The slave narratives of the Born in Slavery project represent the largest attempt by the federal government to preserve first-hand testimony about the experiences of enslaved people in the U.S.. The Born in Slavery narratives were gathered as part of the New Deal's Federal Writers' Project between 1936-1938. A portion of the interviews were typewritten by the project's editors and in 1941 these were microfilmed. In 2001 the microfilm was digitized by the Library of Congress (LOC). The LOC Born in Slavery collection includes scans of roughly 2300 typewritten interviews.

The Born in Slavery AI INDEX is meant to supplement the LOC edition by improving accessibility and searchability of the typewritten material.

Use the Browse Items or Advanced Search buttons at the top of this page to start viewing items in this collections. See below for more information about how AI has been used to create this index or to learn more about the history of the Born in Slavery project.