National Freedom Day

National Freedom Day commemorates the date this day in 1865 when Abraham Lincoln, who was the nation's president at the time, signed a joint resolution that proposed the 13th amendment to the United States Constitution. The amendment was made to outlaw slavery and was ratified on December 18, 1865.

When I Was a Slave: Memoirs from the Slave Narrative Collection - Norman R. Yetman (Editor)

In the late 1930s, the federal government hired jobless researchers and writers for Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). One mission was to interview elderly ex-slaves and record their experience in bondage, during Reconstruction and, as if those two periods didn’t boil with trouble and hardship enough for three lifetimes, in the Depression Era. The short collection When I Was a Slave contains a selection of 34 of the more than 2,300 narratives. 

The stories these ex-slaves tell provide insights into the social structure of the slave community, the monotonous and unhealthy diet of slaves, the superstition-ridden medical care, and unspeakable white nationalist terrorism during Reconstruction. They also tell stories about resistance ranging from insolence and defiance to secretly practicing their religion and learning to read and write. They maintained their humanity - such resilience seems super-human - but it’s not a wonder when the elderly people sometimes observe that they take pleasure contemplating that Mean Misses or Cruel Overseer are burning in torment in Hell.

Despite the fact the book is only 150 pages long, it is impossible to read this short book in couple of days.  Reading it slowly over the course of a week or two, I suggest, is a strategy that would reveal insights into the slavery system and, frankly, be kinder on the nervous system and blood pressure. Since this book came out of a federal project, the feds have posted a Slave Narrative project archive on the Library of Congress web site. It’s here.