There was once a slave ...

They told him that he was a slave, that he must bend his back, walk low, with eyes cast down, think not at all and sleep without a dream. But every beat of hoe against a twisted...

The long day was ending. Now that the sun had dropped behind scrawny pine trees, little eddies of dust stirred along the road. A bit of air from the bay lifted the flaccid leave...

The roof of the colorless house needed mending. Its sagging made the attic ceiling slope at a crazy angle. Rainy weather--it always started in the middle of the night--it leaked...

When Covey came down sick right after Hughes was fired, his wife was certain things would go to rack and ruin. Strangely enough, they did not. The stock got fed; the men left fo...

William Freeland, master of Freelands, gave his rein the slightest tug as he rode between the huge stone columns. It was good to be alone and let all memory of the Tilghmans dra...

On its way to the sea, the Patapsco River cuts through the old city of Baltimore. Here the fall line--the point where the harder rocks of the Piedmont meet the softer rocks of t...

And what man moves but on the crest of history! The spark flashes from each to each. The incandescence fuses-- Blooms out of the ghetto pit-- Roars to the sky-- Fans into a fier...

Freedom is a hard-bought thing! Frederick expected to remain in New York. He was free, he had money in his pocket, he would find work. He had no plans beyond reaching this big c...

Amelia Kemp stood at her attic window. The waters of Chesapeake Bay tossed green and white and set the thick mass of trees on distant Poplar Island in motion. A boat rounded Kea...

Many people would have shared Jack’s reluctance to believe Amelia’s story. As time passed the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society found itself caught in a dilemma. The committee...

The two letters reached them in the same mail. One came from James Buffum to Frederick; the other was for Daniel O’Connell from George Thompson, the English Abolitionist. Thomps...

Massachusetts hung out her fairest garlands that spring. The fruit trees were in bloom. Dandelions a foot tall framed the winding roads in gold; across the meadows lay Queen Ann...

When the measure of their tears shall be full--when their groans shall have involved heaven itself in darkness--doubtless a God of justice will awaken to their distress, and by...

There never had been such a time for cotton. All over the South the cotton foamed in great white flakes under the sun. Black workers staggered beneath its weight. Up and down th...

The settlement was a romantic place. Red men gliding by in their swift canoes had seen stately birds in the reedy lowlands of eastern Kansas and called the marsh the “swamp of t...

The news of Harper’s Ferry stunned Washington. “_A United States arsenal attacked--Slaves stampeding!_” “_The madman from Kansas run amuck!_” “_The slaves are armed!_” Panic sei...

The tall man’s footsteps made no sound upon the thick rug. Muffled and hushed, his weary pacing left no mark upon the warp and woof underneath his feet. No sign at all of all th...

“When the Hebrews were emancipated they were told to take spoil from the Egyptians. When the serfs of Russia were emancipated, they were given three acres of ground upon which t...

“The object for which the _liberator_ was commenced thirty-five years ago having been gloriously consummated--” wrote the white-haired editor. He could now close his office. The...

New words being added to the song of freedom. In 1867, in the District of Columbia, colored workers came together in a mass meeting. They asked Congress to secure equal apportio...

Seneca Falls’ Union Woman’s Suffrage Society hated to lose one of its most faithful and ardent members, but the manner of her leaving was cause for much rejoicing. _A Civil Serv...

So they packed the furniture--the piano--his books. It was a twelve-room house. They looked at each other in dismay. What were his plans? What to put in all those rooms?

Secretary of State Blaine was disturbed. All morning bells had been ringing and secretaries scurrying around like mad. With the arrival of the New York shipowner, even the clerk...