Long past slavery Representing race in the Federal Writers' Project

This excellent, penetrating study presents much-needed information about the Ex-Slave Project's creation. Stewart's compelling study of the contexts of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) collection of over 2,300 African Americans' personal stories of bondage offers critical historical insight into fights over the history of chattel slavery. Examining Federal Writers' Project records, Stewart (history, Cornell College) deftly peels back the layers of the competing racial agendas that gave shape to the WPA's ex-slave narratives and subsequent histories of slavery. Ethnographers battled over how African American history and culture should be collected and presented. Federal and state workers wrangled over resources and for editorial control over the histories developed. Whether they were slaveholders' descendants who needed to present slavery as a benevolent institution, or descendants of enslaved people who believed an honest but redemptive history of slavery's horrors was required to make a case for black people's entitlement to citizenship rights, interviewers clashed with each other, federal directors, and their informants. Formerly enslaved Americans had priorities of their own that informed whether and what they revealed or concealed about their stories. An important book deserving of a wide readership. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Most levels/libraries. --Kidada E. Williams, Wayne State University

Although the oral histories collected by the Federal Writers' Ex-Slave Project transformed our understanding of the history of slavery, few scholars have examined the context in which they were created. Stewart (history, Cornell Coll.) investigates how the racial politics of the 1930s impacted the creation and implementation of the Federal Writers' Project (FWP) in general and its focus on collecting black folklore specifically. Editors and writers debated the authenticity of the narratives, the use of dialect, and who was qualified to interview subjects. Stewart gives particular focus to folklorists Sterling Brown, John Lomax, and Zora Neale Hurston, who played major roles in the project but with considerable controversy. Stewart's detailed analysis of voluminous correspondence and comments on drafts illuminates the high stakes of the FWP to rewrite American history and on the precipice of a global war, reshape future race relations. While some now dismiss many of the discussions owing to the power white interviewers had over their black subjects, Stewart asks us to read between the lines. VERDICT While Stewart's use of jargon may turn off general readers, this work is essential for those interested in African -American history and the Great Depression.-Kate Stewart, American Folklife Ctr., Washington, DC © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.