Please note: We’ve drawn from many of the resources below for the content of this website. Given the size and scope of the topics of slavery and abolition, the list below is, of course, far from exhaustive. We’ll continue to add to it in the future. Recommendations are welcome! Contact us at bhillscholars@gmail.com
Adeleke, Tunde. In the Service of God and Humanity: Conscience, Reason, and the Mind of Martin R. Delany.
Alonso, Harriet. Growing Up Abolitionist.
Anderson, Carol. The Second: Race and Guns in a Fatally Unequal America.
Aptheker, Herbert. American Negro Slave Revolts.
Bailey, Anne C. The Weeping Time: Memory and the Largest Slave Auction in American History.
Ball, Diana and Tatiana Seijas and Terri. L. Snyder, Eds. As If She Were Free: A Collective Biography of Women and Emancipation in the Americas.
Ball, Edward. Slaves In The Family.
Baumgartner, Alice. South to Freedom: Runaway Slaves to Mexico and the Road to the Civil War.
Beckert, Sven. Empire of Cotton.
Blackmon, Douglas. Slavery by Another Name.
Blight, David W. Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom.
Blight, David W. and Peter Salovey. Yale and Slavery: A History
Bonner, Christopher. Remaking the Republic: Black Politics and the Creation of American Citizenship.
Bordewich, Fergus M. Bound for Canaan: The Epic Story of the Underground Railroad, America’s First Civil Rights Movement.
Brazy, Martha Jane. An American Planter, Stephen Duncan of Antebellum Natchez and New York
Carretta, Vincent. Genius in Bondage. (Biography of Phillis Wheatley Peters.)
Carter Jackson, Kellie. Force and Freedom, Black Abolitionists and the Politics of Violence.
Cecelski, David S. The Fire of Freedom: Abraham Galloway & the Slaves' Civil War.
Confer, Clarissa W. The Cherokee Nation in the Civil War.
Craft, William and Ellen. Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom; Or the Escape of William and Ellen Craft from Slavery.
Dattel, Gene. Cotton and Race in the Making of America: The Human Costs of Economic Power.
Diemer, Andrew. Vigilance: The Life of William Still, Father of the Underground Railroad.
Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave.
Dubois, Laurent. Haiti: The Aftershocks of History.
Du Bois, W. E. B. The Suppression of the African Slave Trade in the United States of America, 1638-1870.
Duncan Russell. Freedom’s Shore: Tunis Campbell and the Georgia Freedmen.
Dunbar, Erica Armstrong. Never Caught: The Washingtons’ Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge.
Durkin, Hannah. The Survivors of the Clotilda: The Lost Stories of the Last Captives of the American Slave Trade.
Egerton, Douglas R. Gabriel's Rebellion: The Virginia Slave Conspiracies of 1800 and 1802.
Egerton, Douglas R. Thunder at the Gates: The Black Civil War Regiments That Redeemed America.
Federal Writers’ Project. Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1938. Contains more than 2,300 first-person accounts of slavery and 500 black-and-white photographs of formerly enslaved people.
Finkelman, Paul, and Donald R. Kennon, Eds. Congress and the People’s Contest: The Conduct of the Civil War.
Fischer, David Hacker. African Founders: How Enslaved People Expanded American Ideals.
Foner, Eric. Gateway to Freedom, The Hidden History of the Underground Railroad.
Foner, Eric. A Short History of Reconstruction.
Gara, Larry. The Liberty Line: The Legend of the Underground Railroad.
Gould, William Benjamin. Diary of a Contraband: The Civil War Passage of a Black Sailor.
Greenidge, Kerri K. The Grimkés: The Legacy of Slavery in an American Family.
Grundset, Eric. Forgotten Patriots : African American And American Indian Patriots In The Revolutionary War, A Guide to Service, Sources and Studies.
Guasco, Michael. Slaves and Englishmen: Human Bondage in the Early Modern Atlantic World.
Hackett Fischer, David. African Founders, How Enslaved People Expanded American Ideals.
Grinspan, Jon. Wide Awake: The Forgotten Force That Elected Lincoln and Spurred the Civil War.
Hinks, Peter P. To Awaken My Afflicted Brethren: David Walker and the Problem of Antebellum Slave Resistance.
