Before Freedom, When I Just Can Remember, edited by Belinda Hurmence (pp 135). This is the second book in a series of oral histories of former slaves. These are individuals who were interviewed in 1937 as part of the Federal Writer’s Project to provide work to unemployed writers. The former slaves were from South Carolina and were in theit 80’s and 90’s when they were interviewed, meaning all were young when enslaved. This volume includes the stories of twenty-seven men and women, and is written in their dialect with some explanatory notes. However, I was unable to discern the meaning of some words and phrases. That in no way detracted from the overall content. It’s a fascinating first person look into slavery, especially as compared to dire living conditions in the post-Reconstruction South when many blacks were, for all practical purposes, re-enslaved. Virtually none of these individuals could read or write, so these are oral histories in the strictest sense. ( )

During the Great Depression, one of the Federal Writers' Project activities was locating former slaves and interviewing them. The resultant collection of these oral histories has been microfilmed by the Library of Congress, the Slave Narratives, which make up seventeen volumes (10,000 pages) of material. In this volume of a publisher's series of the oral histories, twenty-seven of these narratives of former slaves have been chosen giving a range of views on slavery in South Carolina.

The introduction by Belinda Hurmence is worthwhile reading before diving in to the interviews. She mentions that many former slaves talk positively about their experiences, and offers a few ideas on why this is so - looking back on the past often gives us a rosier view, the Great Depression, and the fact that a black person is being interviewed by a white person all probably had an impact to varying degrees on what the former slave would say about his or her experiences. Even so, when you read between the lines about how a master might treat his slaves, a person's memories of being sold or parents being whipped, it's heartbreaking no matter what the person says about their master being kind or "not hardhearted."

The interviews are taken from various places around the state of South Carolina, including the islands, and covers the experience of field hands and house slaves, men and women, who were children during the Civil War. I'm not quite sure why the editor decided to shift things chronologically, however, because I think that the way someone says something and the order they put it in gives it a meaning on its own, regardless of the actual chronology of events. Regardless, I found these interviews a fascinating exploration of slavery from those who experienced it themselves; this is worthwhile reading for any student of American history. ( )

This little book brings together 27 oral histories collected by the Federal Writer's Project in the 1930s. All of the interviewees were in their 80s or older at the time, and were at least 10 years of age at the end of the Civil War. The editor includes a thoughtful introduction in which she considers possible reasons the ex-slaves, almost to a person, remembered their days in servitude as "the good old days", when they were happier and certainly more secure than at any time since.

Each person talks randomly about his or her memories, rather than being guided by a list of questions. The stories are, individually and collectively, incredibly depressing in their solicitude for ex-owners and their matter-of-fact descriptions of treatment and living standards. There is little outrage, almost a lassitude regarding slavery vs. freedom as a concept, perhaps a result of these people having been raised in slavery and being ill-prepared to make their own way during Reconstruction and after. Yankees, the KKK, and slave patrollers are viewed with equal negativity.

An interesting and disturbing detour around the intervening 80 years of political correctness. ( )

These stories were compiled by the Federal Writers Project in the 1930s from memories of ex-slaves then in their 80s and 90s. As the introduction comments, many of te memories are surprisingly benign (especially compared with accounts written during the slavery era by escaped or freed slaves). It may be in part because they were told to white writers, or because events "since Freedom" had been so unpleasant that the slavery period looked good by comparison. It is especially striking that the coming of Yankee soldiers is generally remembered as destroying food and housing and leaving the slaves to starve. ( )

I wish everyone could read this little book. It shows Southern Slavery in many differnt lights. Everything in it is first hand accounts by former slaves. ( )