Slave Stories

We have an idea of what life for a slave was like. We have heard and read stories. We have seen slavery portrayed in films and on television. How accurate are those portrayals? Are the stories of the slaves the same?

There are some famous primary source accounts by men and women who lived as slaves. Among the better known are by Frederick Douglass, Harriet Jacobs and Sojourner Truth. There are also many lesser known accounts. It is those accounts that will be the basis for this assignment.

Directions:

  1. Go to or
  2. Search for one of the texts listed below.
  3. You can download these as a HTML, PDF, or for a Kindle or a Nook—no expense to you.
    You may need to click on several of the offerings to fine the format best for you.
  4. Read the work—you only need to do one.
  5. Write a reaction paper.

Elements to be in the paper—

  1. Basic biographical information about the subject.
  2. What in the text confirmed your previous ideas about slavery?
  3. What in the text was a surprise to you about slavery?
  4. Compare/contrast the subject’s views of the condition of slavery to that of freedom.
  5. Do you think this subject’s experiences are typical or atypical? Explain.
  6. Evaluate the credibility of this source.

USE SPECIFIC EXAMPLES FROM THE TEXT TO SUPPORT STATEMENTS.

Text Titles From the Internet Archives—

  • The Light and Truth of Slavery. Aaron's History (1845).
  • Life and Narrative of William J. Anderson Twenty Four Years a Slave Or: The Dark Deeds Of American Slavery Revealed. (1857).
  • Narrative of Henry Box Brown: who escaped from slavery enclosed in a box three feet long and two wide and two and a half high. (1849)
  • Memories of Childhood’s Slavery Days (1909)
  • Narrative of William W. Brown, a Fugitive Slave. (1847)
  • The Life of John Thompson, a fugitive slave;containing his history of 25 years in bondage, and his providential escape.(1856)
  • Narrative of the Adventures and Escape of Moses Roper from American Slavery (1846)
  • Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom; or, the Escape of William and Ellen Craft from Slavery. (1860)
  • Narrative of the Life of Moses Grandy: Formerly a Slave in the United States of America. (1844)
  • The Life of Josiah Henson, formerly a slave, now an inhabitant of Canada. (1849)
  • My Life in the South. By Jacob Stroyer (1885)

Text Titles From the Documenting the American South (Usually only HTML files)—

  • Narrative of the Life of John Quincy Adams, When in Slavery, and Now as a Freeman. (1872)
  • The Life and Sufferings of Leonard Black, a Fugitive from Slavery. Written by Himself. (1847)
  • Biography of an American Bondman,by His Daughter. (1856)
  • A Slave's Adventures Toward Freedom. Not Fiction, but the True Story of a Struggle.by Peter Bruner (1918).
  • A Narrative of the Life of Rev. Noah Davis, a Colored Man. Written by Himself, at the Age of Fifty-Four. (1859)
  • A Slave Girl's Story. Being an Autobiography of Kate Drumgoold.(1898)
  • Sunshine and Shadow of Slave Life. Reminiscences as told by Isaac D. Williams to "Tege" (1885)
  • Life of William Grimes, the Runaway Slave. Written by Himself. (1825).
  • Life of Isaac Mason as a Slave. (1893)
  • Life of Mary F. McCray: Born and Raised a Slave in the State of Kentucky. (1898)