Central Kansas Library System

Perhaps the best written of all the slave narratives, Twelve Years a Slave is a harrowing memoir about one of the darkest periods in American history. It recounts how Solomon Northup, born a free man in New York, was lured to Washington, D.C., in 1841 with the promise of fast money, then drugged and beaten and sold into slavery. He spent the next twelve years of his life in captivity on a Louisiana cotton plantation. After his rescue, Northup published...

Cora is a slave on a cotton plantation in Georgia. When Caesar, a recent arrival from Virginia, tells her about the Underground Railroad, they decide to take a terrifying risk and escape. Though they manage to find a station and head north, they are being hunted. Their first stop is South Carolina, in a city that initially seems like a haven. But the city's placid surface masks an insidious scheme designed for its black denizens. And even worse: Ridgeway,...

"A novel of enduring friendship based on the true-life account of Mary Anna Curtis Lee, great-granddaughter of Martha Washington and wife of General Robert E. Lee, and Selina Norris Gray, a slave girl who became Mary's housekeeper and confidante"--

"Winter 1838--Kentucky. Determined to save her toddler son from being sold as a slave, the woman who became known as Eliza Harris trekked through the forest, in the dark of night with wild animals on her heels. Her goal: cross the Ohio River, the boundary between the North and the South, between slavery and freedom. Although the journey would be perilous, Eliza looked out at the treacherous frozen waters and quickly decided she couldn't let fear stop...

Author's note -- Introduction -- Part I: Minty's story -- The alpha journey -- First generation American -- Lies but not misdemeanors -- Dear mama -- We are family -- Caretaker -- Flesh for rent -- Head trauma -- Innervisions -- The ultimate loss -- Say her name -- Hove and marriage -- The auction block -- She's out -- Part II: She ain't sorry -- The conductor -- Betrayal -- Expats -- Who your gonna call? -- She came to slay -- Fearless -- Antislavery...

In what has become a landmark of American history and literature, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl recounts the incredible but true story of Harriet Jacobs, born a slave in North Carolina in 1813. Her tale gains its importance from her descriptions, in great and painful detail, of the sexual exploitation that daily haunted her life--and the life of every other black female slave.

"The life of Junius G. Groves, a sharecropper in Kansas who grew a modest potato farm into a potato kingdom."--

Based on the true story of Solomon Northup. It is 1841, and Northup, an accomplished, free citizen of New York, is kidnapped and sold into slavery. Stripped of his identity and deprived of all dignity, Northup is ultimately purchased by ruthless plantation owner Edwin Epps and must find the strength within to survive. Filled with powerful performances by an astonishing cast including Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Benedict Cumberbatch, Brad...

By following the directions in a song, "The Drinking Gourd," taught them by an old sailor named Peg Leg Joe, runaway slaves journey north along the Underground Railroad to freedom in Canada.

When Quakers Flora Saferight and Bruce Millikan embark on the Underground Railroad, they agree to put their differences aside to save the lives of a pregnant slave couple. With only her mother's quilt as a secret guide, the foursome follows the stitches through unknown treachery. As they embark on their perilous journey, they hope and pray that their path is one of promise where love sustains them, courage builds faith, and forgiveness leads to freedom....