Books like 'How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America'
Readers who enjoyed How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America by Clint Smith also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical military, war & conflict social-commentary politics slavery poc-mc civil-war justice american-civil-war journalism
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Roots: The Saga of an American Family by Alex Haley
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 41 ratingsWhen he was a boy in Henning, Tennessee, Alex Haley's grandmother used to tell him stories about their family—stories that went back to her grandparents, and their grandparents, down through the generations all the way to a man she called "the African...Categorized as:
american-civil-war black-mc civil-war poc-mc politics slavery social-commentary 20th-century -
![Henry's Freedom Box: A True Story from the Underground Railroad by Ellen Levine]()
Henry's Freedom Box: A True Story from the Underground Railroad by Ellen Levine
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsA stirring, dramatic story of a slave who mails himself to freedom by a Jane Addams Peace Award-winning author and a Coretta Scott King Award-winning artist.Henry Brown doesn't know how old he is. Nobody keeps records of slaves' birthdays. All the time he dreams about freedom, but that dream seems farther away than ever when he is torn from his family and put to work in a warehouse... -
![Pink y Say by Patricia Polacco]()
Pink y Say by Patricia Polacco
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsFor use in schools and libraries only. Say Curtis describes his meeting with Pinkus Aylee, a black soldier, during the Civil War, and their capture by Southern troops. Based on a true story about the author's great-great-grandfather...Categorized as:
american-civil-war black-mc civil-war poc-mc slavery social-commentary action-adventure book -
![Through the Storm by Beverly Jenkins]()
Through the Storm by Beverly Jenkins
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsMarried For MoneyRaimond Le Veq needed to marry to gain his inheritance and restore the fortunes of the House of Le Veq, the proud Black New Orleans family whose wealth had been ravaged by the War Between the States. Still wounded by the double-cross of the only woman he ever came close to loving, he gave the choice of bride to his mother...Categorized as:
american-civil-war civil-war poc-mc politics slavery arranged-marriage audiobook book -
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![Rebel by Beverly Jenkins]()
Rebel by Beverly Jenkins
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe first novel in USA Today Bestselling Author Beverly Jenkins' compelling new series follows a Northern woman south in the chaotic aftermath of the Civil War... Valinda Lacey's mission in the steamy heart of New Orleans is to help the newly emancipated community survive and flourish. But soon she discovers that here, freedom can also mean danger...Categorized as:
american-civil-war black-mc civil-war poc-mc politics slavery action-adventure adult -
![Jubilee by Margaret Walker]()
Jubilee by Margaret Walker
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA 50th anniversary edition of Margaret Walker's best-selling classic with a foreword by Nikki Giovanni Jubilee tells the true story of Vyry, the child of a white plantation owner and one of his black slaves. Vyry bears witness to the South’s antebellum opulence and to its brutality, its wartime ruin, and the promises of Reconstruction...Categorized as:
american-civil-war black-mc civil-war poc-mc slavery social-commentary 20th-century adult -
![Brotherless Night by V.V. Ganeshananthan]()
Brotherless Night by V.V. Ganeshananthan
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsIn this searing novel, a courageous young woman tries to protect her dream of becoming a doctor as civil war devastates Sri Lanka.Jaffna, 1981. Sixteen-year-old Sashi wants to become a doctor. But over the next decade, a vicious civil war tears through her home, and her dream spins off course as she sees her four beloved brothers and their friend K swept up in the mounting violence...Categorized as:
politics civil-war poc-mc social-commentary historical-fiction fiction historical literary-fiction -
![Wild, Beautiful, and Free by Sophfronia Scott]()
Wild, Beautiful, and Free by Sophfronia Scott
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsFrom award-winning author Sophfronia Scott comes the story of one young woman’s bold journey to reclaim her birthright and carve out her own place in a world that tells her she doesn’t belong. Born the daughter of an enslaved woman and a Louisiana plantation owner, Jeannette Bébinn is raised alongside her white half sister―until her father suddenly dies... -
![Sister of Mine by Sabra Waldfogel]()
Sister of Mine by Sabra Waldfogel
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsWhen two Union soldiers stumble onto a plantation in northern Georgia on a warm May day in 1864, the last thing they expect is to see the Union flag flying high—or to be greeted by a group of freed slaves and their Jewish mistress. Little do they know that this place has an unusual history...Categorized as:
american-civil-war black-mc civil-war poc-mc slavery action-adventure adult audiobook -
![Freeman by Leonard Pitts Jr.]()
Freeman by Leonard Pitts Jr.
