Antebellum slave narratives can be valuable literary materials in four different kinds of literature courses. In a survey of American literature, slave narratives serve as records of the attitudes and activities of early Americans, as examples of travel literature, and as examples of late eighteenth century and early nineteenth century adventure stories. Slave narratives also have an obvious place in courses concentrating on biography and autobiography as literary types or genres and in consciousness raising freshman English courses for which the themes of courage, love of freedom, and perseverance would be evident. For an Afro-American literature course, slave narratives can supply literary records of the mind and soul of a people as well as offer a structural model for other black literature. (JM)