Discussion Summary

Ira Berlin, Marc Favreau, and Steven F. Miller, eds., Remembering Slavery.   New York:  The New Press, 1998.

Norman Yetman, "The Background of the Slave Narrative Collection", and  "Ex-Slave Narratives and the Histiography of Slavery", American
Quaterly.

Themes:

-The impact of ex-slave voices on recent national memory.
-The differences in punishments according to the gender of the master  and/or slave.
-Connection between nudity and brutality.
-The differences between male and female slave labor.
-Contrast slave marriages pre- and post-emancipation.
-Slaves' response to the Civil War and emancipation; how slaveholders
influenced their  opinions.
-The impact of the interviewer's race on the reliability of the narrative.
 

Comparative Analyses:

"Modern memory is archival", Pierre Nora

Means by which memory is "crystallized and transmitted":
-transcripts
-audio tapes
-written documentation
-iconography (i.e. Wedgewood medallion)

Halbwach's Theory on the Social Framework of Memory:
"...combination of individual recollections of many members of the same  society" (Coser, 39).

-in terms of the institution of slavery, this theory explains the
diversity of public opinion among the races in past history.

re: Yetman:   personal memoirs become the basis of expansive literature,  which, in turn, become history.
-Remembering Slavery as the compilation of memoirs perpetuates this  theory, in that the  voices of the ex-slaves are the most reliable sources available.
 

Ex-Slave Memories:

A.  Recollections of ex-slaves in a single-slave plantation vs. those on
a large plantation:
-difference in level of violence; more violence on larger plantations
-smaller plantations were more "paternalistic"; ex-slaves had  "fonder" memories

B.  Gender Dimensions of Punishment:
-mistresses were often more cruel to slaves than masters; signifies a  "trickling
down" of authority (frustrated white women in a paternalistic society)

-male slaves punished outside; female slaves punished inside; due to  the division  of labor along gender lines.

Slave Culture:

A.  Marriage and the slave family structure:
-imposed marriages on the plantation; questions about sanctity of the  act

B.  Individual memories in a collective framework:
-folk tales, spirituals, work songs

C.  Cultural differences among slaves:
-from what part of continental Africa did the New World slaves originate?

D.  Time Markers:
-seasons, holidays, Civil War events

Interviews:

A.  Main problems with interviews:
-lack of objectivity
-leading questions were asked
-interviewees were intimidated by interviewer's race/gender
-non-professional interviewers

B.  Discussant's reaction to narratives:
-fear and apprehension "sanitized" the narratives; they were devoid  of raw  emotion, more methodical. For example, tales of losing a child/spouse  were  very matter-of-fact.  The exception:  the topic of resistance (i.e.  escape, means  of survival) was retold with more passion.

-the ex-slave narratives correspond to the Savage and Wood analysis  about  memorials; oral memory as opposed to written documentation is  informed by  the lack of public memory, thereby becoming fact.
 

Traci Williams
Michelle Maslov