Chained to the Land: Voices from Cotton & Cane Plantations

by Lynette A Tanner (Editor)

During the 1930s, the Works Progress Administration sent workers to interview over 2,200 former slaves about their experiences during slavery and the time immediately after the Civil War. The interviews conducted with the former Louisiana slaves often showed a different life from the slaves in neighboring states. Louisiana was unique among the slave-holding states because of French law and influence, as demonstrated in the standards set to govern slaves in Le Code Noir. Its history was also different from many Southern states because of the prevalence of large sugar cane as well as cotton plantations, which benefited from the frequent replenishment of rich river silt deposited by Mississippi River floods. At Frogmore Plantation, which is located in Louisiana across the Mississippi River from Natchez, co-owner Lynette Tanner has spent 16 years researching and interpreting the slave narratives in order to share these stories with visitors from around the globe. The plantation offers historical re-enactments, written by Tanner, that are performed by descendants of former Natchez District slaves. In this collection, Tanner gathered interviews conducted with former slaves who lived in Louisiana at the time of the interviews as well as narratives with those who had been enslaved in Louisiana but had moved to a different state by the 1930s. Their recollections of food, housing, clothing, weddings, and funerals, as well as treatment and relationships echo memories of an era, like no other, for which America still faces repercussions today. Lynette Tanner and her husband own Frogmore Plantation, a working cotton plantation and gin distillery, as well as Terre Noir, a second plantation in Concordia Parish. Tanner has received numerous awards for her preservation efforts and her promotion of Louisiana tourism. Tanner was the author and narrator of “The   A Musical History” for the Smithsonian traveling exhibit which was on display in the La. Delta area.

240 pages, Paperback

First published June 3, 2014

Reviews

[Vicki Merkel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book should be required reading. First hand accounts by former slaves about their lives before and after being freed give a different view of the south.

[Nicodemus · Rating 5 out of 5]

An extremely important book to read especially now. Several patterns appear among the slave narratives. Severe torture, of course. Religion, yes. But also the realization that most (not all) slave owners absolutely forbade forbade learning to read and write, and quite often denied them access to church (because reading the Bible is often required). In addition, a number of these memories include descriptions of breeding: the women were often required to get pregnant in order to create human commodities (children / slaves) to be sold. It reminds me of A Modest Proposal, except the slave owners would eat the children, rather they would sell them to other plantation owners.

[Terry · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a series of interviews conducted in the 30's and 40's with men and women who experienced being a slave and the civil war. The individuals of this book were enslaved in Louisiana. The interviews are transcripts which include the transliterations. The voices spoke to me as the individuals told a variety of experiences but there were underlying similarities which did not changed whether the master or mistress was a "good" or "bad" one.

[Mary Burkholder · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like that these transcripts are the actual voices of former slaves. I also like that they represent a variety of experiences. I thought it might be difficult to read something written in vernacular and without literary structure. But I found them interesting and could just about picture the aged speakers.

[Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Harrowing. Unlike the last collection of slave narratives I read, this one makes clean how awful slavery was.

[Jeremy Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decent book (but the interviewers were biased and held stereotypical views about their interviewees).

[Christina Hull · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read ALL You Can

I love to hear the first hand accounts of our ancestors journey to freedom. I will never forget the hardships they endured so that we could be free

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Visited Frogmore plantation, heard Tanner speak.

[J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Right of the bat, there are problems with this narrative. While clearly factual and thoroughly researched, the description of enslaved is old-fashioned and out of date: slaves and plantation owners (should be the enslaved and the enslavers). Additionally, stealing people from Africa and forcing them to endure a weeks-long (maybe months) journey, barely fed, shackled in dark cargo holds awash in human vomit and feces, is blindly omitted. And there hundreds of these such journeys. Maybe thousands...

Descriptions of indigenous peoples in America (Indians/native Americans) being "converted" into Christianity is also glazed over, as if a matter of acceptance by these peoples. In truth, they were enslaved themselves, beaten and tortured for practicing their rituals or speaking their own languages, and worst (apologies for the snark), forced to dress as europeans. But I digress...

From the inception, this book leans on sentimentalization of plantation life. However, I am just at the beginning. So, in all fairness to the author and her dedicated work, I'll reserve the rest of my review until I'm done. I may have to eat some of these words.

The stories were fascinating and painful to read. The is no closure for this documentation, just a reprinting of slave narratives available in the public domain.

[The Advocate]

"The book contains over 40 interviews with former slaves and their recollections of their masters, their own families, punishments, and activities of their time. The book is a powerful collection of firsthand testimony. It can be difficult to read at times, but it’s filled with great information and history."
Read more here.

[Lynette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading the stories from the people who actually experienced slavery is better than a thousand textbook descriptions or historical analyses. This book is very powerful and thought-provoking.

[Jenn A. Maronn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Painfully depressing representation of the psychology of slavery.