Another Review at MyShelf.Com

Publisher: Bulfinch Press
Release Date: January, 2003
ISBN: 0821228420
Awards:
Format Reviewed: Hardback
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Genre: Non-Fiction / History
Reviewed: 2003
Reviewer: Sharon Hudson
Reviewer Notes:

Unchained Memories
Readings from the Slave Narratives  

Foreword by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

"…Oh freedom, Oh freedom, Oh freedom over me. And before I'll be a slave, I'll be buried in my grave and go home to my Lord and be free"
Old Negro Spiritual

The words of the spiritual must not have been uttered to these human beings who have graciously allowed interviewers from the 1930's Governments Works Progress Administration to chronicle their life stories, for if the words above had been uttered, would never have received the credence they do in this book. This is the slavery experience, from an intimate and painful point of view,

Tales of slavery are still passed down from generation to generation, but a book like Unchained Memories is special. This is a beautiful book. I'm so thrilled to have been given the opportunity to read, experience and learn from it. I can treat the book as a textbook, a factual accounting of the lives of former slaves who have wonderful stories that they don't mind sharing with the world. For that reason alone, this book has earned a permanent place on my coffee table. Something about the actual words of former slaves bound in book form validates an agonizing time in American History.

Unchained Memories is well researched and magnificently laid out. At the beginning of every chapter is an introductory text that accounts for the tenure of the time, followed by a poignant quote. My one regret is that the narratives are so short, when biographers obviously spent a great deal of time with these people. I am grateful that there is an extensive bibliography at the back where one can find the complete accounts.

It's also a good idea to also see the HBO documentary that is a companion to this book. There is nothing like hearing the words spoken by African American actors of today in the vernacular of the time.

Unchained Memories fittingly made its debut during Black History Month. The former slaves quoted in Unchained Memories are the reason why there is a Black History Month. The book is a fitting tribute and helps us all remember whence we, as a nation, have come.

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