Women's Slave Narratives

by Annie L. Burton

The moving testimonies of five African-American women comprise this unflinching account of slavery in the pre-Civil War American South. Covering a wide range of narrative styles, the voices provide authentic recollections of hardship, frustration, and hope — from Mary Prince's groundbreaking account of a lone woman's tribulations and courage, the spiritual awakening of "Old Elizabeth," and Mattie Jackson's record of personal achievements, to the memoirs of Kate Drumgoold and Annie L. Burton.
A compelling, authentic portrayal of women held as slaves in the antebellum South, these remarkable stories of courage and perseverance will be required reading for students of literature, history, and African-American studies.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, American Civil War, American History, Memoir

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 4, 2006

About the author

Annie L. Burton (born c. 1858) was an African American memoirist. She was born into slavery on a plantation near Clayton, Alabama. Her date of death is uncertain. Her life's story is captured in her 1909 autobiography Memories of Childhood's Slavery Days. In her autobiography Burton relates that the end of slavery not only signaled a time for African Americans to start a new life, but also a time to redefine their lives. "Burton's Memories details not only one woman's quest from slavery to physical freedom but also her journey from a proscribed role to the creation of own free identity."

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Sue · Rating 2 out of 5]

While one can't help but admire the lives of the five women show-cased in this book, all born into slavery and then freed, the stories themselves could have used some judicious editing. Also, some background and contextual information would have been helpful for the modern reader to fully understand the complexities of these women's individual journeys.

[Cookielover · Rating 4 out of 5]

No slave narrative is easy to read due to the fact the reader is transported to a particularly vile part of American history. However, I feel like every human being (especially those interested in politics and human relations) should read at least two.
I’m trying to become more knowledgeable about the struggles of Blacks during this time period because of personal interest and a project I’ve been working on for a while.
As slave narratives go, this book did not have any deeply violent graphics. The authors did not rely heavily on literary techniques, using mostly simple language with the exception of inserts of songs and poems. So, it wasn’t an “invigorating” read, but it was a fast one. However, it was still deeply moving to learn of these women’s lives and appreciate their wisdom. Some of the statements made were especially haunting because I felt they could be related to current social issues we are facing now. Overall, I do recommend this.

[Angie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I appreciated hearing the voices of the individuals that wrote their stories, which are collected here. The various authors wrote with varying skill, but all were genuine and interesting. I found it powerful to hear about the sad and horrific facts of a slave’s life related in a straightforward manner. It was interesting to see how the individuals here managed to continue living their lives as best as possible under very difficult circumstances. I found the last selection difficult to follow, but still appreciated the sections that described events in the author’s life.

[Amy Ariel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brutal primary source narratives.

[Maria Levato · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hard to read, but definitely worth it too. It's very powerful.

[Lois · Rating 4 out of 5]

These 'slave narratives' are different in tone and context from most other narratives I've read.
Some of this is because these narratives weren't collected during the Federal Writer's Project. They were mostly written before 1909. They primarily showcase enslaved women assigned to the house. This is also not set in the deep south.
Extremely religious telling. I almost feel like the stories were edited to enforce religious lessons.
Fascinating addition to US 'slave narratives'

[Shanali · Rating 4 out of 5]

So far, these narratives are heart warming and to the core. A lot of lessons can be learned from the stories.

[Bridget · Rating 5 out of 5]

True life accounts of a horrible time in history. What moves me, is the exceptional strength people had during the those times.

[Shane · Rating 3 out of 5]

These stories deserve more context than this edition provides.

[Christine Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection needs a foreword/introduction/literally anything to explain how and when these stories were gathered and put together, and by whom and for what target audience, especially given the invasive and overwhelming religious theme connecting them; each narrative agreed that slavery is an unequivocal evil forced on them by white man while simultaneously thanking and crediting the god of white religion (that was forced on them) for having survived it. The stories are poignant and interesting, but the disconnect between oppressive white/Christian institutions demonstrated in each is unsettling to the point of being creepy.

[Kylie Hannant · Rating 3 out of 5]

Five Self authored narratives from ladies who endured and survived enslavement. All stories were fascinating, some were better written than others, however the word narrative is paramount. These are self written stories, that are honest and sincere. Thought provoking, inspiring and tragic that this was even the reality for some humans.

[Staci Cosby · Rating 1 out of 5]

Hard to read & follow.

[Jessica Burns · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting stories, but some of them were hard to follow and could have used more editing.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5

[James F · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the two Dover anthologies of slave narratives written between 1863 and 1909, that is much earlier than the bulk of slave narratives which were collected from very old ex-slaves during the Depression by the Federal Writers Project; but their earlier date is balanced by the fact that they are a much less representative sample and were written and published for religious edification more than history.

Women's Slave Narratives consists of five short books originally published separately, Annie Burton's Memories of Childhood's Slavery Days (1909, slightly abridged here), Memoir of Old Elizabeth, a Coloured Woman (1863), Dr. L. S. Thompson, The Story of Mattie J. Jackson (1866), Lucy A. Delaney, From the Darkness Cometh the Light, or Struggles for Freedom (c. 1891), and Kate Drumgold, A Slave Girl's Story 1898.

All of the works in this book have a very strong religious content, and were written more as religious "testimonies" than as factual descriptions of slavery, but apart from the memoir of "old Elizabeth" they do give a certain amount of information about the conditions of the slaves. The women's narratives are all by domestic servants ("house slaves") rather than field slaves, so in that respect they could give a somewhat distorted impression of the economic importance of slavery, and are mostly from the northernmost states of the slave region.

[Donna Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

A primary source will not be denied. Yet, I expected more detail about their lives as slaves. I would think anyone who had been held in bondage would be much more angry & indignant, but maybe that was considered unladylike or unchristian among those who were interviewed. It is an extremely small book. There are not nearly 160 pp. of text; I think much of what is advertised is given over to citations. And I like well-cited work, but expected a more representative sampling (at least according to everything else I have read).

[Candice]

Sometimes I found the narrative to be rambling and not cohesive. Hard to follow.