Slave Narratives Volume XVII Virginia Narratives

Slave Narratives, Volume XVII: Virginia Narratives presents a remarkable collection of firsthand accounts recorded during the 1930s as part of the WPA Federal Writers' Project. This volume gathers interviews with formerly enslaved men and women who lived in Virginia, offering deeply personal testimonies that illuminate the complex and often brutal realities of slavery in one of the earliest and most influential slaveholding states in America.

These narratives preserve the voices, memories, and cultural expressions of individuals who recount plantation life, forced labor, family separation, acts of resistance, religious traditions, and the profound emotions tied to the arrival of freedom. Their recollections reveal the unique social, economic, and cultural landscape of slavery in Virginia-from Tidewater plantations to rural mountain settlements.

As one of the most important primary-source collections on American slavery, this volume provides essential insight for historians, educators, researchers, and anyone seeking to understand the lived experiences and enduring resilience of African American communities in the South.