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsFreeman, the new novel by Leonard Pitts, Jr., takes place in the first few months following the Confederate surrender and the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Upon learning of Lee's surrender, Sam--a runaway slave who once worked for the Union Army--decides to leave his safe haven in Philadelphia and set out on foot to return to the war-torn South... -
![Show Way by Jacqueline Woodson]()
Show Way by Jacqueline Woodson
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsSoonie's great-grandma was just seven years old when she was sold to a big plantation without her ma and pa, and with only some fabric and needles to call her own. She pieced together bright patches with names like North Star and Crossroads, patches with secret meanings made into quilts called Show Ways -- maps for slaves to follow to freedom... -
![The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris]()
The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsA profound debut about the unlikely bond between two freedmen who are brothers and the Georgia farmer whose alliance will alter their lives, and his, forever.In the waning days of the Civil War, brothers Prentiss and Landry—freed by the Emancipation Proclamation—seek refuge on the homestead of George Walker and his wife, Isabelle... -
![Judgment at Appomattox by Ralph Peters]()
Judgment at Appomattox by Ralph Peters
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratings"History comes alive" (Richard J...Categorized as:
american-civil-war civil-war politics adult book fiction historical historical-fiction -
![Montana Woman by Rosanne Bittner]()
Montana Woman by Rosanne Bittner
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA NATION DIVIDED ONE WOMAN’S UNBRIDLED SPIRIT A Civil War widow, young Joline Masters leaves “bleeding” Kansas for Montana to settle under the Homestead Act. Mountain man Clint Reeves knows Montana well, having lost a wife and child there to an Indian attack. He has come home to Kansas, but his father-in-law and others blame him for his wife’s and he child’s deaths...Categorized as:
american-civil-war civil-war poc-mc adult book fiction historical historical-fiction -
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![The Wake of the Wind by J. California Cooper]()
The Wake of the Wind by J. California Cooper
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA dramatic and thought-provoking novel of one family's triumph in the face of the hardships and challenges of the post-Civil War South.The Wake of the Wind , J. California Cooper's third novel, is her most penetrating look yet at the challenges that generations of African Americans have had to overcome in order to carve out a home for themselves and their families...Categorized as:
civil-war slavery social-commentary poc-mc black-mc historical-fiction fiction drama -
![The Soldier's Lady by Michael R. Phillips]()
The Soldier's Lady by Michael R. Phillips
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThe young women of Rosewood face new challenges--and old enemies--when a wounded black soldier rides into town. Micah Duff is an educated, spiritual man, and even though he and "scatterbrained" Emma are very different, the two soon fall in love. But an ambitious white man who can't afford any skeletons in his closet--or a black son--plans to get rid of Emma and her boy for good...Categorized as:
american-civil-war civil-war slavery book christian fiction historical historical-fiction -
![Josephine by Beverly Jenkins]()
Josephine by Beverly Jenkins
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsJosephine Best has it all figured out. Just seventeen, she's been to college, she has her own hairdressing shop and she refuses to be distracted from her goals. At least until handsome George Brooks begins to pursue her. Jojo isn't looking for romance, but she permits George to call on her.Adam Morgan has always been a Casanova, and no girl is immune to his charm... -
![Ruined by Lynn Nottage]()
Ruined by Lynn Nottage
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsWinner of the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Drama ''A powerhouse drama. . . . Lynn Nottage's beautiful, hideous and unpretentiously important play [is] a shattering, intimate journey into faraway news reports." - Linda Winer, Newsday ''An intense and gripping new drama . . . the kind of new play we desperately need; well-informed and unafraid of the world's brutalities... -
![Gone for Soldiers: A Novel of the Mexican War by Jeff Shaara]()
Gone for Soldiers: A Novel of the Mexican War by Jeff Shaara
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIn this stunning, unforgettable novel, Jeff Shaara carries us back thirteen years before the Civil War, when that momentous conflict's most familiar names are fighting for another cause, junior officers marching under the same flag in an unfamiliar land, experiencing combat for the first time in the Mexican-American War... -