Hodges, Graham Russell Gao. David Ruggles: A Radical Black Abolitionist and the Underground Railroad in New York City.
Huffman, Alan. Mississippi in Africa: The Saga of the Slaves of Prospect Hill Plantation and Their Legacy in Liberia Today.
Jackson, Kellie Carter. Black Abolitionists and the Politics of Violence.
Jones-Rogers, Stephanie E. They Were Her Property: White Women as Slave Owners in the American South.
Kantrowitz, Stephen. More Than Freedom: Fighting for Black Citizenship in a White Republic, 1829-1889.
Kelley, Sean M. American Slavers: Merchants, Mariners, and the Transatlantic Commerce in Captives, 1644-1865.
Kendi, Abram X. Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America.
Lineberry, Cate. Be Free or Die: The Amazing Story of Robert Smalls' Escape from Slavery to Union Hero.
Mankiller, Wilma. Mankiller: A Chief and Her People.
Mayer, Henry. All On Fire: William Lloyd Garrison and the Abolition of Slavery.
McMurray, Linda O. To Keep the Waters Troubled: The Life of Ida B. Wells.
Merritt, Keri Leigh. Masterless Men: Poor Whites and Slavery in the Antebellum South.
Messer-Kruse, Timothy. Patriots’ Dilemma: White Abolitionism and Black Banishment in the Founding of the United States of America.
Newcomb, Steve. Five Hundred Years of Injustice: The Legacy of Fifteenth Century Religious Prejudice.
Olmsted, Frederick Law. The Cotton Kingdom: A Traveler’s Observations on Cotton And Slavery in the American Slave States, 1853-1861.
Painter, Nell Irvin. The History of White People.
Pacheco, Josephine F. The Pearl: A Failed Slave Escape on the Potomac.
Power-Greene, Ousmane. Against Wind and Tide: The African American Struggle Against the Colonization Movement.
Prince, Nancy. A Narrative of the Life and Travels of Mrs. Nancy Gardner Prince. Read online.
Quarles, Benjamin. Black Abolitionists.
Reynolds, Donald E. Texas Terror: The Slave Insurrection Panic of 1860 and the Secession of the Lower South.
Rice, James D. Tales from a Revolution: Bacon’s Rebellion and the Transformation of Early America.
Richard, Mark Paul. Not a Catholic Nation: The Ku Klux Klan Confronts New England in the 1920s.
Richardson, Heather Cox. How The South Won the Civil War: Oligarchy, Democracy, and the Continuing Fight for the Soul of America.
Richardson, Marilyn, Ed. Maria W. Stewart, America’s First Black Political Writer, Essays and Speeches.
Rothman, Joshua D. The Ledger and the Chain: How Domestic Slave Traders Shaped America.
Salerno, Beth A. Sister Societies: Women's Antislavery Organizations in Antebellum America.
Scarborough, William Kaufman. Masters of the Big House, Elite Slaveholders of the Mid-Nineteenth-Century South.
Schwaller, Robert. African Maroons in Sixteenth-Century Panama: A History in Documents.
Sellin, Thorsten. Slavery and the Penal System.
Sewall, Samuel. The Selling of Joseph: A Memorial. Read online.
Sewall, Samuel, and John Saffin. Is Slavery Christian? A Pamphlet Debate in Boston, 1700-1706. Read online.
Shane, Scott. Flee North: A Forgotten Hero and the Fight for Freedom in Slavery’s Borderland.
Sinha, Manisha. The Slave’s Cause.
Smith, Clint. How The Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America.
Stauffer, John. Looking Southward: The Southern Travelogue from Frederick Law Olmsted to the Present.
Still, William. The Underground Railroad Records.
Tabor, Nick. Africatown: America's Last Slave Ship and the Community It Created.
Taylor, Alan. The Internal Enemy: Slavery and War in Virginia, 1772-1832.
Torrey, E. Fuller. The Martyrdom of Abolitionist Charles Torrey.
Truth, Sojourner. The Narrative of Sojourner Truth: a Northern Slave.
Walker, David. David Walker’s Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World. Edited with an introduction and annotations by Peter P. Hinks.
Wilkerson, Isabel. Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents.
