In 1964, Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law on national television. The legislation prohibited racial discrimination and outlawed segregation, and was widely hailed as a tremendous achievement in human rights. However lofty the aims, in reality, the Civil Rights Act has not created the kind of fundamental change its supporters, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, and Minnesota Senator Hubert Humphrey, hoped.

 During the Great Depression the WPA interviewed over 2000 older African Americans who had been enslaved.  Their stories changed how scholars thought about slavery and its impact upon the individuals forced to live under it.  How their voices and their views refocused historical interpretations of slavery will be the subject of this presentation.

SUGGESTED READING:

"The Background of the Slave Narrative Collection," Norman R. Yetman