Staring unflinchingly into the abyss of slavery, this spellbinding novel transforms history into a story as powerful as Exodus and as intimate as a lullaby. Sethe, its protagonist, was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. She has too many memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. And Sethe's new home is haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose...

A story based on true events recreates a female slave's struggle for freedom in the decades before the Civil War as she is freed by her owner, kidnapped by slave catchers and returned to Virginia, and brings criminal charges against her kidnappers.

Behind the Scenes is the life story of Elizabeth Keckley, a shrewd entrepreneur who, while enslaved, raised enough money to purchase freedom for herself and her son. Keckley moved to Washington, D.C., where she worked as a seamstress and dressmaker for the wives of influential politicians. She eventually became a close confidante of Mary Todd Lincoln. Several years after President Lincoln's assassination, when Mrs. Lincoln's financial situation had...

"For generations female slaves have played prominent roles throughout American history, but more than a century after Emancipation, no comprehensive overview of the history of the female American slave exists. In this book, historian Emily West offers the first comprehensive overview of the lives of enslaved women in America by placing their stories within the broader context of slavery in this country from the colonial era through to the end of the...

Set in Ancient Rome, Blood and Sand reimagines Spartacus as a seventeen-year-old girl. When Attia is sold as a slave to the House of Timeus, no one knows she's actually the warrior princess of Thrace, and the last of her people. She is given to Xanthus, a fellow slave and gladiator champion of Rome, as a gift from his master. Attia and Xanthus begin to build a trust through their shared skill in combat and a driving desire to seek revenge on the Roman...

"Sitting in the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture is a rough cotton bag, called "Ashley's Sack," embroidered with just a handful of words that evoke a sweeping family story of loss and of love passed down through generations. In 1850s South Carolina, just before nine-year-old Ashley was sold, her mother, Rose, gave her a sack filled with just a few things as a token of her love. Decades later, Ashley's granddaughter,...

A fictional re-creation of the relationship between Thomas Jefferson and his mistress of thirty-eight years, the quadroon slave Sally Hemings.

Sold into slavery by her father and forsaken by the man she was supposed to marry, young Egyptian Kiya must serve a mistress who takes pleasure in her humiliation. When terrifying plagues strike Egypt, Kiya is in the middle of it all. To save her older brother and escape the bonds of slavery, Kiya flees with the Hebrews during the Great Exodus. She finds herself utterly dependent on a fearsome God she's only just beginning to learn about, and in love...

Presents the life of a California ex-slave, nurse, and midwife, who started many philanthropic projects.

Authorized by the Margaret Mitchell Estate, here is the first-ever prequel to one of the most beloved and bestselling novels of all time, Gone with the Wind. The critically acclaimed author of Rhett Butler's People magnificently recounts the life of Mammy, one of literature's greatest supporting characters, from her days as a slave girl to the outbreak of the Civil War.