Wilson, Carol. Freedom at Risk: The Kidnapping of Free Blacks in America, 1780–1865.
Wilson, Harriet E. Our Nig: Sketches from the Life of a Free Black.
Woo, Ilyon. Master Slave Husband Wife.
Yacovone, Donald. Teaching White Supremacy, America's Democratic Ordeal and the Forging of Our National Identity.
Yarbrough, Fay A. Choctaw Confederates: The American Civil War in Indian Country.
Apess, William. A Son of the Forest: The Experience of William Apes, A Native of the Forest, Comprising a Notice of the Pequod Tribe of Indians, Written by Himself. Read online.
Bearse, Austin. Reminiscences of Fugitive-Slave Law Days in Boston.
Bell, Margaret. Brethren by Nature: New England Indians, Colonists, and the Origins of American Slavery.
Cameron, Christopher. To Plead Our Own Cause: African Americans in Massachusetts and the Making of the Antislavery Movement.
Child, Lydia. An appeal in favor of that class of Americans called Africans. Read online.
Clark-Pujara, Christy. Dark Work: The Business of Slavery in Rhode Island.
Elder, Rosalyn Delores. Exploring the Legacy: African American Heritage in Massachusetts.
Farrow, Anne, Joel Lang, and Jenifer Frank. Complicity: How the North Promoted, Prolonged, and Profited from Slavery.
Greene, Lorenzo. The Negro in Colonial New England (1620 to 1776).
Hardesty, Jared Ross. Black Lives, Native Lands, White Worlds: A History of Slavery in New England.
Hardesty, Jared Ross. Mutiny on the Rising Sun: A Tragic Tale of Slavery, Smuggling, and Chocolate.
Hinks, Peter P. To Awaken My Afflicted Brethren: David Walker and the Problem of Antebellum Slave Resistance.
Horton, James Oliver, and Lois E. Black Bostonians: Family Life and Community Struggle in the Antebellum North.
Jacobs, Donald M. Courage and Conscience: Black and White Abolitionists in Boston.
Jacques, Ben. In Graves Unmarked: Slavery & Abolition in Stoneham, Massachusetts.
Jones, Jacqueline. No Right to an Honest Living: The Struggles of Boston's Black Workers in the Civil War Era.
Kendrick, Stephen and Paul Kendrick. Sarah’s Long Walk: The Free Blacks of Boston and How Their Struggle for Equality Changed America.
Lemire, Lise. Black Walden: Slavery and Its Aftermath in Concord, Massachusetts.
Lewis, Benjamin Robert. Light and Truth. Read online.
Manegold, C.S. Ten Hills Farm: The Forgotten History of Slavery in the North.
Mayer, Henry. All on Fire: William Lloyd Garrison and the Abolition of Slavery.
Mellish, Joanne Pope. Disowning Slavery: Gradual Emancipation and “Race” in New England, 1780-1860.
Moulton, Amber D. The Fight for Interracial Marriage Rights in Antebellum Massachusetts.
Richard, Mark Paul. Not a Catholic Nation: The Ku Klux Klan Confronts New England in the 1920s.
Silverman, David J. This Land is Their Land: The Wampanoag Indians, Plymouth Colony, and The Troubled History of Thanksgiving
Stewart, James Brewer. Wendell Phillips: Liberty’s Hero.
Warren, Wendy. New England Bound: Slavery and Colonization in Early America.
Whitfield, Harvey Amani. The Problem of Slavery in Early Vermont, 1777-1810.
Woods Weierman, Karen. The Case of the Slave-Child, Med.
Adams, Dawn Neptune, Maulian Dana and Adam Mazo. “New England once hunted and killed humans for money. We’re descendants of the survivors.” The Guardian.
Arkin, Marc. “A Convenient Seat in God's Temple: The Massachusetts General Colored Association and the Park Street Church Pew Controversy of 1830.” New England Quarterly.
Bell, Margaret. “Grim Commerce: Scalps, Bounties, and the Transformation of Trophy-Taking in the Early American Northeast, 1450-1770.”
Banna, Batu, Cici, Cinqui, Kali, Kinna Fabana, and Fagino. “Letter from Amistad Captives to John Quincy Adams.” The Daily Mail, U.K.
