Lamar Public Library

Gives a fictionalized account of abolitionist John Brown's life, family, and antislavery activities which led to the 1859 raid on Harpers Ferry.

"The story follows Hetty "Handful" Grimke, a Charleston slave, and Sarah, the daughter of the wealthy Grimke family. The novel begins on Sarah's eleventh birthday, when she is given ownership over Handful, who is to be her handmaid. "The Invention of Wings" follows the next thirty-five years of their lives. Inspired in part by the historical figure of Sarah Grimke (a feminist, suffragist and, importantly, an abolitionist), Kidd allows herself to go...

Every schoolchild knows of Harriet Tubman's heroic escape and resistance to slavery. But few readers are aware that Tubman went on to be a scout, a spy, and a nurse for the Union Army, because there has never before been a serious biography for an adult audience of this important woman. This is that long overdue historical work, written by an acclaimed historian of the antebellum era and the Civil War.

History professor Davis places American slavery in the broader global context as part of the world's first system of multinational production from which mass markets were served. American slaves from West Africa produced commodities that fueled European expansion and the settlement of America. At its peak, American slave labor helped to maximize production for international markets.

Dreaming of escaping her life of slavery in South Carolina and returning to her African home, slave Aminata Diallo is thrown into the chaos of the Revolutionary War, during which she helps create a list of black people who have been honored for their service to the king.

"The definitive, dramatic biography of the most important African-American of the nineteenth century: Frederick Douglass, the escaped slave who became the greatest orator of his day and one of the leading abolitionists and writers of the era. As a young man Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) escaped from slavery in Baltimore, Maryland. He was fortunate to have been taught to read by his slave owner mistress, and he would go on to become one of the major...

As his bride, Lucie, was about to be "sold down the river" to the slave markets of New Orleans in 1831, young Thornton Blackburn planned a daring escape from Louisville. Discovered by slave catchers in Michigan, they were slated to return to Kentucky in chains, until the black community rallied to their cause in the Blackburn Riot of 1833. The couple was spirited across the river to Canada, but Michigan's governor demanded their extradition. The Blackburn...