Generations: The WPA Ex-Slave Narrative Genealogical Resource Database; Ex-Slaves with Virginia Origins

From 1936 to 1938, the Federal Writers Project interviewed more than 2,000 former slaves living in 17 states. Although the resulting narratives have been available in print and digital format for some time, the new "Generations" series attempts to place these personal accounts into a documented historical record. Recognizing the enormous genealogical potential in the stories, Rose (Black Genesis) has combined individual narratives with both primary and secondary sources to confirm, correct, and add to information given in the original interviews. This first volume offers narratives with expressed ties to Virginia, described in the introduction as "a key state of origin" for many interviewed. Content is organized into 15 chapters and four appendixes and is formatted simply in one large PDF file. The file is keyword searchable, and chapters are linked throughout, which makes navigation fairly straightforward. After an introduction, the chapters subdivide narratives by state and then by surname. Following each original narrative are footnotes, photos, and low-resolution embedded scans of original documents such as death certificates, probate records, or small cropped segments of census pages. Appendixes I and II explore at length the genealogy of one of the former slaves (including a video interview with a descendant), and appendixes III and IV contain narratives with no expressed ties to Virginia, but for which research has shown that ties to the state exist. A more standard and consistent method of accurately citing supplemental materials to their original source would be helpful, and some format inconsistencies are distracting and can be confusing.