Slave Narratives

What is a Slave Narrative?
An account of the life of a fugitive or former slave, either written or orally related by the slave personally.


What is the purpose of a Slave Narrative?
To record the impact of slavery and to persuade white readers of its many injustices. 

Question:

Are there any SIMILARITIES between slave narratives and The Color Purple?

Look at the statements listed below and categorise them into: similar to The Color Purple and different to The Color Purple.

When Africans were taken from their homelands to America, they usually were denied education by their slave owners and were not allowed to speak their own languages, instead being forced to speak English. This meant that the slaves had to create their own forms of communication and expression.

Their tales were of experiences on the plantation as well as tales from their native Africa. These stories were passed on from generation to generation.

Some early slave narratives employed codes, symbols, humour, and other methods to hide their true intent. Slaves took these measures to prevent slave owners from discovering the slaves’ ability to communicate.

Slave narratives derived from oral interviews. Most interviewers were white and therefore their representation of ‘black speech’ was often influenced by preconceptions and stereotypes.

Describes physical and emotional abuses of slavery: scenes of whipping, sexual abuse, starvation, especially of women or children.

Highlights the quest for literacy and freedom of the slaves.

Slave narratives often used ‘taboo language’.

They were concerned with ‘white-on-black oppression’. Narratives came from both black men and women. 

Revision:

•Write 1-2 paragraphs summarising your thoughts on whether Walker based The Color Purple on slave narratives.

•Think about the author’s intent (i.e. WHY did she chose to write about the themes in this novel?)

•Use evidence from the two extracts to support your view.

Both extracts are taken from:

Mary Reynolds, Dallas, Texas

Extract 1:

"Mary Reynolds claims to be more than a hundred years old. She was born in slavery to the Kilpatrick family, in Black River, Louisiana. Mary now lives at the Dallas County Convalescent Home. She has been blind for five years and is very feeble."

"My paw's name was Tom Vaughn and he was from the north, born free man and lived and died free to the end of his days. He wasn't no eddicated man, but he was what he calls himself a piano man. He told me once he lived in New York and Chicago and he built the insides of pianos and knew how to make them play in tune. He said some white folks from the south told he if he'd come with them to the south he'd find a lot of work to do with pianos in them parts, and he come off with them."
 
"He saw my maw on the Kilpatrick place and her man was dead. He told Dr. Kilpatrick, my massa, he'd buy my maw and her three chillun with all the money he had, iffen he'd sell her. But Dr. Kilpatrick was never one to sell any but the old niggers who was part workin' in the fields and past their breedin' times. So my paw marries my maw and works the fields, same as any other nigger. They had six gals: Martha and Pamela and Josephine and Ellen and Katherine and me."
 
"I was born same time as Miss Sara Kilpatrick. Dr. Kilpatrick's first wife and my maw come to their time right together. Miss Sara's maw died and they brung Miss Sara to suck with me. It's a thing we ain't never forgot. My maw's name was Sallie and Miss Sara allus looked with kindness on my maw."


Extract 2:
"Massa Kilpatrick wasn't no piddlin' man. He was a man of plenty. He had a big house with no more style to it than a crib, but it could room plenty people. He was a medicine doctor and they was rooms in the second story for sick folks what come to lay in. It would take two days to go all over the land he owned. He had cattle and stock and sheep and more'n a hundred slaves and more besides. He bought the bes' of niggers near every time the spec'lators come that way. He'd make a swap of the old ones and give money for young ones what could work."

"He raised corn and cotton and cane and taters and goobers, sides the peas and other feedin' for the niggers. I member I helt a hoe handle mighty onsteady when they put a old women to larn me and some other chillun to scrape the fields. That old woman would be in a frantic. She'd show me and then turn bout to show some other li'l nigger, and I'd have the young corn cut clean as the grass. She say, For the love of Gawd, you better larn it right, or Solomon will beat the breath out you body.' Old man Solomon was the nigger driver."

"Slavery was the worst days was ever seed in the world. They was things past tellin', but I got the scars on my old body to show to this day. I seed worse than what happened to me. I seed them put the men and women in the stock with they hands screwed down through holes in the board and they feets tied together and they naked behinds to the world. Solomon the the overseer beat them with a big whip and massa look on. The niggers better not stop in the fields when they hear them yellin'. They cut the flesh most to the bones and some they was when they taken them out of stock and put them on the beds, they never got up again."