Black Narratives of Slavery: A Very Short Introduction

Very Short Introductions: Brilliant, Sharp, Inspiring

This Very Short Introduction brings together a wide range of narratives of slavery across a broad historical period to understand how Black people--enslaved and not-enslaved--have experienced and imagined slavery. It also investigates how slavery's long reach and afterlife has continued to shape Black life in the twenty-first century. By giving attention to the narratives produced during the last two hundred plus years, this volume examines American chattel slavery as a specific historical period that legally ended in 1865, and yet recognizes its impacts, effects, and significance as extending into the twenty-first century. Slave narratives tie the life of slavery its abolition with its afterlife and the reconfigurations that followed--Black Codes, Jim Crow segregation, and many other forms of disenfranchisement.

Robert J. Patterson examines so-called "traditional" slave narratives alongside writings from non-enslaved Black people in the nineteenth century, the imaginative works of twentieth century fiction, and twenty-first century cinema to create a compelling and informative introduction to the long historical arc of slavery woven into the cultural and political fabric of America.

ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Author: Robert J. Patterson
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 04/21/2026
Pages: 176
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.31lbs
Size: 6.89h x 4.85w x 0.39d
ISBN: 9780197678374

About the Author
Robert J. Patterson is Professor of African American Studies in the Department of Black Studies at Georgetown University. He is the author of Destructive Desires (2019) and Exodus Politics (2013), the editor of Black Cultural Production after Civil Rights (2019), and the co-editor of The Psychic Hold of Slavery (2016).