Annotated Bibliography on Slavery

Click Here for a Chronology of the History of Slavery

In order for students to understand African-American history and the significance of the Civil War and Civil Rights Movement, they must first explore the harsh realities of slavery. Slavery is significant to American history because it highlights the beginning of racial and economic tensions our society that still struggles with today.

In a nation full of students who tend to take individual liberties and freedom for granted, this exploration of slavery provides students with a unique opportunity to see slaves evolve as real people rather than as group of people set in a period of history. Students need to understand that, along with their individual freedom, slaves also lost their culture, heritage, homes, and even their families.

From biographies to poetry, songs, folktales, and to freedom, the books and links contained herein offer students and teachers an opportunity to explore African-American history. This site provides a chronology of events as well as links to biographies of notable leaders in the movement toward freedom and civil rights.

Adler, David. A Picture Book of Rosa Parks New York: Holiday House, 1993.

Myers, Walter Dean. One More River to Cross; An African-American Photograph Album. Golden Kite Award Winner. Reprint ed. Browndeer Press, 1999. Ages 9-12. A photographic album of African-American history.

Biographies

Meriwether, Louise. The Freedom Ship of Robert Smalls. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1971. A brief biography of a slave who escaped to freedom with his family and other runaway slaves on a captured Confederate gunboat.

McKissack, Patricia. Soujourner Truth; Ain’t I a Woman? Scholastic, 1992
Boston Globe Horn Book Award. Young Adult. Includes biography of the former slave who became a well-known abolitionist. patricia mckissack

Hamilton, Virginia. Many Thousand Gone; African Americans from Slavery to Freedom. Illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon. Random, 1992.Reviewed in Booklist. Uses general history, slave narratives and biography in a work about African-American slavery and resistance.

Lester, Julius. To Be a Slave. Illustrated by Tom Feelings. London: Longman Young, 1970. (Mid-level) A collection of slave narratives. Slave Narratives

Yates, Elizabeth. Amos Fortune, Free Man. Illustrated by Nora Unwin. New York: Puffin, 1989. Newberry Award Book. Depicts the life of an 18th century African prince after his capture by slave traders.

Poetry

Giovanni, Nikki. Ego-Tripping and Other Poems for Young People. Illustrated by George Ford; foreward by Virginia Hamilton. 2nd edition. Chicago: L. Hill Books, 1993. Thirty-two poems which reflect the African-American experience.

Miller, E. Ethelbert. In Search of Color Everywhere; A Collection of African-American Poetry. Illustrated by Terrance Cummings. New York: Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 1994. A Best Book for Young Adults. African-American Poetry Unit

Thomas, Joyce Carol. Brown Honey in Broomwheat Tea; Poems. Illustrated by Floyd Cooper. 1994 Coretta Scott-King Honor Book. Harpercollins Juvenile Books, 1993. Ages 4-8. Poems celebrate family, individuality and the African-American heritage.

Historical Fiction

Carbonneau, Eileen. Honor to the Hills. Tor, 1996. National Council for the Social Studies Notable Children’s Trade Books in the Social Studies. Advanced. In the 1850’s citizens in the New York Catskills are divided over the Underground Railroad.

Collier, James and Christopher. Jump Ship to Freedom. New York: Delacorte, 1981. Set in 1787, a fourteen-year-old slave escapes from his dishonest master and tries to buy freedom by cashing in his patriot father’s war notes.

Collier, James and Christopher. Who is Carrie? New York: Delacorte, 1984. A young black girl living in the late eighteenth century observes the historic events of the time.

Chiaverini, Jennifer. The Runaway Quilt. New York. Simon & Schuster, 2002.
After a speaking engagement, Sylvia is approached by one of the attendees. Margaret Alden has an old family quilt that has always been called The Elm Creek Quilt, and she wants to share her information with Sylvia. This sparks Sylvia’s curiosity and she sets out to find the old quilts her Aunt Lucinda use to tell her about- quilts that were used as signals on the Underground Railroad.

Fox, Paula. The Slave Dancer. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-Clio, 1988. Newwberry Award Book. A Story centered on the slave trade.

Johnston, Tony. The Wagon. Illustrated by James Ransome. Tambourine, 1996. Primary and intermediate levels. National Council for the Social Studies Notable Children’s Trade Books in the Social Studies. A young boy is sustained by his family as he endures the difficulties of being a slave. When he finally gains his freedom, his joy is tempered by the death of President Lincoln.

Lasky, Kathryn. True North; A Novel of the Underground Railroad. Blue Sky, 1996. Intermediate and advanced. National Council for the Social Studies Notable Children’s Trade Books in the Social Studies. Fourteen-year-old Lucy becomes involved in the Underground Railroad and saves a fugitive slave girl.

Lyons, Mary E. Letters from a Slave Girl; The Story of Harriet Jacobs. Aladdin, 1996. ALA Notable Book; Golden Kite Award. Ages 9-12. A fictional retelling of the experiences of Harriet Jacobs through the use of fictional letters.

Chapter Books

Collier, James and Christopher. War Comes to Willy Freeman. New York: Delacorte, 1983. A free thirteen-year-old girl is in danger of being returned to slavery when her father is killed fighting the British and the mother disappears.

Hamilton, Virginia. The House of Dies Drier. Illustrated by Eros Keith. Santa Barbara, CA: Cornerstone Books, 1991. A mystery for young adults. A black family moves into a house once used as a hiding place on the Underground Railroad.

Monjo, F.M. Drinking Gourd; A Story of the Underground Railroad. Illustrated by Fred Brenner. New York. Harper Collins Juvenile Books, 1993. Underground Railroad