\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rebeccaruppresources.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ellens-broom-244x300.jpg\") <\/td>\n | \n Slave marriages weren\u2019t legal \u2013 and many enslaved couples could only pledge themselves to each other until \u201cdeath, distance, or the white man\u201d tore them apart. By Kelly Starling Lyons, Ellen\u2019s Broom <\/em>(G.P. Putnam\u2019s Sons, 2012) is set just after the Civil War, when ex-slaves at last could legally register their marriages. As Ellen\u2019s family heads for the courthouse, Ellen brings along the broom that hung over the family fireplace \u2013 that her slave parents jumped many years ago, in an old tradition of slave marriage. For ages 5-8.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rebeccaruppresources.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/netties-trip-south-238x300.jpg\") <\/td>\n | \n Ann Turner\u2019s Nettie\u2019s Trip South<\/em> (Aladdin, 1995), written in the form of letters to a friend, is a view of slavery as seen by a little girl visiting the South just before the Civil War. Based on the diary of the author\u2019s great-grandmother. For ages 6-9.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rebeccaruppresources.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/if-you-lived-when-slavery-in-america-300x250.jpg\") <\/td>\n | \n Anne Kamma\u2019s If You Lived When There Was Slavery in America<\/em> (Scholastic, 2004) is written in a discussion-promoting question-and-answer format. Where did slaves come from? What was it like to be a slave? What kind of cabin would you live in? For ages 6-10.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rebeccaruppresources.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/freedom-over-me-275x300.jpg\") <\/td>\n | \n Ashley Bryan\u2019s Freedom Over Me<\/em> (Atheneum\/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books, 2016), based on original estate appraisal and auction documents, uses narrative poetry to create portraits of eleven slaves belonging to the Fairchild family. A wonderful and compelling book for ages 8-12.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rebeccaruppresources.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/slave-ship-to-freedom-road-300x249.jpg\") <\/td>\n | \n Julius Lester\u2019s From Slave Ship to Freedom Road<\/em> (Puffin, 1999) is an illustrated and painfully accurate account of slavery and its aftermath. \u201cThey took the sick and the dead and dropped them into the sea like empty wine barrels. But wine barrels did not have beating hearts, crying eyes, and screaming mouths.\u201d For ages 8-12.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rebeccaruppresources.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/amos-fortune-196x300.jpg\") <\/td>\n | \n Elizabeth Yate\u2019s Amos Fortune, Free Man<\/em> (Puffin, 1989), a Newbery Medal winner, is the story of Amos Fortune, kidnapped and sold into slavery at the age of fifteen, who spends the rest of his life determined to win his freedom. After decades, at last he does. For ages 8-12.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rebeccaruppresources.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/never-forgotten-245x300.jpg\") <\/td>\n | \n Patricia C. McKissack\u2019s gorgeously illustrated Never Forgotten<\/em> (Schwartz & Wade. 2011) is a story told in poems of an African blacksmith, Dinga, who raises his much-loved young son, Mustafa, on his own after the death of his wife. When Mustafa is kidnapped and sold into slavery, Dinga calls on the Elements \u2013 Earth, Fire, Water, and Wind \u2013 for help. Through them, he learns of his son\u2019s passage to America and his life as a blacksmith in South Carolina. Few books deal with the pain of the families in Africa who lost their loved ones. A beautiful and heartbreaking story for ages 9 and up.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rebeccaruppresources.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/many-thousand-gone-242x300.jpg\") <\/td>\n | \n Virginia Hamilton\u2019s Many Thousand Gone<\/em> (Knopf, 1995) traces the history of slavery in America through the voices and stories of the people who lived through it \u2013 among them an African prince who was sold into slavery, the mother whose escape over an icy river inspired Eliza\u2019s famous scene in Uncle Tom\u2019s Cabin<\/em>, and Tice Davids, supposedly the first slave to reach freedom by traveling north on the \u201cunderground road.\u201d For ages 9-14.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rebeccaruppresources.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/chains-201x300.jpg\") <\/td>\n | \n In Laurie Halse Anderson\u2019s Chains<\/em> (Atheneum, 2010), set during the Revolutionary War, Isabel and her little sister Ruth have been promised their freedom upon the death of their mistress. Instead, they become the property of the abusive Locktons, a Loyalist couple from New York City. There Isabel becomes friends with Curzon, a slave boy helping the American rebels, and agrees to act as a spy.