Slavery in the United States lasted more than two centuries. The adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in December 1865 abolished slavery after the American Civil War. The first slaves were forcibly removed from Africa by British slave traders beginning in the early 1600s. Redoshi, later renamed Sally Smith, was the last surviving female slave brought to the U.S. from Africa. A Benoise war captive, she was illegally transported to the US (importing slaves having been outlawed 50 years prior). The last surviving male slave, Oluale Kossula (aka Cudjo Lewis), had been transported on the sale ship and was most likely part of the Yoruba people in Benin. The quality of a slave’s life depended completely on their master’s will. It was considered normal, for example, for masters to rape their slaves, who were considered their property. Slaves who escaped were branded, killed, or punished severely in other ways. Solomon Northup Twelve Years a Slave Booker T. Washington Up From Slavery Frederick Douglass From Slavery to Freedom Olaudah Equiano The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, The African Harriet Ann Jacobs Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Mary Prince The History of Mary Prince, A West Indian Slave Charles Ball Fifty Years in Chains Or, the Life of an American Slave Thomas H. Jones Experience and Personal Narrative of Uncle Tom Jones; Who Was for Forty Years a Slave Phillis Wheatley Religious and Moral Poems William H. Robinson From Log Cabin to the Pulpit, or, Fifteen Years in Slavery Louis Hughes Thirty Years A Slave Elizabeth Keckley Behind the Scenes Josiah Henson The Life of Josiah Henson Old Elizabeth Memoir of Old Elizabeth, A Coloured Woman Annie L. Burton Memories of Childhood's Slavery Days Lucy A. Delaney From the Darkness Cometh the Light, or Struggles for Freedom Lunsford Lane The Narrative of Lunsford Lane, Formerly of Raleigh, N.C. L. S. Thompson The Story of Mattie J. Jackson

Fifty Years in Chains: Or, the Life of an American Slave (1859) was an abridged and unauthorized reprint of the earlier Slavery in the United States (1836). In the narratives, Ball describes his experiences as a slave, including the uncertainty of slave life and the ways in which the slaves are forced to suffer inhumane conditions. He recounts the qualities of his various masters and the ways in which his fortune depended on their temperament. As slave narrative scholar William L. Andrews has noted, Ball's oft-repeated narrative directly influenced the manner and matter of later fugitive slave.

In this outstanding cultural biography, the author of the New York Times bestseller A Slave in the White House chronicles a critical yet overlooked chapter in American history: the inspiring rise and calculated fall of the black elite, from Emancipation through Reconstruction to the Jim Crow Era—embodied in the experiences of an influential figure of the time, academic, entrepreneur, and political activist and black history pioneer Daniel Murray. In the wake of the Civil War, Daniel Murray, born free and educated in Baltimore, was in the vanguard of Washington, D.C.’s black upper class. Appointed Assistant Librarian at the Library of Congress—at a time when government appointments were the most prestigious positions available for blacks—Murray became wealthy through his business as a construction contractor and married a college-educated socialite. The Murrays’ social circles included some of the first African-American U.S. Senators and Congressmen, and their children went to the best colleges—Harvard and Cornell. Though Murray and other black elite of his time were primed to assimilate into the cultural fabric as Americans first and people of color second, their prospects were crushed by Jim Crow segregation and the capitulation to white supremacist groups by the government, which turned a blind eye to their unlawful—often murderous—acts. Elizabeth Dowling Taylor traces the rise, fall, and disillusionment of upper-class African Americans, revealing that they were a representation not of hypothetical achievement but what could be realized by African Americans through education and equal opportunities. As she makes clear, these well-educated and wealthy elite were living proof that African Americans did not lack ability to fully participate in the social contract as white supremacists claimed, making their subsequent fall when Reconstruction was prematurely abandoned all the more tragic. Illuminating and powerful, her magnificent work brings to life a dark chapter of American history that too many Americans have yet to recognize.

Mother Jones is an award-winning national magazine widely respected for its groundbreaking investigative reporting and coverage of sustainability and environmental issues.

Boys, let us get up a club.With those words, six restless young men raided the linens at a friend’s mansion, pulled pillowcases over their heads, hopped on horses, and cavorted through the streets of Pulaski, Tennessee in 1866. The six friends named their club the Ku Klux Klan, and, all too quickly, their club grew into the self-proclaimed Invisible Empire with secret dens spread across the South.This is the story of how a secret terrorist group took root in America’s democracy. Filled with chilling and vivid personal accounts unearthed from oral histories, congressional documents, and diaries, this account from Newbery Honor-winning author Susan Campbell Bartoletti is a book to read and remember. A YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults Finalist.

Indianapolis Monthly is the Circle City’s essential chronicle and guide, an indispensable authority on what’s new and what’s news. Through coverage of politics, crime, dining, style, business, sports, and arts and entertainment, each issue offers compelling narrative stories and lively, urbane coverage of Indy’s cultural landscape.

