[detail] Soldier and Two Women. Isaac and Lenora Lane Collection 
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The content of The African-American Experience in Ohio, 1850-1920, supports numerous learning activities in the language arts. In addition to providing captivating stories, the narratives and biographies of former slaves present interesting questions of authorship. Speeches and editorials provide an opportunity to examine persuasive writing, while essays on literature and the accomplishments of African-American poets allow for an analysis of poetry and of the role of literature in society. An analysis of the role of newspapers in a community is also possible. Other items provide the impetus for a consideration of humor, symbolism in song, and the relationship between cultural contexts and language.
Slave Narratives and Biographies
Pamphlets such as Reverend Charles Thompson's Biography of a Slave (1875) and Charles Garlick's Life, Including His Escape and Struggle for Liberty (1902) provide first-hand accounts of life during slavery. Both authors target a general audience and offer a conversational style that Thompson describes as "being much better suited to the tastes and capacities of my colored readers."
- Compare the experiences of Thompson and Garlick. How are they similar? How do they differ?
- What may have prompted each to write of his experiences?
- What conclusions can you make about the institution of slavery based on these accounts?
Angelina
Lester, an
Ex-Slave, 1937.
Additional conversational narratives are available in twenty-seven interviews of former slaves that were collected by members of the W.P.A. Federal Writers' Project. A search on ex-slave narrative provides the text while a search on ex-slave photograph yields a number of accompanying portraits. Additional material from the W.P.A. is available in the American Memory collections, Born in Slavery, 1936-1938 and American Life Histories, 1936-1940.
- What are similarities and differences within these twenty-seven W.P.A. narratives?
- What do these narratives reveal about the individuals being interviewed?
- What might the narratives indicate about the interviewers and their intentions?
- Can facts mentioned in these pieces be verified? How?
- How do these oral histories compare to the works of Thompson and Garlick?
- Why might a former slave have thought it important to record his or her experience in either a biography or an interview?
- What concerns might an ex-slave have about being interviewed? How might the identity of the interviewer contribute to these concerns? How might being illiterate effect the interview itself or one's feelings about it?
Last Updated: 06/23/2009