Sue's Reviews > To Be A Slave

This should be required reading in school. It details life under slavery by giving some brief background material interspersed among actual accounts. These accounts are fascinating and sometimes, riveting. The author drew them from two basic sources. The first are 19th-century abolitionist writings which took the escaped slave's account and wrote it for a white audience with the intent to convince the reader to abhor slavery. These accounts are formal and stylized but contain interesting accounts that still ring true. I much preferred the accounts gathered by the Federal Writer's Project during the Depression. The writers sought out ex-slaves who were still living and took their oral history so these accounts are informal and colloquial and often more powerful. This made for fascinating listening with various readers.