Four of the most important and enduring American slave narratives together in one volume. Until slavery was abolished in 1865, millions of men, women, and children toiled under a system that stripped them of their freedom and their humanity. Much has been written about this shameful era of American history, but few books speak with as much power as the narratives written by those who experienced slavery firsthand. The basis for the film of the same name, Twelve Years a Slave is Solomon Northup’s heartrending chronicle of injustice and brutality. Northup was born and raised a freeman in New York State—until he was kidnapped and sold into slavery in the Deep South. Before returning to his family and freedom, he suffered smallpox, the overseer’s lash, and an attempted lynching. Perhaps the most famous of all slave chronicles, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass immediately struck a chord with readers when it was first released in 1855. After escaping to freedom, Douglass became a well-known orator and abolitionist, drawing on his own experiences to condemn the evils of slavery. One of the few female slave narratives, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl was originally published under a pseudonym by Harriet Jacobs. After she escaped to freedom in North Carolina, where she became an abolitionist, Jacobs described the particular suffering of female slaves, including sexual harassment and abuse. Published in 1850, The Narrative of Sojourner Truth is Truth’s landmark memoir of her life as a slave in upstate New York and her transformation into a pioneer for racial equality and women’s rights. These narratives serve as a timeless testament to the strength and bravery, and as a voice to the millions of people enslaved in this dark period of American history. This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.

A founding member of the bands Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and the Hollies shares the story of his life from his youth in post-war England through his creative relationship with Joni Mitchell and his career as a solo musician and political activist

The inspiration behind the hit podcast THE 100 TYPES OF HUMAN with DEXTER DIAS and BBC 5 Live host NIHAL ARTHANAYAKE 'This book is the one. Think Sapiens and triple it.' - Julia Hobsbawm, author of Fully Connected _______________________________ We all have ten types of human in our head. They're the people we become when we face life's most difficult decisions. We want to believe there are things we would always do - or things we never would. But how can we be sure? What are our limits? Do we have limits? The Ten Types of Human is a pioneering examination of human nature. It looks at the best and worst that human beings are capable of, and asks why. It explores the frontiers of the human experience, uncovering the forces that shape our thoughts and actions in extreme situations. From courtrooms to civil wars, from Columbus to child soldiers, Dexter Dias takes us on a globe-spanning journey in search of answers, touching on the lives of some truly exceptional people. Combining cutting-edge neuroscience, social psychology and human rights research, The Ten Types of Human is a provocative map to our hidden selves. It provides a new understanding of who we are - and who we can be. _______________________________ 'The Ten Types of Human is a fantastic piece of non-fiction, mixing astonishing real-life cases with the latest scientific research to provide a guide to who we really are. It's inspiring and essential.' - Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit 'I emerged from this book feeling better about almost everything... a mosaic of faces building into this extraordinary portrait of our species.' - Guardian 'Uplifting and indispensable.' - Howard Cunnell _______________________________ What readers are saying about 'the most important book in years': 'utterly compelling...this one comes with a warning - only pick it up if you can risk not putting it down' - Wendy Heydorn on Amazon, 5 stars 'one of the most remarkable books I've read... I can genuinely say that it has changed the way I view the world' - David Jones on Amazon, 5 stars 'Essential reading for anyone wishing to understand the human condition... a thrilling and beautifully crafted book' - Wasim on Amazon, 5 stars 'This is the most important book I have read in years' - Natasha Geary on Amazon, 5 stars 'an important and fascinating read... It will keep you glued to the page' - Hilary Burrage on Amazon, 5 stars 'a journey that I will never forget, will always be grateful for, and I hope will help me question who I am... a work of genius' - Louise on Amazon, 5 stars 'This is a magnificent book that will capture the interest of every type of reader... one of those rare and special books that demand rereading' - Amelia on Amazon, 5 stars 'I simply couldn't put it down... one of the most significant books of our time' - Jocelyne Quennell on Amazon, 5 stars 'Read The Ten Types of Human and be prepared to fall in love' - Helen Fospero on Amazon, 5 stars

A groundbreaking history demonstrating that America's economic supremacy was built on the backs of enslaved people Winner of the 2015 Avery O. Craven Prize from the Organization of American Historians Winner of the 2015 Sidney Hillman Prize Americans tend to cast slavery as a pre-modern institution -- the nation's original sin, perhaps, but isolated in time and divorced from America's later success. But to do so robs the millions who suffered in bondage of their full legacy. As historian Edward E. Baptist reveals in The Half Has Never Been Told, the expansion of slavery in the first eight decades after American independence drove the evolution and modernization of the United States. In the span of a single lifetime, the South grew from a narrow coastal strip of worn-out tobacco plantations to a continental cotton empire, and the United States grew into a modern, industrial, and capitalist economy. Told through the intimate testimonies of survivors of slavery, plantation records, newspapers, as well as the words of politicians and entrepreneurs, The Half Has Never Been Told offers a radical new interpretation of American history.