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Bullwhip Days: The Slaves Remember

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"Bullwhip Days - The Slaves Remember, An Oral History" is essential reading for anyone interested in the history of slavery in America. It is edited by James Mellon. But with respect to Mr. Mellon, it is not his story.

During the Great Depression, the US government created work programs for a besieged economy. One of these was the Writer's Project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Someone realized that the last generation of African Americans who had been slaves was dying. Writers were dispatched to interview these ex-slaves and record/write their stories.

This work is a selection of transcripts from these vital historical records.

It is suspected some of the slaves may have moderated their comments to appease the interviewers sensibilities. I really doubt that. Having read a number of personal memoirs of people in their later years, I find their candor amazing. Just because an ex-slave speaks fondly of their former owner does not mean they are lying or have skewed perceptions.

There's no definitive slave experience. We have the account of one woman owned by the Vice President of the Confederacy, Alexander Stephens on a plantation operating entirely by slaves (including the overseers). Another woman agrees to be bred only because her `kind' master had agreed to buy her in addition to her parents.

One elderly couple had diametrically opposite experiences. She had an idyllic family existence with gifts and new clothes for Christmas. He was separately from his parents as a child, starved and beaten. Decades later, he hears of a child abused like himself. Despite being elderly, he and his wife take the boy and raise him as their own.

There is one major theme through the interviews. How a slave was treated was entirely a function of their owner. They had no rights, no recourse to the law. If caught without a pass, you were fair game for the infamous "paddyrollers" (patrollers). Even after freedom, the Ku Klux Klan terrorized the fomer slave population.

Another thing that I found interesting was the mortality rate after slavery. In multiple interviews, these old people were alone with no children or grandchildren surviving. A lifetime of slavery did not equip them well for freedom.

This is the first book I would recommend to anyone interested in the subject.

This book would make a wonderful teaching aid. Its first hand accounts and lessons in perspective will draw in the reader while reminding them that these are memories that should not soon be forgotten. I have returned to this book several times and have recommended it ( with limited sucess ) to educators around the south and midwest. This book should be in every high school library.

I was astounded by this book. The interviews draw a clear, persuasive picture that no dry history book ever could, no matter how learned the author. I now feel as though I have an accurate view of what the lives of slaves were like.

I am pleased to see that not every slave owner was a monster and that not every slave lived a life of continuous misery. The institution was terrible, of course, and its continued existence so late in this country was a disgrace. Many slave owners were brutes. However, this book illustrates the terrific capacity of human beings to rise above their circumstances, especially of the oppressed, but also of the oppressors.

I agree with every statement in all of the previous reviews, and I recommend the book wholeheartedly.

This is the real deal. Ex-slaves telling their own experiences; a few not-so-bad, many extremely heartbreaking. This is one of the best insights into what slavery was really like during the 19th Century. This is the story, in there own words, of how a people were totally dehumanized during America's most shameful period. A country claiming "liberty and justice for all" while denying that freedom to millions of fellow human beings. And many still ask the question, "why do African-Americans still lag behind in so many areas, while other ethnic groups had to struggle as immigrants also?" This book is a reminder that blacks were forcibly brought here, and denied-for-years even the simplest education. Maybe the reading of this book, will help some realize the continual uphill struggle, blacks have tried to achieve in a few short decades since the Civil Rights Movement. Trying to make-up for Centuries of bondage, and inequality. Just as we can never forget the evils of the Holocaust, so it should be equaly true with the era of slavery.

You wouldn't believe my excitement upon discovering this book at the local library. These are the voices of real slaves, their histories recorded in the 1930's through a government project to collect this data. What a true American gem. All the voices are transcribed in the "native" language - Black English as spoken by ex-slaves, many of them at the time of their stories being recorded nearly a hundred years old. The accounts are fascinating, and non-biased. Some slaves speak frankly of wishing once again for slavery, and they recount the generosity and attention of the "Old Marse". Others tell horrific and moving stories of truly brutal and savage masters and wouldn't want to return to "slave times" under any circumstance. Most of the stories include first-hand accounts of their experiences through the Civil War and Reconstruction, although the primary goal was to record their experiences while slaves. Reconstruction of this country had enormous impact, and what the slaves did to build the nation during it's early years has been such a neglected historical topic. This is by far one of the most important books in my collection. As a white 31-year old middle-class woman, this is a must-read for anyone who might call themselves an American, regardless of race.

This book will expand your mind by exposing you to a set of emotions that are (presumably) no longer experienced: how it feels to be owned. Your own emotions will run the gamut from anger to sadness and back again, but it is worth it to hear about slavery from people who experienced it. You will never again think about it in abstract terms .

Wow...That's all I can say. This is a wonderful book and a must read for everyone. I read this as part of a book club discussion for Black History Month. What a way to open my eyes to a part of American history. Very moving.

FOR SO LONG, I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT SLAVERY WAS LIKE. I'VE READ ABOUT IT IN BOOKS BUT THERE REALLY WAS NO DETAILED INFORMATION ON THE ACTUAL SLAVES. THIS BOOK REALLY HELPED ME TO FEEL THE DEVASTATION AND HUMILIATION OF THE AFRICAN SLAVE. IT HAS ALSO GIVEN ME A DIFFERENT OUTLOOK ON WHO I AM AND WHERE MY PEOPLE HAVE COME FROM. LONG BEFORE THIS BOOK I HAD DOUBTS ABOUT BEING AFRICAN. I DON'T MEAN AFRICAN AMERICAN. AFRICAN! FROM THE TRAUMATIC STRUGGLE MY PEOPLE HAVE ENDURED HAS MADE ME REALIZE THAT I WOULD BE SO IGNORANT TO CHANGE WHAT THEY HAVE GIVEN ME. I WOULD LIKE TO THANK THE AUTHOR OF THIS BOOK FOR NOT CHANGING EVEN THE DIALECT OF THE EX-SLAVES. IT REMINDS ME HOW FAR WE HAVE COME AND HOW FAR WE HAVEN'T. THERE IS SO MUCH HEALING THAT HAS TO COME TO THE SO CALLED AFRICAN AMERICANS. READING THIS BOOK, I REALIZE THAT I HAVE FRIENDS AND FAMILY MEMBERS WHO ARE STILL IN THE SAME STATE OF MIND. -MENTALLY ENSLAVED-

This book is from the slaves themselves. Not from someone who just researched it and wrote about it. I can't seem to put it down. The stories have an effect on you.

As a wife of a black man (married 14 years), I am constantly learning of the plight of african-americans and their culture in order to better understand and share it with our four children. This book has taught me more and moved me more than ANY OTHER book I have ever read on the subject. The accounts are moving, the pictures are unforgettable, and the book flows easily from one interview to the next. Every household in America with an interest in the "slave days" of the U.S. should read this book and keep it to pass on to their children.