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I’m reading a lot of Civil War era histories and novels these days, trying to immerse myself in the time period for a project I’m working on. When my mother said she was going to see the new film Twelve Years a Slave, I immediately ordered myself the e-book to read on my Kindle. The narrative was mesmerizing. While I was forced to put my Kindle down to work and sleep I found it hard to focus on my daily tasks – eager to know what happened to Solomon Northup. Two days later I read the final chapters sitting on my toilet whilst my three year old happily splashed in the bath with her toy fish. When I got to the scene where Solomon is found, working in the cotton fields, by a delegation of men who were there to liberate him, I cried out suddenly and my eyes welled with tears. My girl immediately asked what was wrong, and I reassured her but the scene was so powerful that I could barely speak. I highly recommend this book as a testament to the horrors of slavery and an example of a fine, exciting narrative. MI owns the eBook and print version of Twelve Years a Slave (92 N878).
Here is a selection of other, equally moving autobiographies from our collection, in honor of Black History Month:
Up From Slavery by Booker T. Washington (92 W317up)
Born a slave, Booker T. Washington became a most influential African American activist. A true mechanic, he saw the importance of vocational education and worked hard to establish the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama.
Slave Narratives (306.362 S631)
A collection of autobiographies by well known personages including Sojourner Truth and Frederick Douglass.
Autobiographies by Frederick Douglass (92 D737a)
A collection of three autobiographical writings of Frederick Douglass, a former slave, advisor to Abraham Lincoln and powerful leader of the abolition movement.
And, here is a great collection of narratives available through the American Memory Project of the Library of Congress: Born in Slavery
If you want to know more about California during the Civil War I recommend:
The Golden State in the Civil War : Thomas Starr King, the Republican Party, and the Birth of Modern California by Glenna Matthews (979.404 M439)
This book excellently describes the political scene in California during the build-up to the Civil War. Thomas Starr King was the leader of the Unitarian Church in San Francisco and a powerful orator who was viscerally against slavery and pro-Union.
Reminiscences of California and the Civil War by Daniel Cooledge Fletcher (979.4 F61)
This is Daniel Fletcher's autobiography. Mr. Fletcher was a California immigrant from Massachusetts who, once the Civil War broke out, was so moved that he joined the U. S. army to preserve the Union. He fought in many of the early battles and has much to say about the war, the officers and his fellow soldiers, and California’s mining environment. A great first-hand account of the way it was.
