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In the 1930’s, as part of the Federal Writers’ Project under President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal Program, the Works Progress Administration interviewed former slaves. These narratives, as oral history, are considered primary sources.
For this assignment, you will be utilizing the Library of Congress’ site that archives 2,300 oral histories, which you can browse by narrator, keyword, or state. From these narratives, you will select five different slave narratives to analyze, synthesize the information read, and then write a critical thinking reflection (essay format with citations) that addresses the following questions (the readings for this assignment are attached below):
What is the point of these narratives—why are they written?
What did the former slaves in the narratives you chose, do during slavery vs. afterward?
Some lives changed a lot, while others stayed the same. Some former slaves learned to read, some became teachers or railroad workers. Others continued to work on farms as poor sharecroppers. Some voted for the first time and earned their first real wages during Reconstruction. Did life change significantly for African Americans during Reconstruction, and after the Civil War?
How much time passed between slavery and interviews? How might this time lag affect their stories?
How old are the subjects when interviewed? Does age affect memories?
Who interviewed the people and documented their stories? Is it significant that interviewers were white, while the subjects were black? If so, why?
There are different perspectives that vary from each former slaves. What details intrigued or surprised you?
What are the strengths and weaknesses of oral histories?
How has the individual story of a former slave changed your understanding of slavery? Or has it?
Which story stands out in your mind the most? Why?
Your response should be written in sentence/paragraph format and include examples from the narratives as evidence of your analysis and evaluation.
Include an introduction that summarizes the purpose of the narratives and gives context to what the narratives highlighted in your analysis of them. Begin your paragraphs with topic sentences that identify what each paragraph will be about, making sure your paragraph stays on topic and illustrates your point. Include a conclusion that ties it all together.
Since you will quote from primary sources in order to illustrate your response, please utilize the Citation Guides in the Orientation Module which highlights the citation generator Noodle Tools in order to include footnote citations and a bibliography in Chicago-style for all quotes and any paraphrased materials (a separate page for a bibliography is required in this assignment). Expected minimum length of this assignment is 2-3 pages. This length does not include heading and title details, footnotes, or the bibliography.
Additional Articles:
https://www.loc.gov/collections/slave-narratives-from-the-federal-writers-project-1936-to-1938/articles-and-essays/introduction-to-the-wpa-slave-narratives/wpa-and-the-slave-narrative-collection/
https://www.loc.gov/collections/slave-narratives-from-the-federal-writers-project-1936-to-1938/about-this-collection/
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