We Lived in a Little Cabin in the Yard: Personal Accounts of Slavery in Virginia by Belinda Hurmence

We Lived in a Little Cabin in the Yard: Personal Accounts of Slavery in Virginia Reviews

• 
  Pauline

  I first learned about the Federal Writers’ Project when I read Under the Tulip Tree by Michelle Shocklee. I was quite interested when I read that the actual FWP works were still housed in the Library of Congress. I knew I had to somehow find a way to read some of them. When we visited Booker T. Washington’s birthplace last month, I was pleasantly surprised to find that some of the Virginia stories from the FWP had been collated into this small volume. Of course I had to buy it. Each oral testimony is different yet contains some of the same elements. Hearing formerly enslaved people’s actual words was a powerful history lesson and moving experience for me. I hope to read more of these compilations in the future.
• 
  Alex Perez

  A very quick read (completed on a round trip flight) that gives numerous first hand accounts of slavery, and the end of it. There are a spectrum of experiences, from being treated pretty fairly to living in hell on Earth. I found it a good companion piece to The Frederick Douglas book I finished recently.
• 
  Kate

  I wasn’t aware of the Federal Writer’s Project before but now I want to explore it further. Reading these oral testimonies from slaves in the 1800’s gives a voice to their lived experiences that would otherwise go unheard
• 
  Catherine Petrini

  This book is a powerful collection of recollections from former slaves about what their lives were like in Virginia under slavery. These narratives were gathered in the 1930s and 40s as part of a WPA project, and are recounted here in the words of the interview subjects.
  
  We've all heard that slaves couldn't read, that their owners beat them, and that their lives were constant, backbreaking labor from the time they were old enough to hold a handful of chicken feed until they died young of overwork or mistreatment. Of course, all of those things are true, but that's not the whole story. This book is remarkable in the breadth of experience it conveys. Some of the episodes here describe lives that were much grimmer than anything I'd read before; others are surprisingly upbeat.
  
  The book shows slavery as the cruel, inhumane system that it was, but these interviews show that not every slave owner treated slaves cruelly. The narratives tell of horrific punishments, but also of surprising kindness. Of a slave owner who would order a child whipped for looking scared when he came home drunk, and another who spared no expense to hire the best doctors to treat a slave who was sick. There is no shortage here of stories of people who were torn away from their children or siblings because an owner decided to sell. But there are also stories of slaves whose owners refused to split up a family, and even taught them to read. Some talk of subsisting on starvation rations; others always had plenty to eat, and reminisce about how good some of the food was. On one plantation, slaves were not put to work until they turned 15, and then worked only three hours a day until the age of 18!
  
  Even slave escapes are described in pretty much the same way in every other book I've read that discusses the subject, both fiction and nonfiction. The person who wants to escape begins planning weeks ahead of time, saving or stealing food, learning about the route, and choosing the most likely night for slipping into the woods unnoticed, then to be pursued by hounds and eventually either reaches freedom or safety, or is dragged back to be made an example of in the most horrific ways. I'm sure it must have happened that way in many cases, but the usual stories are so much the same that it never occurred to me there were other ways to do it. So I was amazed to see in this book the story of a slave whose owner threatened punishment, and who responded by just running, on the spot, in daylight, in front of the owner himself. I wanted to cheer when he actually got away. When eventually, after more than a year away, he returned of his own accord. He feared punishment, but his owner accepted him back with hardly a word, and never mistreated him again.
  
  It's clear from online comments about this book that it makes people uncomfortable. Some can't face the horrendous cruelty that was part of everyday life for enslaved people, cruelty that led one of the interview subjects to describe her life as a slave as simply "hell." Others refuse to accept that anyone who owned slaves could have ever acted with decency, to such an extent that several of the former slaves said their lives were actually easier before they were freed. Is that Stockholm Syndrome? Maybe in some cases. But I prefer to respect these courageous narrators enough to take them at their word.
  