\u00a0 This is the first of the Seeds of America trilogy; sequels are Forge<\/em> and Ashes<\/em>. For ages 10 and up.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rebeccaruppresources.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/slave-dancer-202x300.jpg\") <\/td>\n | \n In Paula Fox\u2019s The Slave Dancer<\/em> (Aladdin, 2008), young Jessie Bollier is kidnapped and taken to a slave ship, where his job is to play the fife while the captive Africans are forced to dance to keep their muscles strong. Jessie is horrified by what he sees \u2013 and the voyage ends even more horrifically, when the ship sinks following a storm. Jessie and a slave boy manage to survive by clinging to a mast, and eventually reach Mississippi, where they are rescued by an escaped slave. An intense and gripping read for ages 11 and up.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rebeccaruppresources.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/nightjohn-182x300.jpg\") <\/td>\n | \n In Gary Paulsen\u2019s Nightjohn<\/em> (Laurel Leaf, 1995), the title character is an escaped slave who has returned to the South and comes by night to teach slaves to read \u2013 and is willing to risk his own life to do so. The story is told through the eyes of a young slave girl, Sarny, who is determined, in the face of threats and brutality, to learn. For ages 12 and up.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rebeccaruppresources.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/freedom-maze-200x300.jpg\") <\/td>\n | \n In Delia Sherman\u2019s time-travel fantasy The Freedom Maze<\/em> (Candlewick, 2014), 13-year-old Sophie is spending the summer at her grandmother\u2019s old house in the Louisiana bayou \u2013 from which she\u2019s transported back to the year 1860, where she finds herself enslaved on a sugar plantation by her own ancestors. An exploration of racial relationships then and now, for ages 12 and up.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rebeccaruppresources.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/astonishing-life-of-octavian-nothing-215x300.jpg\") <\/td>\n | \n M.T. Anderson\u2019s The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing: The Pox Party<\/em> (Candlewick, 2008), set in Revolutionary Boston, is the story of Octavian, a young black boy being raised by a group of rational philosophers who study his every move. It\u2019s a life of eerie luxury \u2013 until Octavian discovers that he and his mother are slaves, subjects of an experiment aimed at discovering whether or not Africans are inferior to Europeans. After the death of his mother following a \u201cpox party,\u201d Octavian escapes and becomes a soldier in the Patriot army \u2013 only to find that liberty isn\u2019t in the cards for slaves. A complex and thought-provoking book. Winner of a National Book Award. For ages 12 and up.<\/p>\nAlso see the sequel: The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing: Traitor to the Nation<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rebeccaruppresources.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/to-be-a-slave-187x300.jpg\") <\/td>\n | \n Julius Lester\u2019s powerful To Be a Slave <\/em>(Puffin, 2000) incorporates the words of the people who went through it, interspersed with historical commentary. An important and highly recommended read for ages 12 and up.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rebeccaruppresources.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/kindred-203x300.jpg\") <\/td>\n | \n In Octavia E. Butler\u2019s Kindred<\/em> (Beacon Press, 2003), Dana, a modern African-American woman, is abruptly torn away from her white husband and ends up in the antebellum South, where she saves Rufus, the young son of the plantation owner, from drowning. Dana\u2019s connection to Rufus persists over time, with her stays in the past becoming ever longer and more difficult and dangerous. A fascinating story of racism, sexism, and white supremacy that shows how badly it damages all concerned. A powerful read for teens and adults.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rebeccaruppresources.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/uncle-toms-cabin-231x300.jpg\") <\/td>\n | \n Harriet Beecher Stowe\u2019s Uncle Tom\u2019s Cabin<\/em>, originally published in 1852, was the second-best-selling book of the 19th<\/sup> century, narrowly outdistanced by the Bible. A passionate anti-slavery novel, featuring the saintly slave Uncle Tom and the evil white overseer, Simon Legree, the book fueled and inspired the abolitionist movement. Supposedly Lincoln, upon meeting Stowe, remarked \u201cSo you are the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war.\u201d Available in many editions.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rebeccaruppresources.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/12-years-a-slave-204x300.jpg\") <\/td>\n | \n The movie Twelve Years a Slave<\/a> (2013) is based on the memoirs of Solomon Northup, a free black man from New York, who was kidnapped and sold into slavery in Louisiana. Many awards. Rated R for violence, nudity, and some sex scenes \u2013 generally recommended for ages 16 and up.