To Be A Slave (1971) | Ruby Dee & Ossie Davis

To Be a Slave: Original Slave Narratives Read By Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis
To Be A Slave is a 1968 nonfiction children's book by Julius Lester, illustrated by Tom Feelings. It explores what it was like to be a slave. The book includes many personal accounts of former slaves, accompanied by Lester's historical commentary and Feelings' powerful and muted paintings. To Be a Slave has been a touchstone in children literature for more than 30 years
A1 Prologue
A2 To Be A Slave
A3 Auction Block
B1 The Plantation
B2 Resistance To Slave 1
C1 Resistance To Slave 1 (Cont'd)
D1 Resistance To Slave 2
D2 Emancipation
D3 After Emancipation
D4 Epilogue
Shared for historical purposes. I do not own the rights.
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[@samuelgates5935]

Have this on cassette tape. Listened to it at least 1,000 times over the years. Ozzy Davis and Ruby Dee where the perfect black power couple.

[@debracecchi]

R.I.P.💧 To ALL Our Unknown Ancestors!

[@melvino8926]

Debra Cecchi aman sis

[@illuminickiblanco]

Indeed

[@lemostjoyousrenegade]

Yes indeed, lovely lady! I have appreciated the comments you've left in the comment sections of several YT videos I've watched. Much love, fam! ✨♥️✨

[@debracecchi]

@@lemostjoyousrenegade Gratitude Queen!

[@miss.pinkpanther]

Should make us all want to do and be better for all they went though.😢 Least we forget !!! Glory be to God for our present, and future. 🙏🏽

[@melvino8926]

I’ll never ever get tired of hearing my history and learning from it ,God bless those before me..👊🏾👏🏽👊🏾 the story at 22:45😔😢🤬

[@6Sparx9]

34:25 - complete perversion of the Church in order to control both the black and white populations

[@cathyt144]

This is not YOUR history, it may be the history of your ancestors. Theres no way to truly know unless you do an Ancestry research on your family. Not all blacks were held as slaves ,and the slave trade actually started with blacks selling their own people before any other race did. All races at some point in history have been enslaved. My heart breaks for those who did suffer this inhumanity.

[@hassanburton669]

Return if Possible Ruby D and Ossie Davis God Bless Your Eternal Souls...

[@c.calliecoleman1531]

It's just in the past 10 years that I began seeing the impact of what Ossie Davis, and Ruby Dee was about. In the 60s, as a child, and before I heard anything about blk history, I just thought they were just actors, on TV. But when I got into blk history, I noticed most of their movies were about blk history, and teaching blk ppl the way to go, on this foreign soil. And their movies were powerful. Ruby Dee often impressed me, as small as she was she had more fight, in her, than the average woman, to fight the good fight. And I could clearly see why she loved a strong man like Ossie Davis. I think they were equally matched. Their hard work did not go unnoticed, and I appreciate them 🌷🌷🌷

[@hesrealhesreal9564]

SMFH" these people aren't human beings! All of the atrocities" they have committed against our people men woman&children is egregious and diabolical"🐷💀👨‍✈️👺💩🇺🇸☠️🌏😱👎🐕👷👮🤬🌏👎🐽😢

[@kingjustice1831]

Thank you! I think of and praise our ancestors everyday!

[@mosesmoses7882]

WAKE UP BLACK MAN & rise up......reelblack is the ALARM CLOCK ..........R.I.P. Mr.Ossie & Miss Ruby Dee Davis

[@c.calliecoleman1531]

I am so thankful for Reelblack, for having the insight to record movies, and documentaries, knowing one day we would open them, and find answers we've been searching for.🌷🌷🌷

[@sandramorris420]

Our enslaved ancestors worked from sunrise to sunset ,what a catastrophe!!!

[@QueenSugaa]

yes ... The Elders would say.. From can't see Mornin, tah can't see Nite God Bless Our Ppl 🔥

[@6Sparx9]

I was born on this mountain a long time ago Before they knocked down the timber and strip-mined the coal When you rose in the mornin' before it was light To go down in that dark hole and come back up at night I was born on this mountain, this mountain's my home She holds me and keeps me from worry and woe Well, they took everything that she gave - now they're gone But I'll die on this mountain, this mountain's my home I was young on this mountain but now I am old And I knew every holler, every cool swimmin' hole 'Til one night I lay down and woke up to find That my childhood was over and I went down in the mine I was born on this mountain, this mountain's my home She holds me and keeps me from worry and woe Well, they took everything that she gave - now they're gone But I'll die on this mountain, this mountain's my home There's a hole in this mountain and it's dark and it's deep And God only knows all the secrets it keeps There's a chill in the air only miners can feel And there's ghosts in the tunnels that the company sealed I was born on this mountain, this mountain's my home She holds me and keeps me from worry and woe Well, they took everything that she gave - now they're gone But I'll die on this mountain, this mountain's my home

