Affirmation in a moral wasteland Book

This would be an excellent resource for a scholar researching slavery and abolition in the 18th century because it contains verbatim writings of some literate blacks about their lives before, during and after they were enslaved, as well as some poems. Apparently, much of the writing was used to convince people to support abolition, so it's very dramatic and pious which makes it hard to wade through. The only parts I really enjoyed were the biographical sketches in the appendix.