![I Survived the Battle of Gettysburg 1863 by Lauren Tarshis]()
I Survived the Battle of Gettysburg 1863 by Lauren Tarshis
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIssued on Playaway, a dedicated audio media player...Categorized as:
american-civil-war black-mc civil-war poc-mc slavery action-adventure audiobook book -
![Yonder by Jabari Asim]()
Yonder by Jabari Asim
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe Water Dancer meets The Prophets in this spare, gripping, and beautifully rendered novel exploring love and friendship among a group of enslaved Black strivers in the mid-19th century.They call themselves the Stolen. Their owners call them captives. They are taught their captors’ tongues and their beliefs but they have a language and rituals all their own... -
![Ever My Love by Gretchen Craig]()
Ever My Love by Gretchen Craig
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsOn the eve of Civil War, the daughter of Southern planters finds her loyalties tested in a magnificent saga of family pride and forbidden love...Brought up amid the luxury of plantation life, Marianne Johnston never questions her sheltered life until, driven by her conscience, she joins the Underground Railroad... -
![Always & Forever: A Saga of Slavery and Deliverance by Gretchen Craig]()
Always & Forever: A Saga of Slavery and Deliverance by Gretchen Craig
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsSince they were children running barefoot about Toulouse Plantation, Josie and Cleo have been as close as sisters, forging an unbreakable bond that defies their roles as mistress and slave. Together, the two have shared secrets and protected each other through happiness and heartbreak... -
![Addy's Surprise: A Christmas Story by Connie Rose Porter]()
Addy's Surprise: A Christmas Story by Connie Rose Porter
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsDuring the holiday season, Addy and Momma are generous with their meager savings and thrilled by a wonderful surprise.' to 'Addy Walker is a proud, courageous girl growing up in 1864, during the midst of the Civil War. Addy's stories tell of her daring escape with her mother from slavery, and the challenges they face afterward as they try to reunite their family... -
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![Secrets of Heavenly by Teresa Robison]()
Secrets of Heavenly by Teresa Robison
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsOlivia's marriage to an African-American man was unacceptable to her mother Emma, Southern-bred descendant of prominent South Carolina slaveholders. Olivia assumed that bigotry was the product of her mother's loyalty to long-dead relatives, an allegiance to maintain the family's white blood line. After Emma's death though, Olivia finds a letter and an old journal among her belongings... -
![Underground: Finding the Light to Freedom by Shane W. Evans]()
Underground: Finding the Light to Freedom by Shane W. Evans
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsA family silently crawls along the ground. They run barefoot through unlit woods, sleep beneath bushes, take shelter in a kind stranger's home. Where are they heading? They are heading for Freedom by way of the Underground Railroad."A stellar introduction to the Underground Railroad, narrated by a group of slaves...Categorized as:
social-commentary poc-mc slavery civil-war black-mc historical-fiction children-books historical -
![Redfield Farm by Judith Redline Coopey]()
Redfield Farm by Judith Redline Coopey
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsREDFIELD FARM explores the paradox between peoples' professed beliefs and their actions. The main characters are Quaker and live in a solidly Quaker community. Quakers are non-violent yet the actions of the two main characters will go to any lengths to help fugitive slaves escape... -
![A Blaze of Glory by Jeff Shaara]()
A Blaze of Glory by Jeff Shaara
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIn the first novel of a spellbinding new trilogy, New York Times bestselling author Jeff Shaara returns to the Civil War terrain he knows best. A Blaze of Glory takes us to the action-packed Western Theater for a vivid re-creation of one of the war’s bloodiest and most iconic engagements—the Battle of Shiloh. It’s the spring of 1862... -
![The Thread Collectors by Shaunna J. Edwards, Alyson Richman]()
The Thread Collectors by Shaunna J. Edwards, Alyson Richman
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratings1863: In a small Creole cottage in New Orleans, an ingenious young Black woman named Stella embroiders intricate maps on repurposed cloth to help enslaved men flee and join the Union Army. Bound to a man who would kill her if he knew of her clandestine activities, Stella has to hide not only her efforts but her love for William, a Black soldier and a brilliant musician...Categorized as:
