What are the WPA slave narratives?

Answer 1

Oh honey, the WPA slave narratives are a collection of interviews conducted in the 1930s with former slaves. These firsthand accounts provide a valuable insight into the experiences of those who lived through one of the darkest periods in American history. So, if you want some real talk about the harsh realities of slavery, these narratives are where it's at.

Answer 2

WPA stands for Works Progress Administration. The"slave narratives" are real life stories, interviews, and reminiscences reported by people who had been slaves in the U.S.A. In the 1930s, during the Great Depression, the federal government created the Works Progress Administration [WPA], and under that program, a Federal Writer's Project was started. Writers were hired to produce books that detailed the facts about each state in the union: each state had its own volume. Another part of that WPA Federal Writer's Project was interviewing former slaves and reporting their recollections about slavery. Here's a site that will explain more about the project and that will give you a way of seeing some content that was eventually developed for The Library of Congress.