To Be a Slave

The majority of enslaved people were used on American plantations to grow cotton. Cotton “was a crop that needed much care and long hours of tedious work” (43). For every month of the year, there was work to do to on the cotton. Lester writes: “Some crops can be planted, hoed, and left to grow until time for harvest. Not cotton” (43).

On larger plantations, a “trusted slave would help the overseer” (18). This person was called a driver, and they could even be asked to whip other enslaved people.

In the 1930s, the history of slavery was quickly disappearing as the generation of former slaves died. Stemming from this context, the Federal Writers’ Project sought to preserve this history by interviewing former slaves. As part of this effort, and in a departure from previous record keeping, it deliberately preserved the language of the former slaves it interviewed. Lester makes extensive use of these archival interviews in his book.