Black narratives of slavery : a very short introduction / Robert J. Patterson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Patterson, Robert J. (Robert John), author.

Series:

Very short introductions

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

African American authors--History and criticism.

African American authors.

African Americans--Social conditions.

African Americans.

Enslaved persons' writings, American--History and criticism.

Enslaved persons' writings, American.

Slave narratives--Influence.

Slave narratives.

Slave narratives--History and criticism.

Slavery in literature.

Slavery in motion pictures.

Physical Description:

1 online resource : illustrations.

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2026]

Summary:

This introduction brings together a wide range of narratives of slavery across a broad historical period to understand how Black people - enslaved and not-enslaved - have experienced and imagined slavery. It also investigates how slavery's long reach and afterlife has continued to shape Black life in the twenty-first century. By giving attention to the narratives produced during the last two hundred plus years, this volume examines American chattel slavery as a specific historical period that legally ended in 1865, and yet recognizes its impacts, effects, and significance as extending into the twenty-first century.

Contents:

Black narratives of slavery and Black cultural production

Autobiographical narratives of slavery

Not written by themselves : oral yet recorded narratives of slavery

Slavery remade : Jim Crow narratives of slavery

Freedoms on their minds : post–civil rights narratives of slavery

Black interiority visualized : cinematic narratives of slavery

Epilogue : the longest afterlives ever—legacies of slavery and Jim Crow/

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Online resource; title from home page (Oxford Academic, viewed March 18, 2026).

Other Format:

Print version: Patterson, Robert J. (Robert John) Black narratives of slavery

ISBN:

9780197678404

0197678408

OCLC:

1570330342

Publisher Number:

CIPO000344444

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license