"It is the present-day, and the world is as we know it: smartphones, social networking and Happy Meals. Save for one thing: the Civil War never occurred. A gifted young Black man calling himself Victor has struck a bargain with federal law enforcement, working as a bounty hunter for the US Marshall Service. He's got plenty of work. In this version of America, slavery continues in four states called the Hard Four. On the trail of a runaway known...

"Two half sisters, Effia and Esi, unknown to each other, are born into two different tribal villages in 18th century Ghana. Effia will be married off to an English colonial, and will live in comfort in the sprawling, palatial rooms of Cape Coast Castle, raising half-caste children who will be sent abroad to be educated in England before returning to the Gold Coast to serve as administrators of the Empire. Her sister, Esi, will be imprisoned beneath...

"The paths of three young Black women in pre-Civil War Philadelphia unexpectedly-and dangerously-collide in this dramatic debut novel inspired by the explosive history of a city at war with itself. Philadelphia, 1837. When nineteen-year-old Charlotte escaped from the deteriorating White Oaks plantation four years ago, she'd expected freedom to look completely different from her former life as an enslaved housemaid. Instead, she's locked away playing...

In this fascinating book, Davis gives readers everything they "need to know" about the Civil War - and not just the battles. With his deft wit and unconventional style, Davis sorts out the players, the politics, and the key events - Harpers Ferry, Shiloh, Gettysburg, Emancipation, Reconstruction. Drawing on the moving eyewitness accounts of the people who lived through the war, he brings the reader into the world of the ordinary men and women who...

"Exploring a critical lesson about our nation that is as timely today as ever, Decade of Disunion shows how the country came apart during the enveloping slavery crisis of the 1850s"--Dust jacket flap.

Uses words, images, and songs to capture the range of emotions felt by slaves and those newly freed on their journey from enslavement to emancipation; includes a CD with song recordings, many sung by the author.

The history of slavery is central to understanding the history of the United States. Slavery and the Making of America offers a richly illustrated, vividly written history that illuminates the human side of this inhumane institution, presenting it largely through stories of the slaves themselves. Readers will discover a wide ranging and sharply nuanced look at American slavery, from the first Africans brought to British colonies in the early seventeenth...

Introduces readers to the history of slavery and explores the moral and economic reasons this issue was so inflammatory between the Northern and Southern states. Also covers the abolition movement and political developments such as Bleeding Kansas and the US Supreme Court's Dred Scott decision.

"The Water Dancer meets The Prophets in this spare, gripping, and beautifully rendered novel exploring love and friendship among a group of enslaved Black strivers in the mid-nineteenth century"-- "They call themselves the Stolen. Their owners call them captives. They are taught their captors’ tongues and their beliefs but they have a language and rituals all their own. In a world that would be allegorical if it weren’t saturated in harsh truths,...