John W. Blassingame (1940–2000)

Very good. Obviously I didn't read the full thing, it's a long and dense collection of speeches by Frederick Douglass. But I learned quite a bit reading his thoughts on capital punishment, women's suffrage, the Constitution, and of course, slavery.

A truly phenomenal thinker and orator, this man was and possibly still is unmatched.

Between the Slave Testimony readers will find he largest collection of annotated and authenticated accounts of slaves ever published in one volume. In them, the slaves of Thomas Jefferson, Robert E. Lee, Henry Clay, and others speak of themselves about their culture, plantation life, the adequacy of their food, clothing, an shelter, the sexual exploitation of black women, an the psychological response to bondage.

USAM/Plantation life - Southern States/Slavery - Southern States