
Show HN: SlaveryStories.org – Memoirs from American Slaves - robertwalsh0
http://www.slaverystories.org
======
lmg643
When I saw "slavery stories" \- I did a double take - I thought someone was
putting up a website to talk about modern day slavery stories.

CNN has a good site up on this subject - estimated 20-30 million people work
in forced labor around the world today.

[http://thecnnfreedomproject.blogs.cnn.com/category/the-
facts...](http://thecnnfreedomproject.blogs.cnn.com/category/the-facts/)

The fact that slavery persists to this day, despite the known history and
aftereffects, is an important subject that needs more awareness.

------
shriphani
I was recently reading this book:
[http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00A735906/](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00A735906/)
(title: When I Was a Slave: Memoirs from the Slave Narrative Collection)

It contains interviews with slaves that were part of a public-works program
geared towards writers/musicians and other white-collar workers during the
great depression. It was a particularly fascinating text since lots of the
interviewees were in their 90s and thus had experienced both the pre- and
post-emancipation eras. The most consistent message I saw was that a group of
oppressed people who had not been allowed to acquire any of the skills one
needs to survive had been set free and asked to fend for themselves in a very
hostile environment (jim crow laws and so on) and thus for most of that
generation, it was like trading one problem for another.

Also, there are several statistics compiled where the african-american
community features as an outlier. For instance, breast-feeding rates in that
community are far lower than the rest of the US [1]. I didn't know that this
was a result of what women in the slavery-era went through but learned that
from the book.

It is important to read literature from this era. Tells us a lot about how
just over a century ago, people employed rhetoric to convince themselves that
slavery was really ok (see the talking points of the "overseers" and
"speculators").

[1]
[http://thenationshealth.aphapublications.org/content/43/3/1....](http://thenationshealth.aphapublications.org/content/43/3/1.3.full)

~~~
rayiner
I don't know if any slavery-related impact would survive the dramatic change
in breastfeeding rates in the U.S. over the 20th century. The chart of
breastfeeding rates, for any race, looks like this:
[http://www.skepticalob.com/wp-
content/uploads/2013/08/breast...](http://www.skepticalob.com/wp-
content/uploads/2013/08/breastfeeding-initiation-1910-2000.jpg). At about 60%,
the breastfeeding rate among blacks in the U.S. is about what the national
average was in 1995, and far above the 20-30% national average from 1945-1975.

------
1dundundun
The site is well done and I look forward to checking it out.

It does irritate me a bit when all of these slave stories always come out
during black history month as if black peoples entire history consists of
slavery and then the civil rights struggle. There are black poets, artists,
inventors, scientists and intellectuals that nobody really knows about. It
would be cool to put some focus on that aspect or at least let it match the
amount of effort put into sharing the chilling truths of slavery in America...

~~~
jfc
Totally agree. One of my favorite examples of an unknown, important person who
should be celebrated is Eunice Carter -
[http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,288...](http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1963424_1963480_1963450,00.html)

------
jfc
Really like the site.

I've been reading the narratives of enslaved people lately, starting with 12
Years a Slave, then Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, and started reading
Frederick Douglass' narratives. Harrowing reads.

For anyone reading these narratives: it's easy to get caught up in the dynamic
of blacks and whites, racism, and the like, but the core issue of American
slavery is the depravity of humanity. Focusing on the guilt/non-guilt/whatever
of various ethnic groups quite misses the point.

Evils of this type exist across humanity; these enslavement narratives show us
the particular context of how this depravity played out in America. They also
provides us with some insight into contemporary issues in our society. The
tentacles of a 400+ year institution like slavery, and their corroding
influence, continue to wrap themselves around hearts and minds open to their
venom.

The narratives are very worthwhile reading.