[@ariawilliams7422]

This was excellently presented! Ossie and Ruby

[@debracecchi]

Truth Be Told Slavery Never Ended! 😓

[@6Sparx9]

This book is amazing thank you for making it available for us. Essential reading

[@6Sparx9]

31:53

[@c.calliecoleman1531]

This is about the best black history lesson. It's like the Passion of The Christ, where you see all the wounds given, in the sense this video you see all the trickery, and lies given to blk people, to keep their mind enslaved. It's terrible the mind control, and beatings they gave, and the very reasons blk ppl need reparations, for this, and to this day there are still some blk ppl trying to break geanerational chain curses, that was passed on. But one thing for sure it didn't stop many from escaping that hell, and God empowering ppl like Harriet Tubman, to free over 300 slaves. I know God has got to have this down, in His Book, as the cruelest, and most unbelievable things done to the black race, by those playing God. God has been fighting this black/white war for over 300years. And thanks to our ancestors who paved the way, for us, they made the road smoother, for us.

[@myabbyohabby]

The Epilogue is pure truth, honesty, AND what it is 'til this day!!!! 'TIL THIS DAY!!! Please Father remember to swing low the Chariots that Shall come forth to carry us home!

[@lilmamagc]

i can only watch so much of these stories before i stop because I get mad. Thinking of my grandparents and the generations before them. 😢 Only God can fix this and destroy the wicked people who still have this mindset today

[@sheilapreston7988]

Thank you very much, I'm learning more about slavery. God bless you more!

[@stephaniejackson3699]

Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis James earl jones cicely Tyson Sidney P are just a few of my all time favorites very interesting to see and watch and listen to these people.

[@weswesyallforalltimegreats9498]

When you think you have it hard. When you want to give up. Listen to this. You must use ALL of your best ideas and abilities to keep going. You are not alone...You are not the first or last. Count your many blessings..Name them one by one. I'm outta here. I wish everyone peace, laughter, and overall happy days. WES.💫

[@al1ve657]

We all should pass this knowledge to the youth.

[@c.calliecoleman1531]

For sure.

[@raynellwelch2792]

Their attention span is too short😶

[@miss.pinkpanther]

Amen

[@lawrencedaniels555]

Listening to this makes me think about my ancestors. How can anyone say that what black people went through for all those years don't impact the generations that descended from slavery? The centuries of affliction can't be erased so easily. Some things are going to continue to be passed down from generation to generation without end. The physical brutality and the mental anguish during slavery coupled with the devices of oppression that were put in place long after slavery ended. My parents were raised by people who were not allowed to attend high school.

[@jesscruz6912]

250 years of slavery in america. That's a long time... of course the scars run deep.

[@heathertea2704]

THESE stories are VERY real 😢 & close 2 home as my MOTHER'S parents were born 1894 (grandma) on a Alabama plantation.😑 Granddaddy 1893 in Mobile, Alabama as well. His father, my great grandfather was born in 1850's on ONE of the McDade Brothers plantations in Alabama.😑 Heard horribly horrific stories from grandparents, great uncles & aunts. When the government tells SOCIETY that SLAVERY ended on such & such date? I shake my head in UTTER DISGUST. LIES!! So GLAD THEY, THEIR CHILDREN & SIBLINGS SHARED HISTORY.💖 And they experienced JOY LOVE & LAUGHTER during THEIR lives. Granddaddy-1976 RIP Grandma-1990 RIP P.s. My GRANDFATHER is SUCH an INSPIRATION 2 me STILL.💖💎💖💎💖💎

[@queenlylisa6152]

Wow. Smh. Bless our ancestors. Thank you so much for sharing. Shalom

[@rockywilliams8433]

My great great grandmother was a Cherokee/Irish woman from mobile Alabama in the late 1890s I believe

[@miss.pinkpanther]

Wow, What a Blessing to have known your ancestors that far back. ❤

[@audreyshakir7048]

This breaks my heart.

[@frankmiller5059]

I want my extended family to read this from top to bottom.

[@roohinaboorboor2746]

Thank you

[@c.calliecoleman1531]

Thanks to the wonderful narrator, Julius Lester, who told the story so well.🌷🌷 Astronomical blk history lesson. Very, very sad. Black ppl have got to be the Hebrew ppl, with all this sadness, in our history. Sometimes the harse brutality is so unbelievable because it's hard to picture ppl with hearts of stone, to care for nothing, but their own race. Don't know what fairy tale reading they grew up on, but it was wrong, wrong, wrong. Ossie Davis, and Ruby Dee grew up, with the spirit of their ancestors, in them, the way they came across in movies, and readings, like this. They kept the torch lit.🌷🌷🌷

[@debracecchi]

I'm Here for it!💯

[@goodguycg]

Already

[@debracecchi]

History Is Repeating Itself!

