Unchained Memories
Encyclopedia
Unchained Memories is a 2003 documentary films about the stories of former slaves interviewed during the 1930s as part of the Federal Writers' Project
. This HBO film interpretation directed by Ed Bell and Thomas Lennon is a compilation of slave narratives, narrated by actors, emulating the original conversation with the interviewer. The slave narratives may be the most accurate in terms of the everyday activities of the enslaved, serving as personal memoirs of more than two thousand former slaves. The documentary depicts the emotions of the slaves and what they endured. The "Master" had the opportunity to sell, trade, or kill the enslaved, for retribution should one slave not obey.
popularized the stories of the Slave Narratives. The largest collection of slave narratives emerged from the Federal Writers Project. Created by the Federal Government to reduce unemployment during the 1930s, one component of the Federal Writers' Project involved interviews with thousands of former slaves in 17 states. The oral history interview project yielded an extraordinary set of 2,300 autobiographical documents. What emerges from these documents are pictures of living standards, the daily chores, and long days, were brought to light along with the stories of the good and bad "Master." The brutality, torture, and abuse under slavery are themes in the interviews.
Scholars debate the accuracy of the accounts, and their value for historical work. After the Civil War ended in 1865, more than four million slaves were set free. The main objectives were to inform the public, and describe the history and life of the former slaves. More than 2,000 slave narratives, along with 500 photos are available online at the Library of Congress as part of the "Born in Slavery" project.
Federal Writers' Project
The Federal Writers' Project was a United States federal government project to fund written work and support writers during the Great Depression. It was part of the Works Progress Administration, a New Deal program...
. This HBO film interpretation directed by Ed Bell and Thomas Lennon is a compilation of slave narratives, narrated by actors, emulating the original conversation with the interviewer. The slave narratives may be the most accurate in terms of the everyday activities of the enslaved, serving as personal memoirs of more than two thousand former slaves. The documentary depicts the emotions of the slaves and what they endured. The "Master" had the opportunity to sell, trade, or kill the enslaved, for retribution should one slave not obey.
History
The life of a slave prior to EmancipationEmancipation
Emancipation means the act of setting an individual or social group free or making equal to citizens in a political society.Emancipation may also refer to:* Emancipation , a champion Australian thoroughbred racehorse foaled in 1979...
popularized the stories of the Slave Narratives. The largest collection of slave narratives emerged from the Federal Writers Project. Created by the Federal Government to reduce unemployment during the 1930s, one component of the Federal Writers' Project involved interviews with thousands of former slaves in 17 states. The oral history interview project yielded an extraordinary set of 2,300 autobiographical documents. What emerges from these documents are pictures of living standards, the daily chores, and long days, were brought to light along with the stories of the good and bad "Master." The brutality, torture, and abuse under slavery are themes in the interviews.
Scholars debate the accuracy of the accounts, and their value for historical work. After the Civil War ended in 1865, more than four million slaves were set free. The main objectives were to inform the public, and describe the history and life of the former slaves. More than 2,000 slave narratives, along with 500 photos are available online at the Library of Congress as part of the "Born in Slavery" project.
Slaves and readers
- Narrated by: Whoopi GoldbergWhoopi GoldbergWhoopi Goldberg is an American comedian, actress, singer-songwriter, political activist, author and talk show host.Goldberg made her film debut in The Color Purple playing Celie, a mistreated black woman in the Deep South. She received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won...
- Sarah Gudger, North Carolina (Vol.11)—Read by: LaTanya RichardsonLatanya RichardsonLaTanya Estelle Richardson is an American actress and television producer. She graduated from Spelman College in 1974. While at Spelman, she met actor Samuel L. Jackson who would later become her husband. She and Jackson married in 1980 and have one daughter, named Zoe...
- Charley Williams, Oklahoma (Vol 13th) –Read by: Ruben Santiago-HudsonRuben Santiago-HudsonRuben Santiago-Hudson is an American actor and playwright, who has won national awards for his work in both areas. In November 2011 he will appear on Broadway in Lydia Diamond's play .-Early life:...
- Martin Jackson, Texas (Vol 16) - Read by: Robert GuillaumeRobert GuillaumeRobert "Bob" Guillaume is an American stage and television actor, best known for his role as Benson Du Bois on the TV-series Soap and the spin-off Benson, voicing the mandrill Rafiki in The Lion King and as Isaac Jaffe on Sports Night...
