Slave Narratives: Slave Letters
Use this guide to search for, analyze, and explore slave narratives, an important genre of African American literary and oral tradition
Slave Letters: Symbols of Rebellion and Revolution
" . . . for Black people to build the political, social and economic power we need to transform our conditions, we also need to change the narratives developed about us, which we also perpetuate through story and through practice."
- Alicia Garza, "Black Love: Resistance and Liberation"
Databases
- African American Experience This link opens in a new windowThe African American Experience (AAE) is a full-text resource exploring the history and culture of African Americans, as well as the greater Black Diaspora. Includes research titles, slave narratives, images, primary sources, and vetted websites.
- Ethnic NewsWatch This link opens in a new windowA collection of the newspapers, magazines and journals of the ethnic, minority and native press in America. Searchable in both English and Spanish, with titles in both languages.
- JSTOR This link opens in a new windowJSTOR provides the searchable full text of the backfiles of many of the core research and academic society published journals in almost all subject areas, but its emphasis is in the humanities and social sciences. The majority of JSTOR's content is academic and peer-reviewed.
Artstor content will be migrated to JSTOR prior to the site's retirement on August 1st, 2023. - America: History and Life This link opens in a new windowThe premier database for research on the history of the United States and Canada.
- Daily Life Through History This link opens in a new windowProvides a comprehensive, cross-disciplinary resource that supports history, social studies, English, and language students. It moves seamlessly from past to present, providing context for contemporary life and culture. The content is enhanced with new books, articles, images, maps, primary documents, and more on a regular cycle.
Books
- Blacks in bondage; letters of American slavesedited by Robert S. Starobin
- Dear Master: Letters of a Slave Familyedited by Randall M. Miller
- Letters From a Slave Girl: The Story of Harriet Jacobsby Mary E. Lyons
- Slave testimony : two centuries of letters, speeches, interviews, and autobiographiesedited by John W. Blassingame
Internet Resources
- Duke UniversityHannah Valentine and Lethe Jackson
- Duke UniversityVilet Lester
- East Caroline University: Letter from AnnaLetter from Ann, a slave, to Soldier her husband,
- East Carolina University: Letter from Caroline Sadgwar Manly1864 Letter from Caroline Sadgwar Manly to her sons (written much later) .
- The National ArchivesJohn Boston
- "A Powerful Letter From My Great-Great Grandfather"How a letter written in 1855 provided a whole new perspective on slavery.
- UNC Chapel Hill: Folder 7An item of interest from this period is a letter dated 22 June 1834, from one of Burrell Fox's slaves, Foxes Peney, to her ex-North Carolina master (Elizabeth Neal) and relatives. She was happy in Mississippi, but, nonetheless, was homesick for her former master and her relatives.
- UNC Chapel Hill Library: Folder 53Hamilton-Brown Papers: Letters show that Hamilton owned many slaves who hired out in towns far from Wilkesboro. Several of these slaves wrote letters during the 1830s and 1840s to negotiate terms of hire. See, for example, the letter dated 20 December 1832, requesting permission to open a blacksmith shop in Virginia.
- UNC Chapel Hill Library: Folder 56DeRosset Family Papers: includes a letter, 25 March 1863, from "Jimmy," an enslaved person hired out to work in an office, to his mistress, "Miss Lizzie," in which he reported that he had been granted permission to marry and asked for money so that he might get something to wear at the wedding.
- Valley of the ShadowMaria Perkins to her husband
Subjects: English
- Last Updated: Jul 31, 2023 11:58 AM
- URL: https://libguides.gvsu.edu/slavenarratives
