We Lived in a Little Cabin in the Yard

By Belinda Hurmence

Book Overview

In the 1930s, the Federal Writers' Project undertook a massive effort at gathering the oral testimony of former slaves. Those ex-slaves were in their declining years by the time of the Great Depression, but Elizabeth Sparks, Elige Davison, and others like them nonetheless provided a priceless record of life under the yoke: where slaves lived, how they were treated, what they ate, how they worked, how they adjusted to freedom. Here, Belinda Hurmence presents the interviews of 21 former Virginia slaves. This is a companion volume to Hurmence's popular collections of North Carolina and South Carolina slave narratives, My Folks Don't Want Me to Talk About Slavery and Before Freedom, When I Just Can Remember.

Belinda Hurmence was born in Oklahoma, raised in Texas, and educated at the University of Texas and Columbia University. She has written several novels for young people, including Tough Tiffany (an ALA Notable Book), A Girl Called Boy (winner of the Parents' Choice Award), Tancy (winner of a Golden Kite Award), and The Nightwalker. She now lives in Raleigh, North Carolina.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0895871181
• ISBN13: 9780895871183
• Release Date: January 1994
• Publisher: Blair
• Length: 103 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 4.9" x 7.4"

Customer Reviews

Forget everything you learned in history class

This is one of the most interesting Books I have read. Basically a collection of testimonies of still living slaves, you will be amazed at the real life day-to-day accounts they share. Very readable as each person is typically just a few pages. I have had more people borrow this book and also found it amazing. You will understand slavery in a way you never will get from any History book, I highly recommend it. There are actually several books in this vein and they are for differnt locations, this one as I recall is mostly Slaves from the VA area.

Wonderful Real Interviews

Wow! This book is eye-opening. If you think you understand slavery read this book. I thought I did - I didn't. Real interviews from former slaves. It's a short book. I'm glad I read it.

This is a great book!

This book was very intriguing. I love to learn about the lives of african americans and this was very helpful. The collection of interviews where great and I learned a lot from this book. I think that anyone who reads this book will enjoy it. That is all I have to say!

Ex-slaves share their stories. Fascinating and surprising.

We Lived in a Little Cabin in the Yard is a quick read, but it gives ample food for thought. During the Great Depression, writers interviewed surviving ex-slaves and this book is a collection of their stories. Although the reason for the inclusion of the specific stories in the book is that all lived in Virginia at one point in their lives. The feelings shared pertaining to emancipation were quite interesting, and like many who are survivors of abuse, some of these tragic people seemed to feel some attachment to their abusers (slave owners.) Their indifference to the Civil War was unexpected, and their lack of direction after emancipation is something not often written about. The shame that we experience as a previously slave-owning culture is unearthed in the process of reading this little book, and I somehow felt as if I were doing something wrong by reading it. I don't think I'll ever forget it.