Critics who emphasize "Kindred"’s exploration of the grim realities of antebellum slavery tend to classify it mainly as a neo-slave narrative. Jane Donawerth traces Butler's novel to the recovery of slave narratives during the 1960s, a form then adapted by female science fiction writers to their own fantastical worlds. Robert Crossley identifies "Kindred" as "a distinctive contribution to the genre of neo-slave narrative" and places it along Margaret Walker’s "Jubilee", David Bradley’s "The Chaneysville Incident", Sherley Anne Williams’s "Dessa Rose", Toni Morrison’s "Beloved", and Charles R. Johnson’s "Middle Passage". Sandra Y. Govan calls the novel "a significant departure" from the science fiction narrative not only because it is connected to "anthropology and history via the historical novel," but also because it links "directly to the black American slave experiences via the neo-slave narrative." Noting that Dana begins the story as a free black woman who becomes enslaved, Marc Steinberg labels "Kindred " an "inverse slave narrative."