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Slave Narratives

Slave Narratives. Characteristics & Importance. Firsthand accounts written or recounted by slaves. Tales of harrowing journeys from the enslavement of the South to the freedom of the North Detailed records of physical and mental oppression

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Slave Narratives

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  1. Slave Narratives

  2. Characteristics & Importance Firsthand accounts written or recounted by slaves. Tales of harrowing journeys from the enslavement of the South to the freedom of the North Detailed records of physical and mental oppression They serve as historical documents that provide eyewitness accounts of slavery They give a voice to the disenfranchised They constitute the beginning of the African-American contribution to literature

  3. Origins • Began in the Abolitionist movement: • Speeches to educate people of conditions • Anti-slavery publications such as journals and newspapers • Advocacy of public policies • WPA: The Works Progress Administration of the 1930s (this is way after the period we are currently studying) • The Federal Writer’s Project employed writers to interview former slaves and their descendants. These are documented in a large collection: • http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/snhtml/

  4. Ben Horry God knows Missus, glad to yeddydat! Picture in Washington! You mean bout my fadder? Been in duh - lemme see now kin I remember - 'casionally he would drink a little 'sumpting. Gone to town. Come back. Drink. Bring Jug from town. Drop 'em. Broke 'em. To disencourage him from doing that again - (boss man lowing nobody to whip my fadderthout he do it!) - overseer, them men give my fadder a piece of the broke Jug (every time he share out rations) to disencourage him bout drink. Thought that a great way to broke him off. And he do so. Fadder have the three brudder - Daniel, Summer and Define

  5. Legacy • African-American writers and politicians continue(d) to influence artists today: • The Autobiography of Malcolm X • Invisible Man • Beloved • The Confessions of Nat Turner

  6. from The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass Recounts a critical episode in his life as a slave Asks the universal question What makes a man free: his mind or body? Depicts the brutality of slavery and those who ruled as well as his reactions to these conditions

  7. Diction (Style) Writer’s Choice of Words

  8. Diction • Word choice helps to convey tone, theme, and purpose. • The assiduous plebian perspired under the sweltering orb. • The busy worker sweated under the hot sun.

  9. Author’s Purpose • Often writers use a variety of methods to convey purpose: • Narration • Description • Exposition • Persuasion • Douglas uses each of these techniques to convey theme or purpose

  10. Homework Go to the following website and access one narrative: http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/wpa/wpahome.html Write a one-page response (hand-written) as to why it is important. Be sure to specifically reference the narrative.

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