In the 1930's, the last decade when many men andwomen who were born under slavery and freed by theEmancipation Proclamation.still lived, the NewDeal's Federal Writing Project made an extraordinaryand important decision. It sent interviewers toask these African-American survivors: What doesit mean to be free? Even more, how does itfeel? "Does I remember much 'boutslavery times? Well, there isno way for me to disremember unless Idie." B.A. Botkin compiled nearly three hundred ofthese narratives to create a rich, unvarnishedportrait of lives lived half slave, half free. Init, people who experienced the seasonal rhythms ofplantation life . . .who were eyewitnesses toLincoln, Douglas, and Tubman . . .who had theirconciousness shaped by bondage . . .and who felt theanguish of the lash have their memories brought tolife again. Their voices reach out across thedecades and teach us what they know -- our history andour legacy in their telling of an indelible truth."