Bullwhip Days
The Slaves Remember
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4.0 • 8 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
“Twenty-nine oral histories and additional excerpts, selected from 2000 interviews with former slaves conducted in the 1930s for a WPA Federal Writers Project, document the conditions of slavery that . . . lie at the root of today’s racism.” —Publishers Weekly
In the 1930s, the Works Progress Administration commissioned an oral history of the remaining former slaves. Bullwhip Days is a remarkable compendium of selections from these extraordinary interviews, providing an unflinching portrait of the world of government-sanctioned slavery of Africans in America. Here are twenty-nine full narrations, as well as nine sections of excerpts related to particular aspects of slave life, from religion to plantation life to the Reconstruction era. Skillfully edited, these chronicles bear eloquent witness to the trials of slaves in America, reveal the wide range of conditions of human bondage, and provide sobering insight into the roots of racism in today’s society.
“Remarkably articulate . . . vivid, moving, and beautifully cadenced.” —The New Yorker
Customer Reviews
Interesting take on slavery
Liked reading actual stories from the people who lived through slavery. So glad the WPA did this. Even though I liked it written in the vernacular of the former slaves it required more concentration on my part. The only thing I wished there was was the actual pictures of the people telling their stories. The pictures included were just generic pictures from that time. On the longer narratives it would have nice if there was a paragraph giving a brief bio about the person sharing their story.
A very jaded set of interviews, of previous Slaves who lived into their dotage!!
Needed more context and the language was difficult to read…but a 50/50 seemingly black comfort/hate of slavery! However, many slaves could not be interviewed because they truly did die young of some untoward cause. And, certainly, any slaves who were truly bothered by the Ku klux Klan are dead! More than we’re alive for these interviews!
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