Primary Source Spotlight: Slavery (U.S.)

Library slavery collections

• Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers’ Project, 1936-1938 more than 2,300 first-person accounts of slavery and 500 black-and-white photographs of former slaves
  • An Introduction to the WPA Slave Narratives
  • Caroline Hammond (a fugitive) “I was born in Anne Arundel County near Davidsonville about 3 miles from South River in the year 1844….”
  • The story of Charles Crawley, ex-slave “God knows, how old I am. All I know is, I wuz born ‘fore de war….”
• Voices from the Days of Slavery audio interviews, including some song recordings
  • Interview with Fountain Hughes Baltimore, Maryland, June 11, 1949 (transcription)
  • Interview with Mrs. Williams Norfolk, Virginia, ca. 1937-1940 (transcription)
• Slaves and the Courts, 1740-1860 pamphlets and books published 1772-1889 concerning the experiences of African and African-American slaves in the colonies and United States
  • A legal review of the case of Dred Scott, as decided by the Supreme Court of the United States 1857
  • A picture of slavery, for youth by the author of “The branded hand” and “Chattelized humanity” 184?
• From Slavery to Freedom: The African-American Pamphlet Collection, 1824-1909 nearly 400 pamphlets published from 1822-1909 by African-American authors and others who wrote about slavery, African colonization, Emancipation, Reconstruction, and related topics
  • American slavery : a formidable obstacle to the conversion of the world 1854 by William Goodell
  • Slavery and the war: a historical essay 1863 by Rev. Henry Darling
• Voices Remembering Slavery: Freed People Tell Their Stories – 1999 ABC News Story primary source set
• The African-American Mosaic – Conflict of Abolition and Slavery online exhibition
• Thirteenth Amendment primary digital resource guide
• Frederick Douglass Newspaper Collection
• Educated and Enslaved: The Journey of Omar Ibn Said story map

Slave narratives

• Twelve years a slave : narrative of Solomon Northup, a citizen of New-York, kidnapped in Washington City in 1841, and rescued in 1853 1853
• Thirty Years a Slave Autobiography of Louis Hughes 1897
• Ten Years on a Georgia Plantation Since the War by Frances Butler Leigh 1883
• Sketches of slave life, or, Illustrations of the ‘peculiar institution’ by Peter Randolph, an emancipated slave 1855 Documenting the American South
• Narrative of events in the life of William Green, (formerly a slave) 1853 written by himself
• Narrative of Sojourner Truth; a bonds-woman of olden time, emancipated by the New York Legislature in the early part of the present century; with a history of her labors and correspondence drawn from her “Book of life.” 1878
• Biography of a Slave; Being the Experiences of Rev. Charles Thompson, a Preacher of the United Brethren Church, While a Slave in the South 1875

Frederick Douglass primary source set

• Frederick Douglass to Abraham Lincoln August 29, 1864 plan for helping slaves escape from rebel states (transcription)
• “Slavery” speech
• Speech before the American Anti-Slavery Society 1848

Frances Ann Kemble primary source set

• Journal of a residence on a Georgian plantation in 1838-1839 by Frances Anne Kemble (863
• Fanny Kemble in America: or, The journal of an actress reviewed (835
• Frances Ann Kemble image set

Books

• American scenes and Christian slavery; a recent tour of four thousand miles in the United States 1849 by Ebenezer Davies
• Documentary history of slavery in the United States 1851 by a native of Maryland
• A journey in the seaboard slave states : with remarks on their economy 1856 by Frederick Law Olmsted
• “Make the slave’s case our own” c 1859

Correspondence & early texts

• Bill of Sale of Slaves October 5, 1786 Thomas Freeman
• Deposition on Slave Enlistment April 3, 1782 Joseph Mason
• Statistics and Notes on Land and Slaves 1787 James Madison
• Thomas Jefferson on Fugitive Slaves December 3, 1792 (transcription)
• New Jersey Circular on Slavery Public Meeting October 29, 1819 Jesse Upson
• Jedidiah Morse to James Madison, including Circular with James Madison’s Answers to questions regarding slavery March 1823

