"It as sort of like de small town ‘cause everything we use is made right there."
A Description of an Uprising Aboard a Slave Ship by James Barbot, Jr. (1732)
"Premeditated a revolt"
How Slaves Were Acquired by John Barbot (1732)
"Prepossessed of the opinion...that Europeans are fond of their flesh"
Some Memoirs of the Life of Job, the Son of Solomon by Thomas Bluett and Ayuba Sulieman Diallo (1734)
"He was no common slave"
An Account of the Middle Passage by Alexander Falconbridge (1788)
"The men negroes...are...fastened together...by handcuffs"
Kidnapping and Banditry as Ways to Acquire Slaves by Scott Glenn and Olaudah Equiano (1789)
"They...carry off as many as they can seize"
The Igbo Religion of Eastern Nigeria by Olaudah Equiano and Gustavus Vassa (1789)
"The strong analogy...in the manners...of my countrymen, and those of the Jews"
Nat Turner Explains Why He Led His Insurrection by Nat Turner (1831)
"The last should be first"
How He Was Punished After Trying to Run Away by Moses Roper (1837)
"Among the instruments of torture employed"
His Experiences as a Slave Child by Lunsford Lane (1842)
"I discovered the difference between myself and my master's white children"
His Battle with a "Negro-Breaker" by Frederick Douglass (1845)
"Cowardice departed, bold defiance took its place"
The Circumstances that Prompt Masters to Whip Slaves by Frederick Douglass (1845)
"Matters for which a slave may be whipped"
The Implements Used to Punish Slaves by Lewis Clarke (1846)
"Her inventino was wonderfully quick"
The Impact of Slavery Upon Slave Families by Lewis Clarke (1846)
"There is but...little scruple of separating families"
The Punishments He Received by William Wells Brown (1847)
"I was tied up in the smokehouse""
Conjuring Under Slavery by Henry Bibb (1849)
"Many believe...in what they call conjuration"
Children's Lives Under Slavery by James W.C. Pennington (1849)
"The want of parental care and attention"
How Cotton Was Raised on a Louisiana Plantation by Solomon Northrup (1853)
"There is no such thing as rest"
How He Escaped from Slavery by Frederick Douglass (1855)
"A new world bust upon my agitated vision"
Condition on a Plantation outside of Washington, D.C. by Francis Henderson (1856)
"My bedstead consisted of a board wide enough to sleep on"
The Regimen on a Tobacco Plantation by Charles Ball (1858)
"The general features of slavery are the same everywhere"
A Description of a Slave Funeral by Charles Ball (1858)
"I assisted...to inter the infant"
Lincoln's First Inaugural Address by Abraham Lincoln (03/04/1861)
"We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies."
The Black Moses by Harriet Tubman (1863)
"The most remarkable woman of this age"
Corporal Jackson Cherry Appeals for Equal Opportunity for Former Slaves by Jackson Cherry (1865)
"We ought to be considered as men"
A Former Tennessee Slaves Decline His Master's Invitation to Return to His Plantation by Jourdan Anderson (1865)
"I thought the Yankees would have hung you long before this"
Henry Kirk Miller remembers when the day the big freedom came by Henry Kirk Miller
Old mistress got 15 bales of cotton for sister...
Francis L. Cardoza Calls on South Carolina to Grant Land to Former Slaves by Francis L. Cardozo (1868)
"Let the lands of the South be...divided"
Spousal Separation Under Slavery by Laura Spicer (1869)
"It never was our wish to be separated"
Henry "Box" Brown Escapes Slavery in a Small Box by Henry (Box) Brown (1872)
"He...hit upon a new invention altogether"
Elias Hill Testifies About the Ku Klux Klan Before a Congressional Committee by Elias Hill (1872)
"They hit me with their fists"
Israel Jefferson: Recollections of a Monticello Slave by Isaac Jefferson (1873)
"My earliest recollections are the exciting events attending the preparations of Mr. Jefferson"
Margaret Garner Kills One of Her Children Rather than Permit Her to be Returned to Slavery by Margaret Garner (1876)
"She would kill herself...before she would return to bondage"
An Overseer Attempts to Molest His Mother by Josiah Henson (1877)
"The overseer...sent my mother away...to a retired spot"
A Description of Everyday Life on a Maryland Plantation by Josiah Henson (1877)
"We lodged in log huts"
Margaret Ward and her Infant Son Follow the North Star to Freedom by Margaret Ward (1879)
"She would not be whipped, she would rather die"
Frederick Douglass Assesses the State of African Americans in 1880 by Frederick Douglass (1880)
"The serfs of Russia...were given three acres of land"
The Difference Between the Christianity Taught by Masters and Practiced by Slaves by Peter Randolph (1893)
"The slave assemble in the swamps"
Growing Up in Bondage (1898)
"I cannot do anything for you"
The Way the Slaves Lived by Jacob Stroyer (1898)
"Most of the cabins...were built...to contain two families"
A Slave Auction by James Martin (1937)
"The slaves are put in stalls like...cattle"
Henry Blake Describes His Life After Emancipation by Henry Blake (1937)
"After freedom, we worked on shares"