As part of its collection of primary source material, AAE contains thousands of interviews with former slaves. These slave narratives originally appeared in two different print collections from Greenwood Press: African American Slave Narratives: An Anthology (3 volumes) and The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography (40 volumes). Direct access to each of these 43 volumes, and more information on each print set, appears below. Once you click on one of these titles, you can either go through the material page-by-page, or use the handy “Table of Contents” feature to navigate to a particular section of interest, similar to an e-book experience.

African American Slave Narratives: An Anthology

Edited by Sterling Lecater Bland

The slave narratives of the 19th century recorded the atrocities of the antebellum South and provided a solid foundation for the African American literary tradition. By presenting 16 slave narratives in their entirety, this collection conveniently documents this historically significant literary genre. This reference intentionally avoids well-known narratives and instead collects unavailable and otherwise difficult-to-find texts. Each narrative is preceded by a preface, explanatory notes, and suggestions for further reading.

1.	African American Slave Narratives An Anthology, Volume I Note: Contains slave narratives from Nat Turner, Moses Roper, Lunsford Lane, Lewis & Milton Clarke, and William Hayden
2.	African American Slave Narratives An Anthology, Volume II Note: Contains slave narratives from William Wells Brown, Henry Walton Bibb, Henry “Box” Brown, Josiah Henson, James W.C. Pennington, William Green
3.	African American Slave Narratives An Anthology, Volume III Note: Contains slave narratives from John Thompson, Austin Steward, Reverend Noah Davis, William & Ellen Craft, James Mars

The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography

Edited by George P. Rawick

From 1936 to 1938, many ex-slaves in the United States told, for the first time, stories of what it was like to be a slave in America, and what life was like when freedom finally came. These interviews and narratives were collected under the auspices of the Work Projects Administration (and are therefore known as the WPA Slave Narratives), and were originally edited by George P. Rawick and published by Greenwood Press in an 18 volume set titled The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography in the early 1970s. Two supplements to this set (“Series 1” with 12 volumes, and “Series 2” with 10 volumes) were collected by Rawick and published by Greenwood in 1978 and 1979. For a complete timeline of the project, click here.

Volume 1, From Sundown to Sunup: The Making of the Black Community, contains background material, including a helpful appendix containing an introduction to the WPA Project by B.A. Botkin, Chief Editor of the Writers Unit of the Library of Congress, and two memos from Henry G. Alsberg, Director of the Federal Writers Project, providing instructions to the FWP interviewers of the former slaves. The rest of the volumes contain the full set of slave narratives, organized by state.

Note: When reading the narratives, it is important to remember their context. Although the language used in the interviews can be offensive or disturbing, they are a reflection of the attitudes of their time and place.

1.	Volume 1 – From Sundown to Sunup: The Making of the Black Community Note: This is an introduction to the American Slave: A Composite Autobiography set. Rather than any slave narratives, this title contains introductory essays about African American and slave history, and an introduction specific to Volumes 2-18.
2.	Volume 2 – South Carolina Narratives, Parts 1 and 2
3.	Volume 3 – South Carolina Narratives
4.	Volume 4 – Texas Narratives, Parts 1 and 2
5.	Volume 5 – Texas Narratives, Parts 3 and 4
6.	Volume 6 – Alabama and Indiana Narratives
7.	Volume 7 – Oklahoma and Mississippi Narratives
8.	Volume 8 – Arkansas Narratives, Parts 1 and 2
9.	Volume 9 – Arkansas Narratives, Parts 3 and 4
10.	Volume 10 – Arkansas Narratives, Parts 5 and 6
11.	Volume 11 – Arkansas Narratives Part 7, and Missouri Narratives
12.	Volume 12 – Georgia Narratives, Parts 1 and 2
13.	Volume 13 – Georgia Narratives, Parts 3 and 4
14.	Volume 14 – North Carolina Narratives, Part 1
15.	Volume 15 – North Carolina Narratives, Part 2
16.	Volume 16 – Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Virginia, and Tennessee Narratives
17.	Volume 17 – Florida Narratives
18.	Volume 18 – Unwritten History of Slavery
19.	Supplement, Series 1 – Volume 1: Alabama Narratives
20.	Supplement, Series 1 – Volume 2: Arkansas, Colorado, Minnesota, Missouri, and Oregon and Washington Narratives
21.	Supplement, Series 1 – Volume 3: Georgia Narratives, Part 1
22.	Supplement, Series 1 – Volume 4: Georgia Narratives, Part 2
23.	Supplement, Series 1 – Volume 5: Indiana and Ohio Narratives
24.	Supplement, Series 1 – Volume 6: Mississippi Narratives, Part 1
25.	Supplement, Series 1 – Volume 7: Mississippi Narratives, Part 2
26.	Supplement, Series 1 – Volume 8: Mississippi Narratives, Part 3
27.	Supplement, Series 1 – Volume 9: Mississippi Narratives, Part 4
28.	Supplement, Series 1 – Volume 10: Mississippi Narratives, Part 5
29.	Supplement, Series 1 – Volume 11: North Carolina and South Carolina Narratives
30.	Supplement, Series 1 – Volume 12: Oklahoma Narratives
31.	Supplement, Series 2 – Volume 1: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Washington Narratives
32.	Supplement, Series 2 – Volume 2: Texas Narratives, Part 1
33.	Supplement, Series 2 – Volume 3: Texas Narratives, Part 2
34.	Supplement, Series 2 – Volume 4: Texas Narratives, Part 3
35.	Supplement, Series 2 – Volume 5: Texas Narratives, Part 4
36.	Supplement, Series 2 – Volume 6: Texas Narratives, Part 5
37.	Supplement, Series 2 – Volume 7: Texas Narratives, Part 6
38.	Supplement, Series 2 – Volume 8: Texas Narratives, Part 7
39.	Supplement, Series 2 – Volume 9: Texas Narratives, Part 8
40.	Supplement, Series 2 – Volume 10: Texas Narratives, Part 9