civil-war slavery poc-mc american-civil-war black-mc historical-fiction fiction historical -
![Golden Poppies by Laila Ibrahim]()
Golden Poppies by Laila Ibrahim
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsFrom the bestselling author of Yellow Crocus and Mustard Seed comes the empowering novel of two generations of American women connected by the past and fighting for a brighter future. It’s 1894. Jordan Wallace and Sadie Wagoner appear to have little in common. Jordan, a middle-aged black teacher, lives in segregated Chicago... -
![Daughter of a Daughter of a Queen by Sarah Bird]()
Daughter of a Daughter of a Queen by Sarah Bird
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe compelling, hidden story of Cathy Williams, a former slave and the only woman to ever serve with the legendary Buffalo Soldiers."Here's the first thing you need to know about Miss Cathy Williams: I am the daughter of a daughter of a queen and my Mama never let me forget it...Categorized as:
american-civil-war black-mc civil-war poc-mc slavery action-adventure adult audiobook -
![Happy Birthday, Addy!: A Springtime Story by Connie Rose Porter, Renée Graef]()
Happy Birthday, Addy!: A Springtime Story by Connie Rose Porter, Renée Graef
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsAddy Walker is a proud, courageous girl growing up in 1864, during the midst of the Civil War. Addy's stories tell of her daring escape with her mother from slavery, and the challenges they face afterward as they try to reunite their family. But Addy's stories are about much more than hardship... -
![Mary: Mrs. A. Lincoln by Janis Cooke Newman]()
Mary: Mrs. A. Lincoln by Janis Cooke Newman
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsMary Todd Lincoln is one of history’s most misunderstood and enigmatic women. The first president’s wife to be called First Lady, she was a political strategist, a supporter of emancipation, and a mother who survived the loss of three children and the assassination of her beloved husband. Yet she also ran her family into debt, held seances in the White House, and was committed to an insane asylum... -
![Beulah Land by Lonnie Coleman]()
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![All Souls' Rising by Madison Smartt Bell]()
All Souls' Rising by Madison Smartt Bell
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIn this first installment of his epic Haitian trilogy, Madison Smartt Bell brings to life a decisive moment in the history of race, class, and colonialism. The slave uprising in Haiti was a momentous contribution to the tide of revolution that swept over the Western world at the end of the 1700s... -
![The Confessions of Nat Turner by William Styron]()
The Confessions of Nat Turner by William Styron
Rated: 3.96 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsIn 1831 Nat Turner awaits death in a Virginia jail cell. He is a slave, a preacher, and the leader of the only effective slave revolt in the history of 'that peculiar institution'. William Styron's ambitious and stunningly accomplished novel is Turner's confession, made to his jailers under the duress of his God... -
![The American Queen: A Novel Based on the True Story of Appalachia’s Kingdom of the Happy Land by Vanessa Miller]()
The American Queen: A Novel Based on the True Story of Appalachia’s Kingdom of the Happy Land by Vanessa Miller
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsIn 1869 a kingdom rose in the South. And Louella was its queen. Over the twenty-four years she’s been enslaved on the Montgomery Plantation, Louella learned to feel one hate. Hate for the man who sold her mother. Hate for the overseer who left her daddy to hang from a noose...Categorized as:
civil-war slavery social-commentary poc-mc black-mc historical-fiction fiction audiobook -
![Song Yet Sung by James McBride]()
Song Yet Sung by James McBride
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFrom the New York Times bestselling author of The Good Lord Bird, winner of the 2013 National Book Award for Fiction... -
![All Different Now: Juneteenth, the First Day of Freedom by Angela Johnson]()
All Different Now: Juneteenth, the First Day of Freedom by Angela Johnson
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsExperience the joy of Juneteenth in this celebration of freedom from the award-winning team of Angela Johnson and E.B. Lewis.Through the eyes of one little girl, All Different Now tells the story of the first Juneteenth, the day freedom finally came to the last of the slaves in the South...Categorized as:
civil-war slavery poc-mc social-commentary black-mc historical-fiction children-books historical -
![Five-Carat Soul by James McBride]()
Five-Carat Soul by James McBride
