The use of slavery and slave
narratives in contemporary and classic literary works has created
many influential novels over the past century. Individuals such as
Nat Turner, Frederick Douglas, Sojourner Truth, among many others,
have left their mark and made significant contributions to the
literary and historic landscape of not just the United States but
the whole world. Through digitized documents, recordings, and the
Internet, students have the unprecedented opportunity today to learn
what life was really like by reading and listening to former slaves
(in their own voices) tell their stories.
For this RWLO, students will
access digitally archived narratives, interviews, and recordings
from a variety of sources, including the
Federal
Writers' Project (FWP) of the Works Progress Administration (WPA)
and the Library of Congress'
American Folklife
Center's Archive of Folk Culture and the American Memory
collection
Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project,
1936-1938 to gain a better understanding and appreciation of the
people and times of this era.