  I especially enjoyed the stories of parties and camaraderie in the slave quarters, when people could be themselves and not worry about being punished for it -- at least, in those places where such activities were allowed. The fact that these are Virginia narratives probably sets these stories apart from those that would be told by slaves in the Deep South, where treatment was notoriously worse. There are several books in the series; others contain interviews from different states.
  
  Yes, slavery is an abomination. But reading the words of former slaves themselves reminds us that slaves (and slave owners) were individuals, each with a unique story to tell. Slavery was not a monolithic institution, and the experiences of slaves were complex and varied. That complexity makes this a rich and rewarding read.
  
  
  
  
• 
  Mirrani

  It is so important to remember history the way that it actually happened. The best way to do that is by collecting interviews, which is how this book came to be. I have no recollection of reading a more varied, honest-sounding compilation of accounts. This book is the result of the Federal Writers' Project, which was created to provide work for historians, teachers, writers, and others while creating a series of guide books. American life histories and the histories of slaves were collected in a series of interviews, which have been edited together here.
  
  This is an invaluable resource that I stumbled upon in my local library and would not have known existed otherwise. As someone who loves actual history told by the people who lived it, I simply cherished every word that I read. It is a quick read that makes you want to track down every interview you can for the other states that are available.
• 
  Jenn

  It was interesting and definitely well put together, but in my opinion, there were way too many "life was good as a slave and worse now that we are free" stories. I'm pretty sure the majority of slave narratives weren't that positive. It does make me want to find the other narratives in the collection and read them for a more well-rounded account.
• 
  Meg

  This is a stunning collection of slave narratives - easy to understand and fascinating. I do wish it explored more its methods of collection however and expanded its analysis of the collection's conclusions. It is not a scientific study but anecdotal.
  
• 
  Martha

  I've read a lot of these slave narratives over the years; these are the words of people who lived in Virginia. They never fail to move me and cause me to wonder how this peculiar institution lasted for so long. We have still not gotten over it as a country. So sad and so cruel.
• 
  Kitty Tomlinson

  Personal narratives of former slaves as collected by the WPA in the 1930s.
• 
  Tess

  There are a lot of real-life historical topics that, when our modern brains think of them, are awash in pop culture versions of those topics that were put there by years of movies, TV, novels, etc.—not the least of these topics is slavery. We can never *fully* know about things that happened 170+ years before us no matter how much research we do, and we can never fully remove those pop culture fun-house-mirror impressions from our brains either. But we can try to push back on that inertia and read some first-person accounts and get a more accurate (and in my opinion, more interesting) sense of how things were.
  
  This is a collection of memories from former Virginian slaves, gathered by the Federal Writers' Project in the 1930s. I really enjoyed these vibrant, detailed retellings, and it was interesting to start making connections across the various accounts and notice which aspects of life seemed to be consistent across all accounts, and which aspects varied wildly. I even learned about a couple of native plants that I recognize but hadn't known what they were (and that they taste delicious, apparently—look up chinquapin). The subjects really come alive and you will find the many voices that tell these stories at turns humorous, self-deprecating, sorrowful, practical, proud, defeated, and hopeful.
  
  I'd recommend this short book to anyone who'd like to broaden their understanding of daily life during slavery beyond the sensationalized versions in film and novels. If you read it, definitely pay close attention to the editor's introduction so you can understand the decisions she made while curating, and what and why she chose to include or not include.
  
  I got mine at the gift shop at the Booker T. Washington National Monument (which is very worth a visit), but you can order it online too.
• 
  Klaudia Maciejowski

  This book was quite a read. Some stories were extremely positive and some were very negative. I'm surprised by the positivity though. I'm going to leave this book without a rating because it's non-fiction and I never know how to rate non-fiction. At this point you're not really rating the writing, but lives. Anyhow here are a few things I learned: Some slaves (especially in Virginia) had positive things to say about their life before freedom, slaves barely owned clothing let alone a pair of shoes, white poor people were slaves as well, reading the Bible on Sundays would sort of bring the slave owners and their slaves together. Would I recommend? -yes. These are real interviews done in the 1930's, you get a chance to learn about slavery from those who were actually enslaved.
• 
  Maya

  This collection of narratives of formerly enslaved peoples ("slave narratives") is by Belinda Hurmence, who also gathered into a book, "My Folks Don't Want Me To Talk About Slavery," which I read earlier this month. I thought this one was clearer and more comprehensive, but that could also be because it has been the primary subject of my reading in the time between completing the two books.
  
