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Why Are Slave Narratives Important In The Civil War

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Slave narratives played an immense role in the motives of abolitionists to end slavery. The narratives were not only influential because they came from slaves themselves, but they also gave an inside look into the life of a slave through their own eyes and not the eyes of an outsider or a slave owner. Slavery was instituted over hundreds of years ago as a means to have workers in America to help the land prosper and flourish. In the early periods many abolitionists wrote solely from their own knowledge of slavery, some of which even owned slaves themselves. In the late 1700s, however, slaves began voicing their own opinions about being enslaved in slave narratives and other forms of literature. The mid 1800s �was the period in which most slave narratives were written, in which they were very widely read, and in which their close relationship to the anti-slavery cause brought intense pressures upon them from every side� (Hedin 129). With slave narratives on the rise right before the Civil War, the narratives only seemed to increase the tension between those who agreed with and those who opposed …show more content…

�Though few of these accounts have any significant literary quality their historical importance can hardly be exaggerated� (Nichols 107). By abolitionists publishing these writings, they began to expand their audiences further, therefore, recruiting more individuals to help fight against slavery. Without an attempt to publish such works, many slave stories would have been left unheard; and quite possibly would not have made as big of an impact in receiving more support against slavery. Also by publishing these narratives, it may have influenced other slaves to step out who may have been afraid before, and make their stories known in hope that their freedom would soon be

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