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsExciting new fiction from James McBride, the first since his National Book Award-winning novel The Good Lord Bird. The stories in Five-Carat Soul--none of them ever published before--spring from the place where identity, humanity, and history converge... -
![All God's Children by Aaron Gwyn]()
All God's Children by Aaron Gwyn
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsIn 1827, Duncan Lammons, a disgraced young man from Kentucky, sets out to join the American army in the province of Texas, hoping that here he may live – and love – as he pleases. That same year, Cecelia, a young slave in Virginia, runs away for the first time...Categorized as:
civil-war slavery american-civil-war black-mc poc-mc historical-fiction fiction western -
![Moon and the Mars by Kia Corthron]()
Moon and the Mars by Kia Corthron
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe highly anticipated new novel from the winner of the Center for Fiction's First Novel Prize examines NYC and America in the burgeoning moments before the start of the Civil War through the eyes of a young biracial girl...Categorized as:
civil-war black-mc poc-mc historical-fiction fiction historical literary-fiction audiobook -
![The Stockwell Letters by Jacqueline Friedland]()
The Stockwell Letters by Jacqueline Friedland
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsFrom USA Today best-selling and multi-award-winning author Jacqueline Friedland comes a gripping work of fiction based on the true story of female abolitionist Ann Phillips and her connection to Anthony Burns, a young man who briefly escaped American slavery and rocked the nation with his astoundingly heroic story... -
![Runaway by Heather Graham]()
Runaway by Heather Graham
Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThe best-selling author of One Rode West presents the first of a five-book historical saga set in nineteenth-century Florida, where Tara Brent's dangerous past and an Indian war threatens her new marriage...Categorized as:
american-civil-war civil-war poc-mc adult book fiction historical historical-fiction -
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![Crossing Ebenezer Creek by Tonya Bolden]()
Crossing Ebenezer Creek by Tonya Bolden
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsWhen Mariah and her young brother Zeke are suddenly freed from slavery, they join Sherman's march through Georgia. Mariah wants to believe that the brutalities of slavery are behind them, but even as hope glimmers, there are many hardships yet to come. When she meets a free black named Caleb, Mariah dreams in a way she never dared . . . of a future worth living and the possibility of true love... -
![Trapped Between the Lash and the Gun by Arvella Whitmore]()
Trapped Between the Lash and the Gun by Arvella Whitmore
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsJordan is going to join a gang. But just as he's about to start his future with the Cobras, his past calls him back. Way back--to the nineteenth-century, where he meets his ancestors and gets a bitter taste of what life was like for them as slaves. Jordan must live with the constant threat of the whip's lash...Categorized as:
civil-war poc-mc slavery social-commentary 19th-century action-adventure audiobook book -
![Cloudsplitter by Russell Banks]()
Cloudsplitter by Russell Banks
Rated: 3.89 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA triumph of the imagination and a masterpiece of modern storytelling, Cloudsplitter is narrated by the enigmatic Owen Brown, last surviving son of America's most famous and still controversial political terrorist and martyr, John Brown... -
![I Thought My Soul Would Rise and Fly: The Diary of Patsy, a Freed Girl, Mars Bluff, South Carolina, 1865 by Joyce Hansen]()
I Thought My Soul Would Rise and Fly: The Diary of Patsy, a Freed Girl, Mars Bluff, South Carolina, 1865 by Joyce Hansen
Rated: 3.89 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe two-time Coretta Scott King Honor Book recipient offers a poignant narrative about a freed slave girl during the Reconstruction Era in the South...Categorized as:
american-civil-war civil-war poc-mc slavery social-commentary action-adventure audiobook book -
![Red River by Lalita Tademy]()
Red River by Lalita Tademy
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsFrom the New York Times bestselling author of Cane River comes the dramatic, intertwining story of two families and their struggles during the tumultuous years that followed the Civil War... -
![The Emancipator's Wife by Barbara Hambly]()
The Emancipator's Wife by Barbara Hambly
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsAs a girl growing up in Kentucky, she lived a sheltered, privileged life filled with picnics and plantation balls. Vivacious, impulsive, and intoxicated by politics, she is a Todd of Lexington, an aristocratic family whose ancestors defeated the British. But no one knows her secret fears and anxieties...
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