Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narratives (2003) Characters, Setting & Themes Explained

Release, runtime and language

2003 · 75 mins · English

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Directed by

Thomas Lennon, Ed Bell

Starring

Samuel L. Jackson, Don Cheadle, Angela Bassett, Courtney B. Vance, CCH Pounder, Oprah Winfrey

Through the voices of those who lived it, the film recounts a history that began when the Civil War ended in 1865 and more than four million enslaved people were freed. Seventy years later, the Library of Congress recorded testimonies of about 2,000 survivors. Their first‑person accounts—ranging from cruelty to hope—are reenacted by leading African‑American actors, bringing vivid life to these rare slave narratives in an HBO documentary special.