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Remembering Slavery: Testimonials After Emancipation
Some of the most powerful, poignant, and detailed records of formerly enslaved persons are first-person accounts collected in the pre- and post-emancipation eras. These include private records - like family Bibles or letters shared between family members - as well as interviews of ex-slaves conducted decades later. All of these testimonies can help researchers to access the lives and voices of African Americans in slavery and the immediate post-emancipation era.
Examples of records
- Narratives collected by Fisk University, the Virginia Writers Project, and the Works Progress Administration (WPA),
- Oral histories collected by individual families and institutions,
- Information wanted/lost friends newspaper advertisements (Black Republican [New Orleans], Charleston (SC) Courier, Colored Citizen [Cincinnati], Free Man’s Press [Galveston, Texas], The Liberator [Boston], etc.),
- Personal letter and diaries of formerly enslaved women, men and children.
Databases
Check this space for future updates!
Completed Databases
Upcoming Databases
- Index to Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1938