The work songs remembered by the formerly enslaved in slave narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936 to 1938

In the 1930s, the Works Progress Administration launched Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers’ Project, collecting over 2,300 interviews with formerly enslaved individuals across 17 states. While these narratives have gained scholarly attention since the 1970s, their potential for examining cultural practices—particularly music—remains underexplored. This study addresses this gap by applying oral history methodologyto analyze work songs performed during the final years of slavery. Although these interviews do not contain recorded musical data, they offer critical insights into the social and functional contexts of these songs, revealing their role in fostering community, resilience, and creative expression. By centering these testimonies, this article contributes to ongoing research on enslaved cultural practices, demonstrating how music functioned as a means of survival, resistance, and cultural preservation within a system designed to silence and marginalize African American voices