John Washington's Civil War: A Slave Narrative
Washington, a contemporary of Frederick Douglass, was born a slave in Virginia, the son of a slave and a white man. Seven years after his emancipation in 1872, Washington wrote “Memorys sic of the Past,” recalling his life as a house slave, laborer, and servant on the eve of the Civil War, and his experiences as a slave under Union officers during the war. Washington’s account details the struggles within families, black and white, as the war approached and, with it, the end of economic and social relationships as they had known them. He recalls the pain and sorrow of family breakups as slaves were sold, the great fortune of his mother teaching him to read, and the use of religion by his mistress to control the slaves. This memoir triggered excitement in history circles as a firsthand account of slavery and its ending, not a narrative collected by WPA writers from elderly subjects recalling dim memories. At the end of each chapter, Shifflett provides historical context based on public records and other supporting evidence to this amazing slave narrative. --Vanessa Bush--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.