- Henry Coleman, South Carolina (Vol 14) – Read by:Roscoe Lee BrowneRoscoe Lee BrowneRoscoe Lee Browne was an American actor and director, known for his rich voice and dignified bearing.-Biography:Browne was the fourth son of a Baptist minister, Sylvanus S. Browne, and his wife Lovie...
- Jennie Proctor, Texas (Vol 16) – Read by: Oprah WinfreyOprah WinfreyOprah Winfrey is an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer and philanthropist. Winfrey is best known for her self-titled, multi-award-winning talk show, which has become the highest-rated program of its kind in history and was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2011...
- Elizabeth Sparks, Virginia (Vol 17) – Read by: Angela Bassett
- Rosa Starke, South Carolina (Vol 14) --
- Cato Carter, Texas (Vol 16) – Read by: Roger Guenveur Smith
- Mary Reynolds, Texas (Vol 16) – Read by: Angela BassettAngela BassettAngela Evelyn Bassett is an American actress. She has become well known for her biographical film roles portraying real life women in African American culture, including singer Tina Turner in the motion picture What's Love Got to Do with It, as well as Betty Shabazz in the films Malcolm X and...
- Rev. Ishrael Massie, Virginia –
- Fannie Berry, Virginia – Read by: CCH PounderCCH PounderCarol Christine Hilaria Pounder , known professionally as C. C. H. Pounder , is a Guyanese-American film and television actress...
- Mary Estes Peters, Arkansas (Vol 2) – Read by : Jasmine GuyJasmine GuyJasmine Guy is an American actress, singer and dancer. She is best known for her starring role as Whitley Gilbert in the television sitcom A Different World.-Biography:...
- Sarah Ashley, Texas (Vol 16) – Read by: LaTanya RichardsonLatanya RichardsonLaTanya Estelle Richardson is an American actress and television producer. She graduated from Spelman College in 1974. While at Spelman, she met actor Samuel L. Jackson who would later become her husband. She and Jackson married in 1980 and have one daughter, named Zoe...
- Charles Grandy, Virginia—Read by: Ruben Santiago-HudsonRuben Santiago-HudsonRuben Santiago-HudsonRuben Santiago-Hudson is an American actor and playwright, who has won national awards for his work in both areas. In November 2011 he will appear on Broadway in Lydia Diamond's play .-Early life:...
- William Colbert, Alabama (Vol 1) – Read by: Courtney B. VanceCourtney B. VanceCourtney Bernard Vance is an American actor. He was formerly a regular on the NBC/USA television series Law & Order: Criminal Intent as Assistant District Attorney Ron Carver. He was also a series regular on the ABC series FlashForward. As of 2011, he appears on the TNT series The Closer as Chief...
- Katie Darling, Texas (Vol 16) – Read by: Jasmine Guy Jasmine GuyJasmine GuyJasmine Guy is an American actress, singer and dancer. She is best known for her starring role as Whitley Gilbert in the television sitcom A Different World.-Biography:...
- Vinnie Brunson, Texas (Vol 3) – Read by: Vanessa L. WilliamsVanessa L. WilliamsVanessa Lynn Williams is an American pop-R&B recording artist, producer, dancer, model, actress and showgirl. In 1983, she became the first woman of African-American descent to be crowned Miss America, but a scandal generated by her having posed for nude photographs published in Penthouse magazine...
- Fannie Berry, Read by: CCH PounderCCH PounderCarol Christine Hilaria Pounder , known professionally as C. C. H. Pounder , is a Guyanese-American film and television actress...
- Jack & Rosa Maddox, Texas (Vol 7) – Read by: Ossie DavisOssie DavisOssie Davis was an American film actor, director, poet, playwright, writer, and social activist.-Early years:...
and Ruby DeeRuby DeeRuby Dee is an American actress, poet, playwright, screenwriter, journalist, and activist, perhaps best known for co-starring in the film A Raisin in the Sun and the film American Gangster for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.-Early years:Dee was born Ruby... - Mary Reynolds, Texas (Vol 16) – Read by: Angela BassettAngela BassettAngela Evelyn Bassett is an American actress. She has become well known for her biographical film roles portraying real life women in African American culture, including singer Tina Turner in the motion picture What's Love Got to Do with It, as well as Betty Shabazz in the films Malcolm X and...