Other texts

• Proceedings of the Anti-slavery convention of American women held in Philadelphia May 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th, 1838
• A Picture of Slavery for Youth 184?
• Daniel Webster’s notes for his speech to the United States Senate favoring the Compromise of 1850 7 March 1850
• Abraham Lincoln notes on the history of the African slave trade January 4, 1855 (transcription)
• Slavery and the slave trade in the District of Columbia broadside
• Plantation manual 1857-1858
• The poor old slave, or Plantation life before the war 1872 A dramatic sketch, by Harry B. Warner

Legislation

• A Bill to abolish slavery throughout all the States and Territories of the United States February 17, 1864
• A Bill to maintain and enforce the freedom of the inhabitants of the United States December 21, 1865

Slavery newspapers

• Anti-Slavery Bugle (weekly) New-Lisbon, Ohio 1845-1861
• The Examiner (abolitionist weekly) Louisville, Kentucky 1847-1849
• Squatter Sovereign (proslavery weekly) Atchison, Kansas Territory 1855-1858
• Fugitive Slave Ads: timeline & select articles 1792-1863

Slavery maps

• Map showing the distribution of the slave population of the southern states of the United States. Compiled from the census of 1860 drawn by E. Hergesheimer, Engr. by Th. Leonhardt
• Reynolds’s political map of the United States, designed to exhibit the comparative area of the free and slave states and the territory open to slavery or freedom by the repeal of the Missouri Compromise
• The Spread of Slavery 1790-1860 census data visualization interactive map
• Mapping Slavery Library of Congress blog October 31, 2012
• These Maps Reveal How Slavery Expanded Across the United States Smithsonian

Slave song recordings

• Chanson Slave
• Old Marse John

Slavery sheet music

• “The Rose of Alabama” H. De Marsan
• “Way down South in de Alabama” Andrews, Printer
• De days when I was sold in slavery 1881 by J. L. Feeney
• Poor old slave 1883 by E. M. F.

Slavery image set

Slavery political cartoons

PSN curated primary source collections related to slavery

• Today in History
  • Abolition in D.C.
  • Amistad Mutiny Survivors Released
  • Emancipation Proclamation
  • Juneteenth
  • Slave Auction
  • Stono Rebellion
  • Uncle Tom’s Cabin
  • John Brown
  • John C. Calhoun
  • Frederick Douglass
  • Reverdy Johnson
  • Elijah Lovejoy
  • Daniel Webster
• Primary Source Spotlight
  • Fugitive Slave Law
  • Lynching
  • Harriet Tubman
• Selecting Primary Sources That Deal with Difficult Issues

Library blog posts related to slavery

• 12 Years a Slave: Primary Sources on the Kidnapping of Free African Americans Teaching with the Library of Congress 
• An 1848 Christmas Story: The Gift of Freedom Timeless Stories from the Library
• Beyond 1619: Slavery and the Cultures of America Folklife Today
• Collection Connections: “Twelve Years a Slave” Timeless Stories from the Library
• Expanding Student Understanding of Slavery in America by Exploring an Arabic Muslim Slave Narrative Teaching with the Library of Congress 
• “I Require No More of Them Than Others Do,” George Washington’s Weekly Productivity Reports and the Lives of the Enslaved History Unfolding: Manuscripts
• Inquiring Minds: Uncovering the Many Meanings of Slave Narratives Timeless Stories from the Library
• Love in the Ex-Slave Narratives Timeless Stories from the Library
• Mapping Slavery Timeless Stories from the Library
• Navigating Liberty’s Promise: Black Women in Washington, DC and the End of Slavery Insights
• “What, to the American Slave, Is Your 4th of July?” Headlines & Heroes

Primary Source Learning: Slavery (U.S.)