I's born in Palestine Texas. I don't know how old I is. I was 9 years old when freedom cried out.These poignant words begin the memories of a former Texas slave interviewed by W.P.A. field workers in Oklahoma during the 1930s. This account; along with thirty-two additional oral histories recorded as part of the Federal Writers' Project; describes life as a Texas slave—the family relations; entertainment; religion; work on the plantations; foodways; and punishment.For decades the bondage of black slaves to white masters was part of everyday life in Texas; and by the eve of the Civil War almost one-third of the total population consisted of slaves. Most works about slavery have been written from the white viewpoint; since most slaves were kept illiterate. This collection offers a clear-eyed perspective on this institution from the slaves themselves—their recollections from being sold away from their parents; suffering the pain of the overseers' lash; and being chosen to gratify masters' desires to finding emotional release in religious services; appreciating music and dancing; and enjoying an brief escape to the woods. Vignettes of daily life are sensitively brought to life in the skilled drawings of artist Kermit Oliver.Enriched by these illustrations and by an introduction and postscript commentary by editors T. Lindsay Baker and Julie P.Baker; Till Freedom Cried Out presents vivid memories of lives and times inside the bonds of an institution that tried to break the tellers' bodies and souls.
#964483 in Books HarperCollins 1998-12-01 1998-11-02Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.25 x 1.61 x 6.13l; #File Name: 0887307833544 pagesGreat product!
Review
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. The Wrong Stuff; well describedBy Bob ScottAs a Baby Boomer who followed NASA from its very inception; this book is both fascinating and disheartening. I rate it high because it is thorough; well-written; and even-handed in its presentation. The appalling part is finding out just how much of The Wrong Stuff had gotten into both countries' space programs. Burrough clearly describes the extent to which neither side trusted each other; how often money politics took precidence over safety common sense; and the painful situation the cosmonauts astronauts found themselves in. This is a study in bureaucratic incompetance; irresponsibility; and indifference. The author pulls no punches; and doesn't hesitate to criticize either side of a dispute.The Russians managers cared much more about getting U.S. money than safety; and about keeping their iron-fisted control over the cosmonauts. The cosmonauts; being paid by their performance; were afraid of making any mistakes; so wouldn't tell the astronauts how anything worked; but wouldn't do anything themselves without permission from the ground. When things did go wrong; the ground controllers would pretend nothing had happened; keeping the Americans in the dark; and later the managers and cosmonauts would blame each other.NASA managers only seemed to care about keeping Congressional money flowing; maintaining their own power positions; and keeping the Russians from bailing on the ISS program. They couldn't get any experienced astronauts or competent managers to volunteer for this train wreck of a program. Nobody wanted to rock the boat; so looked the other way about proper training and safety. The astronauts that did complain were ignored; and all of them lived in fear of displeasing the one NASA guy who decided who would get to fly shuttle missions; and who wouldn't.One of the most startling revelations is that this whole ill-conceived program came about only because President George H.W. Bush needed a poll boost in election year 1992; and wanted a impressive sounding announcement to come out of an otherwise lackluster summit meeting with Boris Yeltsin. Ironically; the Clinton adminstration inherited this turkey and also played along; but the bottom line was: neither countries' space programs wanted to have to try to work with each other; nor did the crews. Not surprisingly; this misbegotten program "ran as smoothly as a pig on stilts"; as the results on-orbit painfully demonstrated.Nevertheless; this is an eye-opening; well-written; exciting book that you will enjoy if spaceflight interests you. It must; however; make Chris Kraft and Gene Kranz either want to chew nails or cry.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Good for satisfying my inner AstronautBy MikeGood read; and very intriguing. An insiders view of how the NASA and Russian space programs waded through the troubles of putting a joint mission together. I loved the way the author made me feel there when describing the station and it's daily life. Also interesting was how the personalities of all involved created problems. I found it captivating how one of the three personalities can cause issues; but that's to be expected when you live in an area the size of a garage with no real way of getting away from your other occupants. This was never mentioned in the media coverage.My only complaint would be that the author didn't stick to chronological order with the missions; but some of that can be explained away by wanting to get the "good" parts up front to hold the readers interest. I still would recommend this one to any fan of space; NASA.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Informative; educational; and gripping.By JoyReally good story. I know and have occasionally spoken with one of the astronauts in this book. It was he who mentioned the book and got my interest piqued. It is surprising the amount of politics involved in that whole debacle. It was great to see the human side of the space program and get a glimpse into the way that the Russians approach obstacles v. the way the Americans do. It had great descriptions of the several gripping and life threatening events that occurred above in MIR. It makes me wonder why we would have pursued the joint venture with the on the ISS.
