UNCHAINED MEMORIES: READINGS FROM THE SLAVE NARRATIVES (TV)
Summary
A documentary based on interviews with ex-slaves collected by the Federal Writers Project in the 1930s in which the actual words of former black slaves are read by a group of prominent African-American actors. The program supplements the readings with narration by Whoopi Goldberg and archival images, dramatizations, and slave era spirituals and work songs sung by the McIntosh County Shouters. Goldberg begins the program by describing the project that began in the midst of the Great Depression when hired journalist and writers traveled the country to record the memories of the last generation born into bondage. Actors Angela Bassett, Don Cheadle, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Robert Guillaume, Jasmine Guy, Samuel L. Jackson, CCH Pounder, LaTanya Richardson, Vanessa L. Williams, Oprah Winfrey, Alfre Woodard, and others read from the slave narratives, which are stored at the Library of Congress. The program proceeds thematically and the accounts cover the following topics, among others: work life in the cotton fields and in the master's house, beginning at a very early age; the different slave classes; rape and mixed-race slaves; whippings and slave deaths; poor living conditions; the role of Christianity in slave life; courting between slaves and plantations, including voluntary and forced marriages; slave auctions and the separation of families; slave escapes, successful and unsuccessful, and the Underground Railroad; and the freeing of the slaves in 1865. The excerpts are from the accounts of the following interviewees, all former slaves: Sarah Ashley, Fanny Berry, Francis Black, W. L. Bost, Vinnie Brunson, Marshal Butler, Cato Carter, Laura Clark, Willis Cofer, William Colbert, Henry Coleman, Katie Darling, Tempie Herndon Durham, Robert Falls, Octavia George, Arnold Gragston, Charles Grandy, Sarah Frances Shaw Graves, Sarah Gudger, Shang Harris, Wash Ingram, Martin Jackson, Beverly Jones, Lucindy Lawrence Jurdon, Jack and Rosa Maddox, Ishrael Massie, William Moore, Mary Estes Peters, Jennie Proctor, Spottswood Rice, Mary Reynolds, Katie Rowe, Elizabeth Sparks, Rose Starke, Charley Williams, Rose Williams, and Wash Wilson.
(This program contains minor technical problems. This represents the best copy of this program currently available to the Museum.)
Details
- NETWORK: HBO
- DATE: February 10, 2003 Monday 8:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:13:27
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:75957
- GENRE: Public affairs/Documentaries
- SUBJECT HEADING: Biography; Blacks - History (See also: African-Americans); Slave narratives; Slavery; African-American Collection; African-American Collection - News/Talk
- SERIES RUN: HBO - TV, 2003
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Donna Brown Guillaume … Executive Producer
- Sheila Nevins … Executive Producer
- Lisa Heller … Senior Producer
- Jacqueline Glover … Producer
- Thomas Lennon … Producer, Director
- Juliet Weber … Co-Producer, Production (Misc.), Editor
- Lana Garland … Associate Producer
- Beth Harrison … Associate Producer
- Ira Berlin … Production (Misc.), Senior Historical Advisor
- Henry Louis Gates, Jr. … Production (Misc.), Historical Advisor
- James Oliver Horton … Production (Misc.), Historical Advisor
- Charles L. Perdue … Production (Misc.), Historical Advisor
- Margaret Washington … Production (Misc.), Historical Advisor
- Ed Bell … Director
- Mark Jonathan Harris … Writer
- Patricia Lee Stotter … Music by
- Don Rebie … Music (Misc. Credits), Orchestration
- Patterson, William "Spaceman" … Music (Misc. Credits), Additional score by
- Whoopi Goldberg … Narrator
- Angela Bassett … Cast
- Michael Boatman … Cast
- Roscoe Lee Browne … Cast
- Don Cheadle … Cast
- Sandra Daley … Cast
- Ossie Davis … Cast
- Ruby Dee … Cast
- Robert Guillaume … Cast
- Jasmine Guy … Cast
- Samuel L. Jackson … Cast
- CCH Pounder … Cast
- LaTanya Richardson … Cast
- Ruben Santiago-Hudson … Cast
- Roger Guenveur Smith … Cast
- Courtney B. Vance … Cast
- Vanessa L. Williams … Cast
- Oprah Winfrey … Cast
- Alfre Woodard … Cast
- Sarah Ashley
- Fanny Berry
- Francis Black
- W. L. Bost
- Vinnie Brunson
- Marshal Butler
- Cato Carter
- Laura Clark
- Willis Cofer
- William Colbert
- Henry Coleman
- Katie Darling
- Tempie Herndon Durham
- Robert Falls
- Octavia George
- Arnold Gragston
- Charles Grandy
- Graves, Sarah Frances Shaw
- Sarah Gudger
- Shang Harris
- Wahs Ingram
- Martin Jackson
- Beverly Jones
- Lucindy Lawrence Jurdon
- Jack Maddox
- Rosa Maddox
- Ishrael Massie
- William Moore
- Mary Estes Peters
- Jennie Proctor
- Spottswood Rice
- Mary Reynolds
- Katie Rowe
- Elizabeth Sparks
- Rose Starke
- Charley Williams
- Rose Williams
- Wash Wilson