Remembering Slavery: African Americans Talk About Their Personal Experiences of Slavery and Emancipation [Paperback]

Ira Berlin (Editor), Marc Favreau (Editor), Steven F. Miller (Editor), Robin D.G. Kelley (Author), James H. Billington (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2000

Now in paperback, the book component of the award-winning set of interviews with former slaves. The extraordinary interviews from the book component of Remembering Slavery are now available in an affordable paperback edition. When the original book-and-tape set of Remembering Slavery was first published, it attracted not only rave endorsements and selection by the History Book Club, but also commercial attention seldom accorded projects of this nature. In prime-time television and radio shows, newspapers, and magazine features, this unique set of firsthand recollections of slavery has been heralded as "a stunning work," "powerful and intense," and "an invaluable resource." The set was also named a Best Book of the Year by Library Journal and Booklist. Along with transcribed interviews, the book includes Ira Berlin's "seminal" (Library Journal) introductory essay on the evolution of slavery over the centuries and commentary by Robin D. G. Kelley and Librarian of Congress James Billington.

Editorial Reviews

Review

A chilling witness to slavery's persistent legacy. -- Book Notes, Winter 1999

A unique perspective on our not-so-distant past. -- Chicago Tribune

Chilling [and] riveting.... This project will enrich every American home and classroom. -- Publishers Weekly

Ira Berlin's fifty-page introduction is as good a synthesis of current scholarship as one will find, with fresh insights for any reader. -- San Diego Union Tribune

[A]n invaluable collection of firsthand accounts by former slaves...captures the texture of everyday slave life from about 1845 through 1865. The interviews include stories of family life, marriage, children, work and religion. They tell us what slaves wore, ate, enjoyed and thought. There are stories of happiness and celebration and of bitterness and brutality. -- Chicago Tribune, James L. Swanson, 25 October 1998

About the Author

Ira Berlin is a preeminent slavery historian and founding director of the Freedmen and Southern Society Project at the University of Maryland. Marc Favreau is a doctoral candidate at the University of Maryland, where he is completing a study of slavery on the trans-Mississippi frontier. Steven F. Miller is a member of the Freedmen and Southern Society Project. He is co-editor of Freedom and Free at Last.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: New Press, The (April 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1565845870
• ISBN-13: 978-1565845879
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,215,976 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Powerful and Enlightening, August 29, 2002

By 

P. Abbott "pka" (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Remembering Slavery: African Americans Talk About Their Personal Experiences of Slavery and Emancipation (Paperback)

I am currently a high school student that read part of this for a Civil War class and let me say this is one powerful book. With people who were the slaves themselves tell you their stories, you learn alot about the antebellum period. I would recommend this book for any mature person due to the fact that some of these stories show the true horror of slavery.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Interested in having history come alive, February 17, 2009

By 

Blaine Greenfield "eclectic reader" (Belle Meade, NJ) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Remembering Slavery: African Americans Talk About Their Personal Experiences of Slavery and Emancipation (Paperback)

Heard REMEMBERING SLAVERY. a series of actual

interviews from the 1920s and 1930s with 124 former slaves . . . they

have been remastered and the quality is remarkably good.

All touched me, though in particular, I doubt that I'll ever forget this one

quote: "If I had to do it again, I'd take a gun and shoot myself 'cause

you're nothing but a dog."

No matter how much you think you know about slavery , you'll

gain a greater appreciation of the wrongs that were perpetuated

by listening to this program . . . while the narration by actors such as

James Earl Jones, Debbie Allen and Louis Gossett, Jr. was

quite professional, I actually enjoyed hearing the actual

voices of many of the slaves much more.

If you are interested in having history come alive or you want

get a child or grandchild excited in the subject, get the

CD version of REMEMBERING SLAVERY . . . there's also

a book version, edited by Ira Berlin, Marc Davneau and Steve

F. Miller.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Wealth of Knowledge, January 18, 2008

By 

F. I. Khattab "F. I." - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Remembering Slavery: African Americans Talk About Their Personal Experiences of Slavery and Emancipation (Paperback)

This book and CD are a wealth of knowledge. As a person of African descent, hearing how these persons were treated in a county supposedly for freedom and equality, not only was a horrified but very angry.

I will NEVER forgive this coutry for the ill treatment and hardship that racism and bigotry ahs and still is causing.