Lay My Burden Down : A Folk History of Slavery

Rating:
Summary: A National Resource
Review: A friend of mine once described slave narratives as the equivalent of the library of a foreign culture. Reading one is embarrassingly simplistic. Consider Botkin's book a whirlwind tour. Although I believe every American should be exposed to these narratives (above and beyond the historical representations from textbooks), the stories in Lay My Burden Down are so powerful, so full of intensity, I gave the book 4 stars because it is almost brutal in its power. The humor of the first sections soon fades, and the grim truths of slavery become more and more difficult to face. Proceed, but with caution.

Rating:
Summary: Necessary Reading
Review: A friend of mine once described slave narratives as the equivalent of the library of a foreign culture. Reading one is embarrassingly simplistic. Consider Botkin's book a whirlwind tour. Although I believe every American should be exposed to these narratives (above and beyond the historical representations from textbooks), the stories in Lay My Burden Down are so powerful, so full of intensity, I gave the book 4 stars because it is almost brutal in its power. The humor of the first sections soon fades, and the grim truths of slavery become more and more difficult to face. Proceed, but with caution.

Rating:
Summary: A National Resource
Review: I read "Lay My Burden Down" by B.A. Botkin, almost forty years ago. Botkin's collection of these narrative is indeed a national resource. It's a great book for researches of American History. People of every ethnicity should read this book. These narratives so confirmed the slave stories passed down from my great grandparents when I was a child, that I was overwhelmed for a while. The ex-slaves spoke freely about what freedom meant to them. Moreover, they spoke about how the lack of freedom made thier lives a living hell. The first portion of narratives illustrate that nothing, not even slavery can blot out humor or the opportunity to find joy in some aspect of life. One felt like rejoicing when slaves excaped thier horrific exsistence. Then, there was lasting sorrow tinged with hope for the ones who were not freed until the end of slavery in 1965 or a few years after.