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Question

Hi, I have an e research essay for my American literature class. My topic is focusing on anti-slavery. Basically I need to right on how things were for African Americans (their rights, how they were treated ect) pre civil war to where we are now, and all my sources must come from American literature. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

Another great work of literature you could use is “Narrative of Frederick Douglass.” Frederick Douglass was a slave that was eventually freed and was able to obtain an education. He was a well known abolitionist who was able to speak to Abraham Lincoln on the issue of slavery. Since it is an autobiography, it would be a great first hand resource to include in your essay.

Answer 2

I would definitely recommend the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. as one person suggested, but I'd also look into Up from Slavery by Booker T. Washington, in which the civil rights leader describes his experience of being a child slave during the Civil War to when he worked his way up to get a college education. A pre-Civil war piece that may be of interest to you is The Blind African Slave, Or Memoirs of Boyrereau Brinch, Nicknamed Jeffrey Brace. Jeffrey Brace was a Revolutionary War hero who eventually received freedom from his master. He died about 30 years before the Civil War.

Answer 3

For a more contemporary and interesting read, try "The Underground Railroad" by Colson Whitehead or "Twelve Years a Slave"

Answer 4

Pre-Civil War classics include:

Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass (nonfiction, but it still "counts" as literature)

Also, if you google "American slave narrative," you'll find more sources than you can possibly use, but one I'll highlight, if only because the movie made it comparatively well-known is:

12 Years a Slave by Solomon Northrup

For a controversially Southern-sympathetic source, you could look at Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

For the immediate post-Civil War era, the above google search will give you many sources too, but you might especially want to read Booker T. Washington's Up from Slavery.

For 20th century, there's way too much to pick, but some of my favorites from a few different decades are: Langston Hughes (poems and fiction)

Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X and Alex Haley (whose "Roots" you'll also want to look at)

James Baldwin (novels and nonfiction)

Toni Morrison (my favorites are Song of Solomon and Beloved)

Maya Angelou

August Wilson (he wrote 10 plays, each set during a different decade of the 20th century, so while he mainly wrote in the 80s-2000s, he has a take on any other time you want to focus on)

and you could even use the screenplays of Spike Lee (especially Do the Right Thing) as a source on late 20th century

There are major gaps even in that list, but it's a huge topic and after you do some preliminary research, your first task is most likely going to be finding your own way to narrow it down, so I hope this all at least gets you started.

Answer 5

Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly (1852) is among the best-known fictional treatments of slavery before the Civil War. Through compelling fictional characters, including Tom (a slave), Simon Legree (a brutal, sadistic slave owner) and Evangeline St. Clare (a.k.a. Eva, daughter of slave owner Augustine St. Clare). It is widely considered among the most important anti-slavery novels written in America. However, it is not without controversy. Over the past decades, critics have pointed to the stereotypes of African Americans that the novel perpetuates and its idolization of the suffering undergone by Tom, which nevertheless does not shake his devotion to the St. Clare family. To best understand the importance of Uncle Tom's Cabin, it is necessary to read about contemporary reactions -- positive and negative -- to it; the early to mid-century critical acclaim for it; and the criticism of it dating from (roughly) the mid-1970s to today.