Sidenote: I think the site title might be better termed as Memoirs from
American Enslaved People. For so long these people were not acknowledged as
human beings, and it seems appropriate to acknowledge the dignity of their
humanity.

~~~
Crake
I absolutely adore what I've read of Frederick Douglass. I plan to ransack the
local library system for more of his writings at some point.

------
Theodores
There is only one monument built to commemorate the end of the slave trade
(through the British Empire). As it happens this monument just so happens to
be at the entrance to the school I attended. Consequently we learned more
about the slave business than most. Our education was a bit more nuanced and
not entirely pious.

It is easy to focus on what terrible times slaves had - 'wasn't it terrible'
\- but the more interesting stories and the bigger picture are elsewhere. For
starters, it was not the slaves that freed themselves (Haiti being an
exception), the campaign was a Quaker thing, an understanding that God would
not have thought it right. Beyond that there was also the economic picture,
indentured labour from Bengal (India) was more cost effective.

At least slaves could see their chains. They had to be fed and watered, it
wasn't as if they had to find the essentials for staying alive out of a
paycheck. Those doing the same toil as indentured labour were living that bit
more precariously.

What I find most interesting about the slave trade and slavery is how
analogous it is to the arms trade. In the days of slavery members of
parliament would own plantations, councillors would have shares in slave-trade
related concerns and every aspect of power was corrupted by some link. If you
were against slavery it was hard to clothe and feed yourself without buying
slavery products. Think of today and if you wanted to avoid things made in
China for some ideological reason - near impossible.

So anyway, today's arms trade where all politicians seem to take some back-
hander from it is so like the slave trade/slavery in how it corrupts. Equally,
nobody thinks or cares about banking with a bank that services the arms
companies, or buying something as small as a paperclip from a company that
gladly sells to the Pentagon. It was the same in the slavery days. Nobody
cared except for some Quakers.

That is not entirely true, a lot of factory operatives in places like
Manchester realised their struggle for fair pay for fair work was tied into
the slavery thing.

I particularly like stories that challenge the narrative. In the UK during the
post war years a lot of people from the Caribbean were invited over to blighty
to be cleaners, bus drivers etc. That is what we like to think. However, some
did make it over here to be judges, teachers and other professions. These
contradictions and the nuances to the story are what make it interesting for
me, and, personally, I think that our history regarding slavery deserves to be
more thought provoking than the testimonies provided on the slaverystories.org
website.

~~~
jfc
I think the stories on slaverystories.org are very thought provoking, and your
comment leads me to question whether you have read or listened to many of
them.

For instance, you are incorrect that no slaves freed themselves--here's an
example of a woman who sued for her freedom under the Massachusetts
Constitution and won (lawsuits from other enslaved people followed--some won)
-
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Freeman_(slave)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Freeman_\(slave\))

There are plenty of other stories such as this, along with numerous accounts
of escaped enslaved people, many of whom were not helped by the Quakers, but
by other, unexpected groups.

The tone of your comment is also at turns appallingly dismissive--you write of
enslaved people as being "fed and watered" and indicate that they were cared
for. But numerous narratives make clear that slaves were often not fed and
clothed sufficiently, not to mention that their health and hygiene was
neglected. The idea that they were provided for adequately is a foolish and
unwarranted assumption. They were treated, often times, worse than animals.

Not to mention the routine sexual assaults that women and men endured--that's
in some of the narratives as well. And not merely an assault only from the
slave owner, but from his siblings, sons, overseers who worked for him, and
the like. A particularly noteworthy account observed that slave owners would
interrupt the meals of enslaved families and require the daughters or wives to
leave with them to be sexually assaulted and then return the women after they
were finished. These would be severe horrors to anyone who had to endure them
and can't be ignored because someone doesn't like to hear about them--or
thinks something else is more interesting.

These enslaved people were human beings. There is no reason to minimize the
suffering portion of the narrative, especially since they lived with those
horrors daily and accounted for a significant part of their experiences while
enslaved. Again, if you've read some of these narratives, you would know that
there are lengthy discussions of their lives after becoming free--everything
isn't about their suffering.

There are certainly other perspectives from which we can look at American
slavery. The corrupting influence was (and remains) staggering.

