The WPA Oklahoma Slave Narratives

Download or read book The WPA Oklahoma Slave Narratives written by T. Lindsay Baker and published by University of Oklahoma Press. This book was released on 1996 with total page 564 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "I never talk to nobody 'bout this" was the response of one aged African American when asked by a Works Project Administration field worker to share memories of his life in slavery and after emancipation. He and other ex-slaves were uncomfortable with the memories of a time when black and white lives were interwoven through human bondage. Yet the WPA field workers overcame the old people's reticence, and American West scholars T. Lindsay Baker and Julie P. Baker have collected all the known WPA Oklahoma "slave narratives" in this volume for the first time - including fourteen never published before. Their careful editorial notes detail what is known about the interviewers and the process of preparing the narratives.