These autobiographies of Afro-American ex-slaves comprise the largest body of literature produced by slaves in human history. The book consists of three sections: selected reviews of slave narratives, dating from 1750 to 1861; essays examining how such narratives serve as historical material; and essays exploring the narratives as literary artifacts.

Introduction: The Language of Slavery, xi
1. Written by Themselves, Views and Reviews, 1750-1861
The Life of Job Ben Solomon, 4 - Anonymous
The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African; Written by Himself, 5
The Life and Adventures of a Fugitive Slave, 6 - Anonymous
Narrative of James Williams, 8 - Anonymous
The Narrative of Juan Manzano, 15 - Anonymous
Narratives of Fugitive Slaves, 19 - Ephraim Peabody
Life of Henry Bibb, 28 - Anonymous
The Life and Bondage of Frederick Douglass, 30 - Anonymous
Kidnapped and Ransomed, 31 - - Anonymous
Linda: Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl: Written by Herself, 32 - Anonymous
2. The Slave Narratives as History
On Dialect Usage, 37 - Sterling A. Brown
The Art and Science of Reading WPA Slave Narratives, 40 - Paul D. Escott
History from Slave Sources, 48 - C. Vann Woodward
Charles Chesnutt and the WPA Narratives: The Oral and the Literate Roots of Afro-American Literature, 59 - John Edgar Wideman
Using the Testimony of Ex-Slaves: Approaches and Problems, 78 - John W. Blassingame
Plantation Factories and the Slave Work Ethic, 98 - Gerald Jaynes
The Making of a Fugitive Slave Narrative: Josiah Henson and Uncle Tom -- A Case Study, 112 - Robin W. Winks
3. The Slave Narratives as Literature
"I Was Born": Slave Narratives, Their Status as Autobiography and as Literature, 148 - James Olney
Three West African Writers of the 1870s, 175 - Paul Edwards
Crushed Geraniums: Juan Francisco Manzano and the Language of Slavery, 199 - Susan Willis
I Rose and Found My Voice: Narration, Authentication, and Authorial Control in Four Slave Narratives, 225 - Robert Burns Stepto
Autobiographical Acts and the Voice of the Southern Slave, 242 - Houston A. Baker, Jr.
Text and Contexts of Harriet Jacobs' Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl: Written by Herself, 262 - Jean Fagan Yellin
The Slave Narrators and the Picaresque Mode: Archetypes for Modern Black Personae, 283 - Charles H. Nichols
Singing Swords: The Literary Legacy of Slavery, 298 - Melvin Dixon
Bibliography, 319
Index, 331