Courage Against Cruelty: Life as a Slave in the Americas
"In most of us colored folks was the great desire to [be] able to read and write. We took advantage of every opportunity to educate ourselves. The greater part of the plantation owners were very harsh if we were caught trying to learn or write. It was the law that if a white man was caught trying to educate a negro slave, he was liable to prosecution entailing a fine of fifty dollars and a jail sentence. We were never allowed to go to town and it was not until after I ran away that I knew that they sold anything but slaves, tobacco, and wiskey. Our ignorance was the greatest hold the South had on us. We knew we could run away, but what then? An offender guilty of this crime was subjected to very harsh punishment."
So reads an excerpt from Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1938. For more than just a slice of slave life, delve into these fictionalized accounts of slavery in the United States and the Caribbean. There's cruelty, sadness, despair, and tragedy, but there's also hope, courage, perseverance, humor, and dignity.
Reading is equivalent to thinking with someone else's head instead of with one's own.
-Arthur Schopenhauer