[@MyButterfly60]

How

[@frankmiller5059]

if the world would read this book things will change without procrastination

[@lowreztv]

From red cloth to... welfare. The new slavery.

[@6Sparx9]

How

[@c.calliecoleman1531]

@@frankmiller5059 True. If you don't study ur blk history, it will be repeated. Closing ur mind off from the truth, is the very way the devil can slip in, through that door.

[@frankmiller5059]

I had this book since Jr .High-school actual accounts of slavery.

[@ManFriday_XY]

Brother youre doing the work of God

[@reelblack]

God is a verb.

[@zeldag]

Thank You!!!

[@Tryin2findout]

Mike!, thank you.

[@geraldlewis8272]

God Bless You ALL Amen

[@queenkorea7069]

LOVE❤❤❤

[@shakekush2246]

Wow. And our people are condition to forgive our oppressors. Those people have absolutely no soul.

[@sbella6719]

Forgiveness has nothing to do with the opressors. Forgiveness is about releasing the hate and bitterness so that you don't destroy your own soul

[@dawnpeters1220]

@@sbella6719 well said however everyone cannot take things this way.i can admit that at times I get mixed emotions when I steady learn more of my ancestors and the oppression that was forced upon them.however on the other hand I can clearly understand why certain ethnic groups are fearful of Black people,their evils are coming back to haunt their decenant.it takes really strong individuals not to react negatively learning things such as this.

[@sbella6719]

@@dawnpeters1220 I understand what you're saying. I am 59 yo and grew up in the south when a lot of Jim Crow rules and attitudes were still lingering. Tbh, when I look back, I keep my focus on the strength and resilience of my parents/grandparents and all the other ancestors who kept moving us forward. When I look at that painting of Ruby Bridges walking into that school, I'm in awe of that little girl and her parents who had the courage to send her. I think if they had allowed hate and bitterness to consume them, we wouldn't be where we are today. I know there's still work to be done but I think our ancestors would far rather we appreciate how far we've come rather than re-experience their trauma when looking back. And this isn't giving a free pass to the oppressors , it's about refusing to be stopped.

[@dawnpeters1220]

@@sbella6719 I'm sorry S Bella I see it differently..we still have shakes on our feet in a way when our black men,and women are being slaughtered by the white man in record numbers and not to mention how we out number any other ethic group in these jails which is another form of slavery.so no I don't believe our ancestors are jumping for joy right now.im a lil older than you are and I can recall back in the mid to late sixty's I was catching the public transportation with my grandmother.i was about 6or 7 years old and I was made to give up my seat to a white person.at that time I couldn't understand why.The worst part of that experience was,I had to give up my seat to a child and during that period in time the old folks didn't talk about those sort of things to the kids or in front of the kid's other than what's allowed and not allowed where as the white folk's were concerned.so no I don't feel that we as a people has progressed that much.just my opinion.

[@sbella6719]

@@dawnpeters1220 no need to be sorry, your opinion is your opinion. Personally, I refused to carry the burden of 'the oppressed' just because of someone else's racist ignorance and desire to chain me mentally....You keep fighting the good fight though and be blesssed.

[@steviearmstrong7412]

#LongLiveTheLegendary

[@MarieWilliams-ce7md]

How are you European people that feel as though we were so loud on people, or we were slaves prior to coming to America these stories are heartbreaking and redness to have somebody pull up in a buggy and tell you to get in the car and you don't know who he is what he had done he just purchased you for his own way and will and you got children and a husband and you going to leave them that is the most saddest😊

[@shantoreywilkins651]

#wow

[@splashmediapromo]

One thing they all had in common, was Debt....

[@Jem9798]

Wow….

[@annak706]

Love me some #REELBLACK

[@janedoe1229]

I read the comment sections in search of profound, well thoughtout opinions; point of views I had never considered. I look for words that inspire. I look for words that make me smile or cry. I almost never find this in comment sections on Black people subjects. One can predict before ever reading a single sentence what the theme is. Comments is one of the best source of discovering the maturity and wisdom and intellect of viewers

[@moewilliams6426]

That ole Nat (Turner), interpreted that bible different from those slaveowners. He focused on that Old Testament verse: " An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth."

[@moesdef3117]

💔🖤💚

[@victoriaoklu3509]

Wicked, wicked, Atrocities atrocious. They are no human.

