University of North Carolina
Unc: Charles Ball: Fifty Years in Chains
Here, read the entire text to "Fifty Years in Chains; or, The Life of an American Slave," which was written by Charles Ball and originally published in 1859.
University of North Carolina
Documenting the American South: Narrative of James Williams, an American Slave
UNC's resource provides links to download the entire text of "Narrative of James Williams, an American Slave," which was published in 1838. Included are 1838 articles from "The Liberator," in which the authenticity of this narrative is...
University of North Carolina
Documenting the South: Jacob Stroyer, 1849 1908: My Life in the South
This site, from the University of North Carolina, provides the full text of "My Life in the South," the autobiography of an emancipated slave, Jacob Stroyer(1849-1908). The text is complete and in-depth with a full introduction and...
Library of Congress
Loc: American Memory: African American Odyssey
Presents the collections of the Library of Congress that showcase the experiences of African-Americans.
EL Education
El Education: This Is Why I Cry
Students gain a deeper understanding of slavery by creating an accurate portrayal of a character from history. Each historical character file they create contains a portrait, a biographical narrative, a character map, a bibliography, and...
Other
19th C. u.s. Women's Writings: Lydia Maria Child's "Slavery's Pleasant Homes"
Text of several of Lydia Child's writings that supported her abolitionist sentiments.
University of North Carolina
Documenting the American South: Summary of Twelve Years a Slave
Read a summary of the story of Solomon Northup, a free black man who was kidnapped and sold to a plantation in Louisiana, where he worked as a slave for twelve years. Hyperlink to the text of Northup's book, Twelve Years a Slave.
University of Virginia
University of Virginia: American Slave Narratives: An Online Anthology
A collection of some of the reminiscences of more than 2,300 former slaves who were interviewed between 1936 and 1938 under the Works Progress Administration program. Includes some photographs as well as audio files. RL.11-12.10a/b Text...
Cornell University
Cornell University: Library: In Their Own Words: Slave Narratives
Slaves were not permitted to learn to read and write. Many risked their lives to record the narratives of their experiences as slaves. See why these narratives were so important to the anti-slavery movement. Find links to documents and...
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Senegambia, Making of African American Identity: V. 1
Drawings of West Africans and two accounts of Africans before enslavement, one by an African of Gambia, one by a French traveler to Senegal. They examine how Africans lived in freedom before enslavement.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: An Enslaved Person's Life, Making of African American Identity
Various photographs of slaves from the pre-Civil War era, an autobiographical narrative of slavery, and three accounts recorded in the 1930s of the lives and conditions of former slaves are included in this large set of information...
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Sale, Making of African American Identity: V. 1
Two nineteenth century depictions of the emotional brutality of slave auctions-by an enslaved (formerly free) black man and by former slaves-and several recollections of being sold by former slaves recorded during Depression era...
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Runaways, Making of African American Identity: V. 1
Several accounts by slaves of running away from bondage, written in the nineteenth century and also recorded in the 1930s, as well as newspaper advertisements seeking information about fugitive slaves in the eighteenth century.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Community, Making of African American Identity: V. 1, 1500 1865
Twenty nine primary sources-historical documents, literary texts, and visual images-that explore how enslaved individuals and families coped with, adjusted to, maintained communities within, and opposed the system of oppression.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Religion, Making of African American Identity: V. 1
A series of songs, narratives, and memoirs that examine the spiritual beliefs of and experiences with religion among slaves in southern plantation communities.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Slave to Free, Making of African American Identity: V. 1
Interviews with and narratives from former slaves who became free and letters from former slaves reflecting on their freedom.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Buying Freedom, Making of African American Identity: V. 1
Narratives from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries depicting the struggle by blacks to purchase their own freedom and the impediments they faced.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Emancipation: Death as Freedom
A poem, narratives, and newspaper selections that examine black suicide and death generally as the only dependable source of freedom for slaves. This grim resource provides links to two separate accounts of these experiences.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: The Institution, Making of African American Identity: V. 1
Interviews from the 1930s that reflect on African Americans' experience of the institution of slavery. A narrative with firsthands accounts is linked within this resource.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Harriet Jacobs: "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl," 1861
Several chapters from a slave narrative by Harriet Jacobs examining her abuse, her integrity, and her eventual escape from brutality, all of which raise important questions about power, equality, and gender roles in the mid-nineteenth...
University of Groningen
American History: Documents: Benjamin Drew: Testimony of the Canadian Fugitives
From an academic website, these pages record the testimony of American slaves that fled north to Canada. In the United States these types of original documents are collected under the category of Slave Narratives and they represent an...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Neh: Edsit Ement: Slave Narratives: Analyzing Primary Sources
The main focus of this lesson plan is to help learners gain more knowledge about slavery and understand that no. There are links to sites with slave narratives that can be copied and analyzed in class.
![Digital History: Three Responses to Slavery [Pdf] Website](https://d15y2dacu3jp90.cloudfront.net/images/attachment_defaults/resource/large/FPO-knovation.png "Digital History: Three Responses to Slavery [Pdf] Website")
Digital History
Digital History: Three Responses to Slavery [Pdf]
This site looks at how slaves Josiah Henson, Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth each responded to slavery in unique ways. Read their own words.
Digital History
Digital History: Solomon Northup and Mammy Harriet [Pdf]
Solomon Northrup, a free man, was captured and sold into slavery. Read his account of what plantation life was like from his book, 12 Years a Slave. In addition, read the remembrances of a house slave and what her life was like. [pdf]