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Long Past Slavery: Representing Race in the Federal Writers' Project 1st Edition
by Catherine A. Stewart
From 1936 to 1939, the New Deal's Federal Writers' Project collected life stories from more than 2,300 former African American slaves. These narratives are now widely used as a source to understand the lived experience of those who made the transition from slavery to freedom. But in this examination of the project and its legacy, Catherine A. Stewart shows it was the product of competing visions of the past, as ex-slaves' memories of bondage, emancipation, and life as freedpeople were used to craft arguments for and against full inclusion of African Americans in society. Stewart demonstrates how project administrators, such as the folklorist John Lomax; white and black interviewers, including Zora Neale Hurston; and the ex-slaves themselves fought to shape understandings of black identity. She reveals that some influential project employees were also members of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, intent on memorializing the Old South. Stewart places ex-slaves at the center of debates over black citizenship to illuminate African Americans' struggle to redefine their past as well as their future in the face of formidable opposition.
By shedding new light on a critically important episode in the history of race, remembrance, and the legacy of slavery in the United States, Stewart compels readers to rethink a prominent archive used to construct that history.
Editorial Reviews
Review
A compelling read which will provide an invaluable contribution to scholarship around the Federal Writers' Project and for those interested in the construction and representation of competing historical memories of race.--Slavery & Abolition
Essential for those interested in African American history and the Great Depression.--Library Journal
Stewart's trenchant analysis of ex-slave narratives . . . probes deeper rhetorical patterns, identifying interviewees' agency in their deft control of economic and cultural exchange as in their signifying, indirection, and role reversal.--Journal of American History
A fascinating study of the Ex-Slave Project, conceived as an arena for contemporary discussions about history, identity, and citizenship.--Dutch Review of Books
This excellent, penetrating study presents much-needed information about the Ex-Slave Project's creation. . . . An important book deserving of wide readership. Highly recommended.--CHOICE
Scholars and graduate students interested in the New Deal, cultural memory, ethnography, the legacies of slavery, and African American history will find in Long Past Slavery a richly detailed take on the work of the Federal Writers' Project.--Journal of Southern History
With insightful prose and intricate detail Stewart makes a persuasive case for the centrality of the Ex-Slave Project to the racial landscape of the 1930s. . . . Highly recommended.--Civil War History
Illuminate[s] the complexities of tackling New Deal cultural initiatives. . . . [this study] should encourage more scholars to probe all four arts programs with the same degree of vigor.--Reviews in American History
Provides a fresh perspective by situating the FWP's Ex-Slave Project within the intellectual and cultural contexts of the 1930s, mining the archival sources that trace its development and operation from 1936 to 1939, and illuminating the conflicting perspectives of its federal and state leaders, white and African American employees in several states, and formerly enslaved people themselves.--American Historical Review
This is a superbly researched, engaging, and insightful book, which deserves to be read by all social historians . . . as well as any scholars interested in American racial politics. Indispensable.--Institute of Historical Research
Review
It is a rare delight to read a book as authoritative and captivating as this one. Stewart narrates the racial politics of the Federal Writers' Project, tracing with clarity and force an on-the-ground reading of how race operates in American society and culture.--Leslie A. Schwalm, University of Iowa
In this provocative history of the ex-slave narratives compiled by the Federal Writers' Project, Catherine A. Stewart provides an essential text for understanding race relations in America before the civil rights era.--Nina Silber, Boston University
About the Author
Catherine A. Stewart is professor of history at Cornell College.
Product details
- Paperback: 372 pages
- Publisher: University of North Carolina Press; 1 edition (April 25, 2016)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1469626268
- ISBN-13: 978-1469626260
- Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 0.9 x 9.2 inches
- Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
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