Slave narratives, some of the most powerful records of our past, are extremely rare, with only fifty-five post–Civil War narratives surviving. A mere handful are first-person accounts by slaves who ran away and freed themselves. Now two newly uncovered narratives, and the biographies of the men who wrote them, join that exclusive group with the publication of A Slave No More, a major new addition to the canon of American history. Handed down through family and friends, these narratives tell gripping stories of escape: Through a combination of intelligence, daring, and sheer luck, the men reached the protection of the occupying Union troops. David W. Blight magnifies the drama and significance by prefacing the narratives with each man’s life history. Using a wealth of genealogical information, Blight has reconstructed their childhoods as sons of white slaveholders, their service as cooks and camp hands during the Civil War, and their climb to black working-class stability in the north, where they reunited their families. In the stories of Turnage and Washington, we find history at its most intimate, portals that offer a rich new answer to the question of how four million people moved from slavery to freedom. In A Slave No More, the untold stories of two ordinary men take their place at the heart of the American experience.

A Slave No More: Two Men Who Escaped to Freedom : Including Their Own Narratives Of Emancipation

Biographies & Memoirs

Blight, David W.

Community & Culture

Houghton, mifflin, harcourt

In 1850 seven South Carolina slaves were photographed at the request of the famous naturalist Louis Agassiz to provide evidence of the supposed biological inferiority of Africans. Lost for many years, the photographs were rediscovered in the attic of Harvard’s Peabody Museum in 1976. In the first narrative history of these images, Molly Rogers tells the story of the photographs, the people they depict, and the men who made and used them. Weaving together the histories of race, science, and photography in nineteenth-century America, Rogers explores the invention and uses of photography, the scientific theories the images were intended to support and how these related to the race politics of the time, the meanings that may have been found in the photographs, and the possible reasons why they were “lost” for a century or more. Each image is accompanied by a brief fictional vignette about the subject’s life as imagined by Rogers; these portraits bring the seven subjects to life, adding a fascinating human dimension to the historical material.

Delia's Tears: Race, Science, and Photography in Nineteenth-Century America

Arts & Photography

Rogers, Molly

Individual Artists

Yale University Press

In 1850 seven South Carolina slaves were photographed at the request of the famous naturalist Louis Agassiz to provide evidence of the supposed biological inferiority of Africans. Lost for many years, the photographs were rediscovered in the attic of Harvard&#8217;s Peabody Museum in 1976. In the first narrative history of these images, Molly Rogers tells the story of the photographs, the people they depict, and the men who made and used them. Weaving together the histories of race, science, and photography in nineteenth-century America, Rogers explores the invention and uses of photography, the scientific theories the images were intended to support and how these related to the race politics of the time, the meanings that may have been found in the photographs, and the possible reasons why they were &#8220;lost&#8221; for a century or more. Each image is accompanied by a brief fictional vignette about the subject&#8217;s life as imagined by Rogers; these portraits bring the seven subjects to life, adding a fascinating human dimension to the historical material.

Yale and Slavery: A History

History

Americas

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass an American Slave (Bedford Books in American History)

DOUGLASS, FREDERICK

St Martins Pr

The Cherokee Removal and Souls of Black Folk and Our Hearts Fell to the Ground: A Brief History with Documents

Perdue, Theda

Green, Michael D.

DU BOIS, W.E.B.

Calloway, Colin G.

Gooding-Williams, Robert

Bedford/St.Martin's

American Promise 2e Volume 1 and Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass 2e: and Women's Rights and The World Turned Upside Down

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America's History 5e Volume 1 and Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass 2e: An American Slave, Written by Himself

Dumenil, Lynn

Henretta, James A.

Brody, David

America's History 5e Volume 1 and Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass 2e: and Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin 2e

MASUR, Louis P.

American Promise 3e V1 & Reading the American Past 3e V1 & Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass 2e

Johnson, Michael P.

Roark, James L.

Stage, Sarah

Cohen, Patricia Cline

Lawson, Alan

Hartmann, Susan M.

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Books by Blight, David W.