Octavia E. Butler’s Kindred: a Graphic Novel Adaptation by Damian Duffy

Dana is a young black writer living in California during the 1970s when she is suddenly thrust back in time to a slaveholding plantation in Maryland.  She quickly learns that it is Rufus, the plantation master’s son, who has the mysterious power to call her back whenever his life is in danger.  Dana learns that Rufus is actually her ancestor, and as she watches him take over the plantation, she struggles to ensure her own existence as saving Rufus becomes more repulsive.  Thirty-five years after Octavia Butler’s most popular novel was first published, the graphic adaptation does not shy away from the horrors and brutality of slavery.  Although technically a work of science fiction, this adaptation could easily support a unit of study on American history and may appeal to students who like historical graphic novels. --Anne Lotito-Schuh

Duffy, Damian. Octavia E. Butler’s Kindred: a graphic novel adaptation. New York: Abrams ComicArts, 2017. Print.

Frederick Douglass: Rising Up From Slavery by Frances. E. Ruffin

If success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome, as Booker T. Washington said, then Frederick Douglass may be counted as one of the most successful humans who has ever lived.  That he survived, escaped, and outlived American slavery is remarkable, but overcoming these obstacles was only the beginning of what Douglass would go on to do for the rest of the world as a tireless advocate for freedom and equality.  

Ruffin’s thirteen accessible chapters of narrative non-fiction nicely summarize a complex and long life, supplementing Douglass’ accomplishments with one-page features of other luminous figures from history: Nat Turner, William Lloyd Garrison, Benjamin Banneker, Ida B. Wells; as well as some less well-known like John B. Russwurm and Robert Smalls.  Starting off with a timeline, and ending with a glossary, bibliography, photo credits and an index, this book is perfect for curricular explorations of non-fiction, African American history, and interdisciplinary studies of slavery, human rights, and the Civil War.  A perfect companion to the film Lincoln and a schema-building prelude to this year’s award-winning film Selma.  Student readers of biographies who have already enjoyed volumes on Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. may enjoy reading this book independently. --Jessica Fenster-Sparber

Ruffin, Frances E.  Frederick Douglass: Rising Up from Slavery.  New York: Sterling, 2008.

For the Library of Congress' rich collection of documents relating to Frederick Douglass, click here.

Slavery and the Making of America by James Oliver Horton and Lois E. Horton

I had the opportunity to read Slavery and the Making of America. This is an explicit account of the slave trade from the late 1400s to the 1960s, and it brings the horrors of that era to life. This book’s topic is a part of American history that all people, young and old, of all races should take the time to read. Slavery and the Making of America should be integrated into Global History for all ages in different stages. From Nat Turner's rebellion to the Civil War, this book made me reflect on what African Americans endured over a 400 plus year time span. I recommend this book. Such a great read. --Andre Saintilien Jr.

PBS has produced a television series which this book is a companion to.  Click here for a timeline of key events in the history of slavery.  Click here for additional print and electronic resources on slavery, including the WPA texts that chronicle the experiences of people who survived slavery and shared their remembrances.  Click here for related lesson plans.

Andre Saintilien Jr. works with youth placed in group home detention as a youth counselor.  He loves to read and is particularly fond of  non-fiction books  that are both instructive and focused on a single topic. He enjoys writing music in his free time.

Escape to Freedom: A Play About Young Frederick Douglass by Ossie Davis

An impactful play in eighty-eight pages and five scenes, Escape to Freedom dramatizes the incredible life of Frederick Douglass.  Beginning with his childhood and ending with his escape from slavery in 1838, this short text focuses primarily on Douglass’ boyhood.  Written in the seventies and set in what feels like the distant past, students are not likely to pick this up on their own.  ELA teachers, however, may be interested in acquiring multiple copies of this affordable text for use with their middle school students.  As is often the case with plays, it takes a team to make it come to life.  Playwright Ossie Davis succinctly captures the power of reading in a world where it is forbidden to some. Social Studies teachers may appreciate the depiction of American slavery in the south in the 1800s.--Jessica Fenster-Sparber

Davis, Ossie.  Escape to Freedom: A play about young Frederick Douglass.  New York: Scholastic, 1976.

The Middle Passage by Tom Feelings

"No one can experience it and remain unmoved" reads the inside flap. There are no better words to characterize the power of this visceral, searing, brilliant work. This large format book powerfully conveys more about the horror of this experience through wordless images than any textbook ever could. Feelings, a Brooklyn native whose work hangs behind Crossroads' closed doors, explains his decades-long process efforts to research and create the book in a four-page introduction which may well fascinate a would-be artist. For others, skip the words and dive right into the first image. The volume concludes with a bibliography and a handy map of the African diaspora in the Americas to furnish geographical context. Pair with Spielberg's Amistad (Feelings first, Spielberg second) and Lester's From Slave Ship to Freedom Road and Day of Tears. --Jessica Fenster-Sparber