I Was Born in Slavery

The editor does a great job of pulling together a compelling collection of histories here. He does a good job of setting the expectations in the introduction by pointing out the larger realities that cast some shadows over the accuracy of the accounts: interviewers’ biases and tilt toward their audiences, some subjects’ hesitation to be fully honest about the families that owned them and remain nearby decades later, and just accuracy of the transcription overall. Some of this is fairly explicit in the small preface at the beginning of each account. Some of it feels more subtle in the presentation of the narrative.

All in all a good read. A difficult one to be sure in some ways, but important.