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rebeccaruppresources.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/amistad-203x300.jpg\") <\/td>\n | \n Amistad<\/a> (1997), directed by Steven Spielberg, is the name of a slave ship, traveling to Cuba in 1839, which was taken over by its cargo of kidnapped Africans. They hoped to return to Africa \u2013 but instead ended up in the United States. There their case, passionately defended by John Quincy Adams, came before the Supreme Court. Rated R for nudity, violence, and intense emotional scenes.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n PRESIDENTS AND SLAVES<\/h4>\nDespite the Declaration of Independence\u2019s claim that all men are created equal, many of our founding fathers were slave owners, a conflict of practice and belief that has reverberated throughout American history.<\/p>\n \n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rebeccaruppresources.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/my-name-is-james-hemings-227x300.jpg\") <\/td>\n | \n By Jonah Winter, My Name is James Madison Hemings<\/em> (Schwartz & Wade, 2016) is the first-person account of Jefferson\u2019s conflicted legacy and his relationship with his slave family by Sally Hemings, as narrated by the young James Madison Hemings. For ages 5-9.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rebeccaruppresources.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/jeffersons-sons-197x300.jpg\") <\/td>\n | \n By Kimberly Brubaker Bradley, Jefferson\u2019s Sons<\/em> (Puffin, 2013) tells the stories of three of Jefferson\u2019s children by Sally Hemings, Beverly, Madison, and Peter. Jefferson is shown as a difficult and contradictory figure \u2013 the kindly man who nonetheless permits whippings and slave sales. Would a great person sell someone else\u2019s son? Can a person be great and still participate in evil? A good discussion book for ages 9-12.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rebeccaruppresources.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/master-georges-people-234x300.jpg\") <\/td>\n | \n Marfe Ferguson Delano\u2019s Master George\u2019s People<\/em> (National Geographic, 2013) is the story of George Washington\u2019s slaves, including capsule biographies, period prints. and photographs of the Mount Vernon historical site. For ages 10 and up.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rebeccaruppresources.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/never-caught-200x300.jpg\") <\/td>\n | \n By Erica Armstrong Dunbar, Never Caught<\/em> (Aladdin, 2019) is the story of Ona Judge, born into slavery at Mount Vernon, who escaped from Washington\u2019s presidential mansion in Philadelphia in 1796 and boarded a ship for New Hampshire. Despite Washington\u2019s determined efforts to recapture her, she was never caught. Young Reader\u2019s Edition of a more detailed adult book. For ages 9-14.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rebeccaruppresources.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/in-shadow-of-liberty-199x300.jpg\") <\/td>\n | \n By Kenneth C. Davis, In the Shadow of Liberty<\/em> (Square Fish, 2019), subtitled \u201cThe Hidden History of Slavery, Four Presidents, and Five Black Lives,\u201d is the story of five enslaved people who were owned by our founding fathers, among them George Washington\u2019s valet, Billy Lee; Isaac Granger, raised at Monticello; and Paul Jennings, who accompanied James and Dolley Madison to the White House. Well-researched nonfiction for ages 10-14.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\nFUGITIVES, RUNAWAYS, AND THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD<\/h4>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rebeccaruppresources.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/unspoken-300x259.jpg\") <\/td>\n | \n In Unspoken<\/em>, a lovely wordless picture book by Henry Cole (Scholastic, 2012), a little farm girl finds a runaway slave hiding in the barn. For ages 3-8.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rebeccaruppresources.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/follow-the-drinking-gourd-300x275.jpg\") <\/td>\n | \n Jeanette Winters\u2019s Follow the Drinking Gourd<\/em> (Dragonfly, 1992) is the story of Peg Leg Joe, who helps slaves escape North to freedom by teaching them a song about the Big Dipper. For ages 4-8.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rebeccaruppresources.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/henrys-freedom-box-247x300.jpg\") <\/td>\n | \n Ellen Levine\u2019s Henry\u2019s Freedom Box<\/em> (Scholastic, 2007) is based on the true story of Henry Brown who \u2013 after his wife and children are sold \u2013 has himself nailed into a wooden crate and shipped to the free city of Philadelphia. A beautifully illustrated picture book for ages 4-8.<\/p>\n | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
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<\/h4>\n<\/td>\n