📖 Africa Is My Home: A Child of the Amistad by Monica Edinger. "Inspired by a true account, here is the compelling story of a child who arrives in America on the slave ship Amistad—and eventually makes her way home to Africa." This fascinating account of an often-neglected historic incident received the 2014 Children's Africana Award. – Middle

📖 The Middle Passage: White Ships/Black Cargo by Tom Feelings.  This classic wordless black-and-white pictorial book depicts the African slave trade. First published in 1995, The Middle Passage was updated in 2018 with a new introduction Kadir Nelson and notes that provide more historical context. – Middle

🔗 Content Connection: Women’s Suffrage. Learn about the famed abolitionist and suffragist, Sojourner Truth.

📖 Underground: Finding the Light to Freedom by Shane Evans. In this nearly word-free picture book, Evans uses a dark palette to convey the fear and urgency of a family's escape from slavery. – Preschool • Elementary

📖 Unspoken: A Story from the Underground Railroad by Henry Cole. In this wordless book, a young girl must decide how to act when she discovers a stranger hiding in her family's barn. Cole's graphite illustrations are gorgeous.​ – Preschool • Elementary

📖 Henry's Freedom Box by Ellen Levine.​ Henry's Freedom Box tells the true story of a man who mails himself to freedom after his wife and children are sold away at the slave market. – Preschool • Elementary

📖 January's Sparrow by Patricia Polacco.​ Sadie's family must flee their Kentucky slave plantation when they learn that the children are to be sold at auction. Traveling on the Underground Railroad, they finally settle in Marshall, Michigan, where they find a community of friends and neighbors. This picture book is based on the experiences of the real-life Crosswhite family. – Elementary • Middle

📖 Trouble Don't Last by Shelley Pearsall. This moving first novel by Shelley Pearsall provides a vivid account of a boy and his elderly friend who escape from slavery on the Underground Railroad. Winner of the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction. This well-paced story makes an excellent read-aloud. – Elementary • Middle

📖 Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis. “An inspiring coming-of-age story set in a settlement of runaway slaves who have escaped to Canada. Eleven-year-old Elijah is the town's first child to be born free. But instead of feeling like a brave beacon for freedom, Elijah just feels like a 'fragile' boy who is scared of snakes. When duty calls, however, Elijah embarks on a dangerous journey that might make a hero of him yet. A powerful story of a boy grappling with the harsh realities of racial injustice.” A Newbery Honor Book and Coretta Scott King Award. – Middle

📖 Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom by Carole Boston Weatherford. This excellent picture book isn't so much a biography as it is a lyrical story of Harriet Tubman's spiritual journey to freedom. As the title suggests, the book draws parallels between Tubman and Moses—both devout figures who led their people out of slavery. – Elementary

📖 Before She Was Harriet by Lesa Cline-Ransome. This lovely picture book biography of Harriet Tubman touches upon all of the different roles Tubman inhabited over her lifetime—as a conductor on the Underground Railroad, a Union spy, a suffragist, and so much more. – Elementary

📖 Wanted Dead or Alive: The True Story of Harriet Tubman by Ann McGovern. McGovern's classic picture book biography of Harriet Tubman is a wonderful, compelling read. – Elementary

📖 Words Set Me Free: The Story of Young Frederick Douglass by Lesa Cline-Ransome. "The inspirational, true story of how Frederick Douglass found his way to freedom one word at a time." This picture book is based on Douglass' own account of learning to read in Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. (Note that the author takes a bit of creative license in depicting Douglass' escape from slavery). Turn to Frederick's Journey (below) to learn more about Douglass' life as a free man. – Elementary

📖 Frederick's Journey by Doreen Rappaport. This picture book biography gives a nice overview of Frederick Douglass' life - his childhood under slavery, his escape to freedom, and his tireless efforts on behalf of the abolitionist cause. Well worth including in your study of this era. – Elementary

📖 Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass: The Story behind an American Friendship by Russell Freedman. In this 100-page book, Freedman provides a sophisticated and balanced account of both Lincoln and Douglass. With biographical information on both men and plenty of historical detail, this is a great resource for older students studying slavery and the Civil War. – Middle

📖 Light in the Darkness: A Story About How Slaves Learned in Secret by Lesa Cline-Ransome. This is a fictionalized account of a "pit school," where slaves gathered in secret to learn to read. As the author writes, "This book is a celebration of those who sought the light of knowledge during the darkness of slavery." – Elementary

📖 Freedom over Me: Eleven Slaves, Their Lives and Dreams Brought to Life by Ashley Bryan.“In his gentle yet deeply powerful way, Ashley Bryan goes to the heart of how a slave is given a monetary value by the slave owner, tempering this with the one thing that can’t be bought or sold—dreams. Inspired by the actual will of a plantation owner that lists the worth of each and every one of his ‘workers,’ Bryan has created collages around that document, and others like it.” A Newbery Honor Book –Elementary • Middle

📖 Amos Fortune, Free Man by Elizabeth Yates. “Born the son of an African king, Amos Fortune was captured by slave traders in 1725, brought to America and sold at auction. For 45 years, he worked as a slave and dreamed of freedom. At 60, he began to see his dreams come true.” A Newbery Medal Book. – Elementary • Middle