behavior and Personality of American Slaves . Washington: University Press of America, 1976.

An anthology of sections of nineteenth century and WPA slave narratives with an interpretive essay by the author.

Thompson, John. The Life of John Thompson, A Fugitive Slave. New York: Negro Universities Press, [1856] 1968.

Narrative of John Thompson.

Truth, Sojourner. Narrative of Sojourner Truth . Boston, 1850. Narrative of Sojourner Truth.

Unger, Irwin and David Reimer. The Slavery Experience in the United States. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1970.

An anthology of articles on the slave experience.

Winks, Robin W. et al., eds. Four Fugitive Slave Narratives. Reading: Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., 1969.

Narratives of William Wells Brown, Josiah Henson, Austin Steward, and Benjamin Drew.

WPA. Federal Writers Project. The Negro in Virginia. New York: Arno Press, [1940] 1969.

Selections from the Virginia narratives of the WPA Slave Narrative Collection.

Yetman, Norman R., ed. Voices From Slavery . New York: Holt, Rhinehart and Winston, 1970.

A collection of 100 complete narratives from the WPA Slave Narrative Collection.

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