Twelve Years a Slave (1853) is considered to be one of the most riveting and important documents recounting slavery in the United States. It is the heart-rending memoir of a free black man who is taken hostage and sold into slavery in a Louisiana plantation, his twelve years of bondage, and his remarkable escape to freedom. Since its publication, this classic has become a historical reference for its salient of depiction of life as a slave in the...

Tells the story of James Lafayette, a slave who volunteered to serve the Continental Army in order to secure his freedom, and became a spy for the Americans under the command of Marquis de Lafayette.

Features female figures of black history, including abolitionist Sojourner Truth, pilot Bessie Coleman, chemist Alice Ball, politician Shirley Chisholm, mathematician Katherine Johnson, poet Maya Angelou, and filmmaker Julie Dash.

Presents historical and cultural commentary on eight lesser-known African Americans, including the only known female Buffalo soldier, and a fighter pilot who flew for France in World War I.

Highlights the life of the Baptist minister who led the American civil rights movement.