Works Progress Administration Ex-Slave Interviews from Virginia. The slave narratives give testimonies from former slaves who were interviewed by the Works Progress Administration. They offer valuable insights into the daily lives of ex-Virginia slaves.

The Valley Campaigns Being the Reminiscences of a Non-Combatant While Between the Lines in the Shenandoah Valley During the War of the States By THOMAS A. ASHBY, M. D., LL. D.

A Southern Girl in '61 The War-Time Memories of a Confederate Senator's Daughter By Mrs. D. Giraud Wright

Stephen Arnold Douglas By William Garrott Brown

Until the recent outbreaks in Germany, where, under revolutionary conditions, a few lynchings have taken place, the United States has for long been the only advanced nation where government has tolerated lynching. In presenting this material we have refrained from editorial comment, restricting our text to a brief summary of the facts. The cases included in this book were authenticated by evidence from recognized newspapers or confirmed by a responsible investigator.

"TO HELL WITH THE LAW" LYNCHING has many legal definitions. It means one thing in Kentucky and North Carolina and another in Virginia or Minnesota. For the purpose of this work it is defined as the execution without process of the law, by a mob, of any individual suspected or convicted of a crime or accused of an offense against the prevailing social customs. The state of Minnesota clearly defines it as the killing of a human being by the act or procurement of a mob. In Kentucky and North Carolina the lynch-victim must have been in the hands of the law or there was no lynching. Virginia defines it simply as murder and ordains that every person composing the mob, upon conviction, shall be punished by death. There is more than the simple dictionary definition of lynching. Behind every lynching, beyond the destruction of the unfortunate victim, is the debasement of citizenship, the crucifixion of justice and democratic government, the prostitution of public officials, and the depraved behavior of the mob-members. FRANK SHAY, 1938

WPA Texas Slave Narratives with many photographs of the slaves interviewed. A historically and culturally rich source of first hand accounts of former slaves interviewed by the Works Progress Administration.