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Although raised in a prosperous and prestigious African-American home in Tuskegee, Ala., Sammy Younge found himself drawn most to the civil rights movement. While the cause cost him his life, his actions and determination helped to transform this Southern city.

After serving a 19-year sentence, Jean Valjean ends up on the Lord Bishop's doorstep, where he is offered a warm meal and bed to sleep in. Although he steals from the bishop, in the end, he earns redemption and a second chance thanks to the bishop's wise and caring ways.

In this specific passage, which comes from the book’s first chapter, Douglass describes his enslavers. The passage focuses on Douglass’s memory of his first encounter with the brutality of his enslavers.

In this passage from the autobiography, Jacobs describes her life as a teenager in the household of her enslaver. She describes the sexual advances of her adult male enslaver, as well as the jealousy and ire of her adult female enslaver those advances caused.

In this document, the U.S. government outlined its new policy towards escaped formerly enslaved persons during the Civil War.

Congress asserts the federal government’s right to seize all property of individuals participating in or aiding the insurrection against the U.S. government.

In this letter, Lincoln offers his argument in favor of finishing the war rather than reaching a peace agreement with the Confederate government.

In this poem, Smith recounts her experience at a Geechee Gullah Ring Shouters’ show and the love she, and every other audience member, was shown.

Mary Jenkins describes growing up in the Jim Crow era and frequently being told, “You can’t”—both by a mother terrified of what might happen to her daughter if she stepped out of her expected place, and by a system that had institutionalized segregation as a way of life.