Slave Narratives The Journey to Freedom Author:Elaine Landau From School Library Journal — Landau has chosen excerpts from four accounts of life under slavery and how these individuals obtained their freedom. In her introduction, she points out that slaves waged open rebellions and silent ones. Austin Steward was a house slave, saved from the rigors of field work, but he had to sleep on the floor of his ma... more »ster's bedroom, curled up like a dog on the floorboards. Taken to New York with his owner, he sought support from the Manumission Society. Louis Hughes and his wife were denied the freedom that was rightfully theirs by birth and only after the intervention of two brave Union soldiers did they manage to secure their birthright. Bethany Veney ultimately secured freedom for herself and most of her family. James L. Smith, mistakenly stated in the text as to have been born in 1881, managed to escape from bondage to the North. Each narrative is compelling in its details of the hardships that slaves faced in their daily lives and the risks and sacrifices they made to obtain their freedom. Photographs and period illustrations complement the moving text. Interestingly no mention is made of Julius Lester's great work, To Be a Slave (Dial, 1968), in the suggestions for further reading. A good introduction to the topic as well as a telling account about slave life in various circumstances.
Edith Ching, St. Albans School, Mt. St. Alban, Washington, DC
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