- Louisa Adams, North Carolina (Vol 11) – Read by: LaTanya RichardsonLatanya RichardsonLaTanya Estelle Richardson is an American actress and television producer. She graduated from Spelman College in 1974. While at Spelman, she met actor Samuel L. Jackson who would later become her husband. She and Jackson married in 1980 and have one daughter, named Zoe...
Production
All that follow beneath are from the credits in Unchained Memories- Produced by: Jacqueline Glover, Thomas Lennon
- Co-Producer and edited by: Juliet Weber
- Executive Producer: Donna Brown Guillaume
- Directed by: Ed Bell, Thomas Lennon
- Written by: Mark Jonathan HarrisMark Jonathan HarrisMark Jonathan Harris is an American documentary filmmaker probably best known for his films Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport and The Long Way Home...
- Historical Advisors:
- Ira BerlinIra BerlinIra Berlin is an American historian, a Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland, and a past President of the Organization of American Historians. Berlin is the author of such books as Many Thousands Gone and Generations of Captivity.-Biography:Berlin received his Ph.D....
(Senior Advisor) - Henry Louis Gates, Jr.Henry Louis Gates, Jr.Henry Louis “Skip” Gates, Jr., is an American literary critic, educator, scholar, writer, editor, and public intellectual. He was the first African American to receive the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Fellowship. He has received numerous honorary degrees and awards for his teaching, research, and...
- James Oliver Horton
- Charles L. Perdue
- Margaret Washington
- Ira Berlin
Music and sound
All that follow beneath are from the Internet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie Database
Internet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...
- Music Engineer: Corey Folta
- Sound Editors: Ira Spiegel, Marlena Grzaslewicz
- Assistant Sound Editor: Mariusz Glabinski
- Music Editor: John M. Davis
- Sound Mixers: Peter Waggoner, Sound One
- Sound: Doug Donald, Charles Hunt, Jim Mansen, Bruce Perlman, Michael Riley, Sasumo Tokunaw, Anna Delanzo
- People in total who were in charge of the sound of Unchained Memories were Doug Donald, Charles Hunt, Jim Mansen, Bruce Perlman, Michael Riley, Sasumo Tokunaw, Anna Delanzo
- Harpo ProductionsHarpo ProductionsHarpo Productions, Inc. is an incorporated US-based multimedia production company founded by Oprah Winfrey . It also includes Harpo Films & Harpo Radio, Inc....
Audio Director- JR Chappell, Audio Assistant- Stacey Hempel - Choral Performers- Sound- Jim Hawkins, Steve Smith, Dennis Towns
Musical selections used in Unchained Memories
All that follow beneath are from the credits in Unchained Memories- "No More" - Performed by The Blind Boys of Alabama. Real World Records
- "O Day" - Performed by Bessie Jones and Alan Lomax. Rounder Records
- "Early in The Mornin"- Arranged by "22" and Alan Lomax. Performed by Prisoners 22, Little Red, Tangle Eye, and Hard Hair, Rounder Records
- "Im Goin' Up North" Traditional, Performed by the Children of East York School Folkways Recordings
- "Hard Times in Ol' Virginia" Arranged by John Davis and Alan Lomax, Performed by John Davis. Rounder Records
- "Enter Mozelle's House", "Another Dead Snake", "Mozelle", "In The Mirror", "Mozelle's Theme", "Carriage House", Original musical score from "Eve's Bayou" Composed and Performed by Terence Blanchard, Courtesy of Lions Gate Entertainment Group
- "Adam & Eve", "Wade The Water To My Knee", "Move Daniel", "Blow Gabriel"
- Traditional African-American ring shouts, Performed and Arranged by The McIntosh County Shouters
Photography
All that follow beneath are from the credits in Unchained Memories- Photo Animation: Cort Tramontin
- Design/Art Direction: Clive Helfet
- Camera: Wes Dorman, Chris Hall, Richard Mort, Joe Pausabeck
Further reading
- A sketch of the laws relating to slavery in the several states of the United States of America. Stroud, George M. (George McDowell), 1795-187
- An Introduction to the WPA Slave Narratives. Yetman, Norman R.
- When I Was a Slave: Memoirs from the Slave Narrative Collection. Yetman, Norman R.