Of course people like stories that challenge the narrative of the sufferings
of African enslaved people. It is more pleasant not to discuss or even
acknowledge the horrors that existed, for a variety of reasons. But these
things did happen, and sites like slaverystories.org do a good job of
illuminating not only the horrors that existed, but also the variegations of
life and humanity.

~~~
Theodores
We could take any period of history, find the suffering, focus on the untold
human interest stories and look at just that, in isolation.

For instance, right now we have The War Against Terror. We could put together
the stories of those murdered by drone strikes, waterboarded in Guantanamo,
raped by soldiers and so on. Yet the canvas is far larger, there are the
stories of the soldiers and the perplexing question as to why we all let it go
on. Everyone paid their taxes to pay for the war machine and everyone voted
for a politician that voted for The War Against Terror (or would have voted
for it had they been elected). I know this because, in October 2001, those
willing to protest against the war amounted to me and a very small handful of
others. Clearly by 2003, and the invasion of Iraq, there were millions more
wanting to protest against the conduct of the war, however, October 2001 is
where the uncomfortable truth is. By merely focusing on the 'human interest
stories', be it in New York or Afghanistan, we avoid this uncomfortable truth
aspect of the bigger narrative.

Regarding Elizabeth Freeman, she did not make it to the courtroom on her own.
Her male, white lawyer said a few words for her there. His story is
interesting because he did own slaves and, once Elizabeth Freeman was free,
she became his servant. So how free would she have been without his efforts
and, as a servant, how free was she anyway?

As for being 'fed and watered', the thing about owning a slave is that a slave
did have to be cared for to a certain extent rather than just worked to death.
Meanwhile, an 'indentured servant' could be worked to death' as there was no
obligation or expectation to care for them into old age.

Regarding 'routine sexual assaults', I am sure that goes on and has gone on
since the beginning of time, regardless of race. Women were property too up
until recent times, passed on from father to husband, with surname changing
according to ownership. Yet, I like to believe that my great-grand-fathers did
more than see their other halves as property, there 24/7 for their sexual
gratification.

Not everything need be painted as a wall of horror. Is everyone with some
mixed-race ancestry the bastard spawn of some horrific rape? Or, amongst the
tide of misery were there some instances where genuine love was able to
flourish between Master and his concubine(s)? What about the white lady of the
house and the gardener? Did love sometimes flourish there too? Again, the more
in depth narrative fascinates whereas your 'it was just beatings and rape'
version of the story is a tad trite for me.

The danger of painting the story as 'black and white' with whites evil and
persons of colour whiter-than-white is that by understanding the story that
way you may come into a situation where you insult someone from a different
background to yourself by assuming too much about their heritage.

~~~
jfc
At this point, I have to question whether you have read _any_ of the enslaved
people's narratives. In them, there are villains and good people across ethnic
backgrounds. If you think these narratives are primarily about race/ethnicity,
you are incorrect.

I contend that American slavery isn't as much about black and white people per
se, as it is about human depravity, which we see across societies and
cultures. American slavery is a context in which we can see the highs and lows
of humanity. There is much we can learn about _people_ from these narratives--
if they are reported fully.

The notion that we should focus on narratives which don't include the horrors
of slavery--or that they should be minimized--is just silly. Narratives are
the stories of enslaved people and the horrors they lived with are part of
their experiences. You prefer to gloss over the horrors they experienced and
instead seek to romanticize the institution. Ugh.

Ma Bett (Elizabeth Freeman) came up with the idea to sue for her freedom and
_hired_ that lawyer who spoke for her. Further, by taking the matter to court,
she was not hoping to rely on ethical arguments for her freedom, she was
referencing the State Constitution. This is a far cry from approaching the
Quakers and seeking help on moral or religious grounds.

Your initial comment seemed to suggest that blacks were not the primary
impetus behind their freedom. This narrative (and many others) directly refute
that.

Once Ma Bett was freed, she _chose_ to become a servant to that lawyer. It
scarcely needs noting that there is a difference between choosing to serve as
a domestic and being enslaved.

------
Asparagirl
This is the best thing I've seen on HN in ages. And love that they're actively
seeking submissions and additions through GitHub. _And_ lovely design, too.
Kudos all around!

------
brudgers
Coursera course _History of the Slave_ [US] _South_ is in session now for
people interested in the subject.

[https://www.coursera.org/course/slavesouth](https://www.coursera.org/course/slavesouth)

------
51Cards
I just fell in love with Fountain Hughes. Great site.

