Excerpts from Slave Narratives
Edited by Steven Mintz
University of Houston
"Death's Gwineter Lay His Cold Icy Hands on Me":Enslavement
- 1. A European slave trader, John Barbot, describes the African slave
trade (1682)
- 2. A Muslim merchant, Ayubah Suleiman Diallo, recalls his capture and
enslavement (1733)
- 3. Olaudah Equiano, an 11-year old Ibo from Nigeria
remembers his kidnapping into slavery (1789)
- 4. Venture Smith relates the story of his kidnapping at the age of six
(1798)
"God's A-Gwineter Trouble de Water": The Middle Passage
- 5. A European slave trader, James Bardot, Jr., describes a shipboard revolt
by enslaved Africans (1700)
- 6. Olaudah Equiano describes the horrors of the Middle Passage
(1789)
- 7. A doctor, Alexander Falconbridge, describes conditions on an English
slaver (1788)
"Dere's No Hidin' Place Down Here": Arrival
- 8. Olaudah Equiano describes his arrival in the New World
(1789)
- 9. An English physician, Alexander Falconbridge, describes the treatment of
newly arrived slaves in the West Indies (1788)
"We Raise de Wheat, Dey Gib Us de Corn": Conditions of Life
- 10. Solomon Northrup describes the working conditions of slaves on a
Louisiana cotton plantation (1853)
- 11. Charles Ball compares working conditions on tobacco and cotton
plantations (1858)
- 12. Josiah Henson describes slave housing, diet, and clothing
(1877)
- 13. Francis Henderson describes living conditions under slavery
(1856)
- 14. Jacob Stroyer recalls the material conditions of slave life
(1898)
- 15. James Martin remembers a slave auction
(1937)
"Like a Motherless Child": Childhood
- 16. Jacob Stroyer recalls the formative experiences of his childhood
(1898)
- 17. James W.C. Pennington analyzes the impact of slavery upon childhood
(1849)
- 18. Lunsford Lane describes the moment when he first recognized the meaning
of slavery (1842)
"Nobody Knows de Trouble I See": Family
- 19. Laura Spicer learns that her husband, who had been sold away, has taken
another wife (1869)
- 20. An overseer attempts to rape Josiah Henson's mother (1877)
- 21. Lewis Clarke discusses the impact of slavery on family life
(1846)
"Go Home to My Lord and Be Free": Religion
- 22. Olaudah Equiano describes West African religious beliefs and practices
(1789)
- 23. Charles Ball remembers a slave funeral, which incorporated traditional
African customs (1837)
- 24. Peter Randolph describes the religious gathers slaves held outside of
their master's supervision (1893)
- 25. Henry Bibb discusses "conjuration"
(1849)
"Oppressed So Hard They Could Not Stand": Punishment
- 26. Frederick Douglass describes the circumstances that prompted masters to
whip slaves (1845)
- 27. John Brown has bells and horns fastened on his head
(1855)
- 28. William Wells Brown is tied up in a smokehouse (1847)
- 29. Moses Roper is punished for attempting to run away
(1837)
- 30. Lewis Clarke describes the implements his mistress used to beat him
(1846)
"My Lord Says He's Gwineter Rain Down Fire": Resistance
- 31. Frederick Douglass resists a slave breaker
(1845
)
- 32. Nat Turner describes his revolt against slavery
(1831)
"Follow the Drinkin' Gourd": Flight
- 33. Margaret Ward follows the North Star to freedom
(1879)
- 34. Frederick Douglass borrows a sailor's papers to escape slavery (1855, 1895)
- 35. Harriet Tubman sneaks into the South to free slaves (1863, 1865)
- 36. Henry "Box" Brown escapes slavery in a sealed box (1872)
- 37. Margaret Garner kills her daughter rather than see her returned to
slavery (1876)
"The Walls Came Tumblin' Down": Emancipation
- 38. Private Thomas Long assesses the meaning of black military service
during the Civil War (1870)
- 39. Corporal Jackson Cherry appeals for equal opportunity for former slaves
(1865)
- 40. Jourdan Anderson declines his former master's invitation to return to
his plantation (1865)
- 41. Major General Rufus Saxon assesses the freedmen's aspirations (1866)
- 42. Colonel Samuel Thomas describes the attitudes of ex-Confederates
toward the freedmen (1865)
- 43. Francis L. Cardozo asks for land for the freedmen
(1868)
- 44. The Rev. Elias Hill is attacked by the Ku Klux Klan
(1872)
- 45. Henry Blake describes sharecropping (1937)
- 46. Frederick Douglass assesses the condition of the freedmen
in 1880