To Be a Slave

“One of the greatest overlooked sources for information concerning slavery has been the words of those who were slaves.”

This statement summarizes one of Lester’s key motivations for writing To Be a Slave. If one is to accurately study slavery, the voices of enslaved people must be part of the conversation. Ironically, they have often been excluded. Lester’s careful research and compilation allow the words of enslaved people to be shared with a new generation.

“Slavery differed from country to country. But it was in the United States that a system of slavery evolved that was more cruel and total than almost any other system of slavery devised by one group of men against another. No other country where blacks were enslaved destroyed African culture to the extent that it was destroyed here.”

At the end of the Prologue, Lester gives a sweeping overview of the era of slavery in the Western hemisphere. Before getting into the specifics of American slavery, Lester steps back and points out the unique cruelty of the American system compared to other countries in the world.

“To be a slave. To be owned by another person, as a car, house, or table is owned. To live as a piece of property that could be sold—a child from its mother, a wife from her husband. To be considered not human, but a ‘thing’ that plowed the fields, cut the wood, cooked the food, nursed another’s child; a ‘thing’ whose sole function was determined by the one who owned you.”

Lester begins the first chapter with these words—a strong and detailed description of the dehumanizing condition of slavery, the lens through which the reader must look in order to understand the details of the book. Throughout the book, Lester often summarizes key information in his own commentary, followed by excerpts of interviews with former slaves.