[http://www.slaverystories.org/fountain-
hughes/](http://www.slaverystories.org/fountain-hughes/)

~~~
robertwalsh0
Yeah, the first time I listened to that one – especially the way he opens with
his name - I totally teared up.

------
badman_ting
"The Warmth of Other Suns" may also interest you: [http://www.amazon.com/The-
Warmth-Other-Suns-Migration/dp/146...](http://www.amazon.com/The-Warmth-Other-
Suns-Migration/dp/1469233029) (no affil link)

------
kohanz
The website looks nice. I'm curious, is there any editorial process for the
contributions, to verify accuracy (understanding the full verification is
impossible)?

------
6789678689688
The audio is from the 1970's 1940's and 1930's.

I don't know why, but I was somehow expecting the audio to be analog rips
taken directly from 19th century wax cylinders.

------
bzelip
This is a great site. It correctly addresses the often-dense web spaces that
make available many of the narratives. Good to see the modern web approach.
And the instructional stuff on github is worthwhile.

I've shared it with the major African American Studies listserv, H-Afro-Am
([http://www.h-net.org/~afro-am/](http://www.h-net.org/~afro-am/))

------
gabemart
A minor bug: words in italic do not have a space before and after them, as
they should do. For example: [http://www.slaverystories.org/harriet-
jacobs/1](http://www.slaverystories.org/harriet-jacobs/1)

This is a great project.

------
chaostheory
My thoughts on the site:

1) It would be nice to have pictures, illustrations, and maps to give better
context to the stories. It would make them more alive.

Something like this would be nice:
[http://apps.npr.org/wolves/](http://apps.npr.org/wolves/)

There's a nicer example on some railway in Russia but I can't seem to find it.

2) As someone else has already mentioned, it would be great to include modern
slavery stories. Sadly, there are a lot more slaves today compared to before
Emancipation was passed. People need to know about that.

~~~
iamnicklewis
Quick reply:

1) I agree! We'd love to have more rich media within each narrative. One of
the reasons we've made the project open-source is to encourage people to
contribute additional narratives, including those with additional images and
illustrations. Check it out on Github and feel free to contribute!

2) We wanted to focus on historical narratives from American slaves, but
certainly acknowledge there's definitely more amazing stories to tell.
Hopefully this site can service as inspiration for more sites on the subject
and we'll get some interesting contributions.

~~~
chaostheory
> We wanted to focus on historical narratives from American slaves

Sadly, there are still slaves in America today as a result of human
trafficking. Slavery in the US hasn't ended.

------
Xeoncross
Why limit it to the (relatively) small collection of American stories? Why not
open it up to slavery stories from the hundreds of thousands of people around
the world?

~~~
pessimizer
Why should a site about American slavery cover something other than American
slavery? Would you go onto a website about the New England Patriots and ask
why there wasn't any coverage of the New York Giants, or onto a site about
mountaintop removal mining asking why there wasn't more coverage about
clearcutting? Do you go onto Kurdish sites and ask why they aren't covering
the Armenian genocide?

Why should the African-American experience be minimized so as to not be
considered a distinct experience from other differing experiences that have
been labeled as "slavery"?

edit: This is not a rhetorical question.

~~~
GFK_of_xmaspast
Because it lets white Americans say 'see! other people owned slaves too!' and
feel more comfortable about the legacy of slavery in this country.

Same principle with 'well, African kingdoms sold us the slaves in the first
place', it shifts the focus away from them and their ancestors.

~~~
Crake
Interesting how you define millions of the global population entirely by their
race.

>Because it lets white Americans...[shift] the focus away from them and their
ancestors.

Not every white American had ancestors that owned slaves. In fact, most white
Americans had nothing to do with slavery--much like today, only the top 1.5%
(1) or so of Americans enjoyed any of the benefits stereotypically ascribed to
"white people." Poor white people were left to scrounge for low income jobs
and educational funds, much as they are today.

Blaming all whites for slavery is much like blaming all Muslims for 9/11\.
From the past to the present, only the rich have benefited from slaves--as can
be seen by the fact that the first slave owner in America was actually a rich
black man. (2)

1\.
[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_slavery_in_the_Unite...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_slavery_in_the_United_States)]

2\.
[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Johnson_%28colonist%29](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Johnson_%28colonist%29)]

~~~
pessimizer
>white Americans had nothing to do with slavery

If they lived in America, they did. It affected the the prices of the goods
they purchased and affected the price their labor could bring. It affected who
they voted for, and years later where they would live. The fact that simply by
virtue of the state of being white, they were immune to being enslaved within
a culture of slavery affected their relationships to each other and to free
black men.

>only the top 1.5% (1) or so of Americans enjoyed any of the benefits
stereotypically ascribed to "white people."

Bullshit. If you can get a cab and a black man can't, you're enjoying
"benefits stereotypically ascribed to 'white people.'" If a job application is
turned down because a name sounds black, you're enjoying "benefits
stereotypically ascribed to 'white people.'" Not recognizing that is just a
sense of entitlement.

>Blaming all whites for slavery is much like blaming all Muslims for 9/11.

Muslims didn't get to vote (and take up arms against each other) to support
9/11, thousands of times in thousands of contexts over hundreds of years, and
they didn't get the economic boost that comes from a large proportion of the
population existing to serve.

