Slave Narrative Life Histories

Slave Narrative Life Histories
From the U.S. Library of Congress
American Slave Narratives
HBO Slave Narrative Documentary: Unchained Memories

In the 1930s and early 1940s, Alan Lomax and his father, folklorist John A. Lomax, helped to develop the Library of Congress’ Archive of American Folk Song as a major national resource, recording thousands of songs and oral histories in their original settings. Alan presented Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, Josh White, Burl Ives, Pete Seeger, and many others to national audiences on radio, and in concerts, records, and books, promoting their careers and contributing to the folk song movement of the period.