  Valuable and important read.
• 
  Jennifer O’Sullivan-Stalvey

  I purchased this in Gettysburg,PA. It’s oral histories of slaves from VA. The interviews were done in the 30’s so the former slaves were 80-105.
  
  It was interesting to see the many different perspectives from former slaves depending on how the masters and misses treated them. Some of these stories even reeked ok Stockholm Syndrome.
  
  Overall, very interesting read. There are many books similar to this, almost like a series. I have another one as well, I’ll see how those accounts are.
• 
  Annie

  A firsthand hand account of the lives of enslaved people from Virginia. Even when the slave owners were “good” , the horror and wrongness of humans being owned is palpable. Children pulled from their mothers’ arms, so they wouldn’t get too attached; people beaten horribly, sometimes to death. The differences in the way some people were treated is striking. I’d like to read more. I wish there were more from the times before the “civilized” war, as one woman put it.
• 
  Silani Luengo

  This book was really interesting because I learned about the slaves’ experiences through their perspectives. I appreciate how this book gives a voice to ex-slaves. In my experience, learning about slavery, I have mostly learned about dates and facts. This book includes stories in which slaves were treated fairly and in which slaves were brutalized.
• 
  Emily Hewitt

  This was a quick read, but very interesting. I am from Virginia so it was fascinating to me how all of the accounts were from former Virginia slaves. I also appreciated that the accounts were written in the same way the individuals spoke. This is such an important book and I hope it never goes out of print. It should be required reading in Virginia high schools.
• 
  Jennifer

  This first-person look at slave life gave me a new perspective on slavery, including captivity in Africa and life after the Civil War. I found this short book to be part inspirational and all heartbreaking but very important for everyone to read.
• 
  Rebecca

  Extremely intense. I read this in an hour.
• 
  O-Goodreads P

  A great record of first-hand accounts of people who lived through slavery. Of course, it has the "N" word in it. This is to be expected considering the era in which it was written.
• 
  Meg

  A very quick read that gives alot of information.
• 
  George Kasnic

  Primary source history from the WPA interviews of the 1930’s. The brutality of enslavement comes through in every story, you just have to know what it sounds like. Remembering the context of the interviews, white writers speaking either aged formerly enslaved people. Powerful.
• 
  Helen O'Toole

  100 pages of actual oral history from men and women who were slaves in pre Civil War USA.All 21 were slaves in Virginia.
  They were all interviewed in the 1930's through the Federal Writers' Project which sought to secure the last remaining former slaves. Most people were in their late 90's
  The sad aspect to me was that many of them displayed what we would now describe as the Stockholm Syndrome.They often romanticized the behavior of their previous Master or Mistress for example suggesting that some slaves needed to be whipped. However the vast majority of the testimonies were horrifying in their descriptions of slavery in all its degrading misery, brutality and horror. How could I not give this 5 stars? The descriptions of slavery have burnt themselves into my mind.
• 
  Melinda

  I liked this collection of interviews of former slaves because it was written in their own words. It fascinates me that slaves lived through their experiences and continued to live after they were freed albeit in poverty and without equal rights. I found the perspective from the slaves that their masters were kind to them a perspective bender. They thought kind was not being beaten and given a new set of clothes once a year. This is a fast little read that is worth it.
  
  
• 
  Margaret

  In the 1930's the Federal Writer's Project started a huge historical project of interviews with 21 former Virginia slaves. This verbal history is an incredible look into their lives. Each person interviewed shared their perspectives of being slaves. It is a window into another time. I am so glad these stories were captured before they were lost forever.