~~~
Crake
> The fact that simply by virtue of the state of being white, they were immune
> to being enslaved within a culture of slavery

White people were slaves, too. Both in the Americas and elsewhere. In many
places, they were treated more harshly and considered less valuable than
African slaves.

[http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-irish-slave-trade-the-
forgo...](http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-irish-slave-trade-the-forgotten-
white-slaves/31076)

>If you can get a cab

If you're poor, you aren't going to be taking a cab no matter what color your
skin is.

>Muslims didn't get to...thousands of times in thousands of contexts over
hundreds of years...get the economic boost that comes from a large proportion
of the population existing to serve.

"During the 8th and 9th centuries of the Fatimid Caliphate, most of the slaves
were Europeans (called Saqaliba) captured along European coasts and during
wars.[2] Historians estimate that between 650 and 1900, 10 to 18 million
peoples were enslaved by Arab slave traders and taken from Africa across the
Red Sea, Indian Ocean, and Sahara desert.[3]

Unlike the trans-Atlantic slave trade to the New World, Arabs supplied African
slaves to the Arab world, which at its peak stretched over three continents
from the Atlantic to the Far East."

If you want to condemn white people for slavery, you're going to have to
condemn everyone else for it, too.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_slave_trade](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_slave_trade)

~~~
SixSigma
What is also overlooked is that the crew members of the slave ships were also
themselves kidnapped via press-ganging. This was one of the social pressures
that brought an end to the trade in the UK. More and more young men were being
kidnapped from port towns to serve on ships and eventually the residents began
to organise protest. Wilberforce acted as agent between the towns to give the
protest support, orchestration and communication with London.

------
girvo
Wow, this is an awesome site, especially for someone who's not from the US.
I've read literature that is about US slavery, and a few stories about
particular slaves that got (or took) their freedom so I find it fascinating to
read about.

Really nicely designed too :)

------
rak
This is a pretty cool project. I will check it out more when I get some time.

------
nicolsc
Great idea, and nicely executed :)

Feature request : would be great to have a /all to get the whole story at
once, instead of chapter by chapter. Would allow to export to Kindle or Pocket
in 2 secs.

------
aw3c2
With Javascript disabled (which is how safety-minded folk browse) your site
displays nothing but the background color (I guess). Add some <noscript>!

~~~
iamnicklewis
One of the developers here. Great suggestion, will do!

~~~
xenophonf
If you need any encouragement, I was going to make a similar comment. I'd love
to browse your web site based solely on the content of your contents, as it
were.

------
mikecane
Anyone interested in books published by former slaves, go search Google Books.
_12 Years A Slave_ is there among others.

------
epx
Salt the earth of southern USA

------
therogerwilco
The fact remains, how can we as American people move on, when all some are
trying to do is concentrate on the past?

Should we not concentrate on the future, and pay attention to the rest of the
world and the active slavery that still persists today?

I think Americans are spoiled. I also think that what we say, is comparable to
a poop sandwich because everyone wants attention on their own problems instead
of living their life and bettering the progress of the world.

------
yungether
How can we disrupt slavery?

------
therogerwilco
Ya! Let's do more to eliminate racism, perhaps a website that shows how
slavery affected us, so we can move past it and turn a new page. Oh wait...

~~~
badman_ting
Ever notice how nobody talks about "moving on from the past" on July 4th?

~~~
Crito
Not that I agree with GP, but to be fair I don't think most Americans could
even tell you when the last time we were at war with the British was.

~~~
badman_ting
Precisely, in a way.

~~~
Crito
Well, I guess what I am getting at is that there is no lingering animosity and
oppression between the British and the US. British/Irish relations might be a
better analogy. Telling a black American to get over it might be _roughly_
comparable to telling an Irish person to get over the British. In that case
there are true atrocities in the past and continued conflict and animosity
continued into the modern era.

------
kingmanaz
At what point does remembrance become defamation?