[@the2ndcoming135]

“No matter where you’re from I don’t want you to write my story.”

[@skullychubs3723]

epilogue: 1:26:18

[@donellboozer4349]

During Black History Week I used to get bored with the curriculum and syllabus , because Booker T Washington , Fredrick Douglas ,, WEB DUBOIS and Rev Dr Martin Luther King became boring , dull and uneventful to me because redundancy would set in. Now that I know that black people in America are the descendants of the world's first architects and engineers who endeavored in art , science , literature , medicine and surgery and so-forth it angers me to hear that the public school systems in America don't teach out children about this great ancestor....

[@miss.pinkpanther]

That's why we need to teach them ourselves, never depending on someone else to do it. Still to this day !!! ❤...and even more... We are the inventors of many things.

[@strikeru.s.m.c.8771]

​@miss.pinkpanther I agree with what you say, sister, but wasn't because our Ancestors were given all this knowledge and technology by the Fallen Watchers?. (Angels)

[@miss.pinkpanther]

@@strikeru.s.m.c.8771 I was referring to when they were in slavery inventing different things, but the slave owners took their inventions and patented them for themselves, and their offspring are still living of the residue of it all. Not referring to today's technology, but who knows...ijs

[@victoriaoklu3509]

Can we see the film of your real true stories, to know our enemies well it will help us much.

[@wizardofahhhs759]

The black community is it's own worst enemy, start at home, stop buying into the lies of the democrats.

[@TheMsLady4Real]

#ADOS "The Movement Is Happening NOW"!

[@2dasimmons]

REPARATIONS NOW. Cut my check asap!!

[@TheMsLady4Real]

#ADOS!

[@shakekush2246]

To give it right back to the oppressors.

[@dunique26]

@@shakekush2246 Right

[@c.calliecoleman1531]

Seems like that would be the first needed step, to put a bandage on this wound, on America, that has been in a slow healing process, over 300yrs. Damage to the mind, is the hardest wound to heal.

[@gwattsrealestate]

Where is the Stories of the non complient the organizer the revolutionary The Spirit Guides? Loving The Saints that sent them to this world of choices and IMAGINATION To make it Plain where are the REAL stories of Nat Turner Denmark Vesey, Toussaint Louverture -Francois Makandal...etc..?? Where to Find Them.... is at the Quiet of night in The Heart and Minds Of The Righteous. Not these certified and approved stories that program and entertain the conditions of Emotions, Hate and Deceptions.

[@vivc1612]

It is difficult to listen to this story without feeling those emotions you mention but it's important to know these stories in order to understand what we have endured and why we are the people we are today. Once we understand that then we can begin trying to fix the damage. There are stories here about those brave heroes you have mentioned. I cannot vouch for their accuracy but some are inspiring.Thank you for your comment. These stories make me want to be more kind and patient with my black brothers & sisters.

[@skullychubs3723]

Chapter 5 1:04:40

[@m.madisoncammue5619]

This makes me feel so sad and bad! What a horrible cruelty these people went through! Oh the white men of the slaves days, you will not have no peace where ever you are!

[@6Sparx9]

The children of all men are innocent of their fathers sins

[@miss.pinkpanther]

The sins of the fathers will follow down to the third and fourth generation of those that hate God, can't say they love God and hate their neighbor... Exodus 34:7 “Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.” King James Version (KJV)

[@nobody8328]

A comment for the algorithm 💖

[@lilmamagc]

omg they threw their babies into the ocean...😢

[@MarieWilliams-ce7md]

Okay the one question that I need to ask there's so many mixed stories about how these slaves were captured one story says it was sold by their own people another said that they were prisoners of war and they were treated for good another one said that they will convert and at least it just doesn't make any sense and the lies I'm tired of the whole reason and the whole truth behind me

[@patrickturner2788]

The worst place to be a slave was Jamaica. They would threaten southern slaves that if they didn't behave they would be sold in Jamaica. Read Benjamin Mcmahon book "Jamaica plantership " . Also Google Thomas Thistlewood.

[@janedoe1229]

1:08:20 The murder of owners

[@Wysiwyg43]

Slaves weren't caught. They were sold either by tribal slavery, prisoners of war, Arab traders, etc. That propaganda has been misleading since blacks were told the republican and democratic parties switched sides. SMH Ossie and Ruby: professional power couple!

[@janedoe1229]

1:08:56 The slaves talked and planned insurrection

[@justinrexroad8124]

🇺🇸🎤🙋🏼©️®️

[@jklewis29]

Following a red cloth... Not buying that at all

[@bradpinnock700]

Granny Judith is a liar