Belton, Lloyd. “A Black Brazilian Immigrant and the Struggle for Civil Rights in the U.S.” Black Perspectives.
Campbell-Rock, C.C. “Onward to New Orleans: A reenactment of the Slave Rebellion.” Louisiana Weekly.
Carpenter, Daniel, and Colin. C. Moore. “When Canvassers Became Activists: Antislavery Petitioning and the Political Mobilization of American Women.” The American Political Science Review.
Chavers, Dean. “Scalping In America.” Indian Country Today.
Close, Stacey. “Reverend James Pennington: A Voice for Freedom.” Connecticuthistory.org
Confer, Clarissa. “Native Americans in the Civil War.” Cowboys & Indians.
Diemer, Andrew. “The Forgotten Father of the Underground Railroad.” Smithsonian Magazine.
Finkelman, Paul. Finkelman examines Lincoln’s path to emancipating slaves. Duke Law
Finkelman, Paul. “Slavery and the Northwest Ordinance: A Study in Ambiguity.” Journal of the Early Republic.
Finkelman, Paul. “I Could not Afford to Hang Men for Votes—Lincoln the Lawyer, Humanitarian Concerns, and the Dakota Pardons.” William Mitchell Law Review.
Fisher, Linford D. “Colonial enslavement of Native Americans included those who surrendered, too.” Brown University News Release.
Fitz, Caitlin. “Latin America and the Radicalization of U.S. Abolition.” The Journal of American History.
Gibson, Arrell Morgan. “Native Americans and the Civil War.” American Indian Quarterly.
Guasco, Michael. “The Fallacy That 1619 Was the Start of Slavery Distorts History.” Yes! magazine.
Harris, Robert L. “Early Black Benevolent Societies, 1780-1830.” The Massachusetts Review.
Jaffe, Steven H. “David Ruggles’ Committee of Vigilance.” Lapham’s Quarterly.
Johnson, Tim. “Vermont's 1777 slavery ban had a complicated reality.” The Burlington Free Press.
Johnson, Vivian. Zipporah Potter Atkins was way ahead of her time in achieving the American Dream. Historic New England.
Kelley, Sean M. “Massacre at Portudal? Reexamining the Rainbow, Boston's First Transatlantic Slaving Voyage, 1644-45.” Historical Journal of Massachusetts.
Kornweibel, Theodore Jr.. “Railroads and Slavery.” Railroad History.
Lawrence, Elden. “The U.S.-Dakota War of 1862.” Oral history interview. Minnesota Historical Society.
Levy, Andrew. “The Anti-Jefferson: Why Robert Carter III Freed His Slaves (And Why We Couldn't Care Less)” The American Scholar.
Martin, Asa E. “Pioneer Anti-Slavery Press.” The Mississippi Valley Historical Review.
May, Robert E. “Invisible Men: Blacks and the U.S. Army in the Mexican War.” The Historian.
Merrit, Keri Leigh. “Land and the roots of African-American poverty.”
Messer-Kreuse, Timothy. "What Freedom Meant to Prince Whipple, The Black Revolutionary Soldier Famous for Rowing Across The Delaware." Commonplace.online
Minardi, Margot. “Why was Belinda’s Petition Approved?” Royall House and Slave Quarters Museum.
Mishler, Max. “Race and the First Opium Crisis.” Boston Review.
National Park Service, “The Atlantic Empire of Peter Faneuil.” National Park Service.
Olla, Akin. “I’m happy Juneteenth is a federal holiday. But don’t let it be whitewashed.” The Guardian.
Palmer, Colin A. “Africa’s Legacy in Mexico: A Legacy of Slavery.” Smithsonianeducation.org.
Perrin, Liese. Resisting Reproduction: Reconsidering Slave Contraception in the Old South.
Petruzzello, Melissa. “Black Pirates and the Tale of Black Caesar.” Encyclopedia Britannica.
Powell, Alvin. “Dual message of slavery probe: Harvard’s ties inseparable from rise, and now University must act.” Harvard Gazette.
Risen, Clay. “Overlooked No More: William B. Gould, Escaped Slave and Civil War Diarist.”
Smart, Maya Payne. “The Little Known History of Texas’ Underground Railroad.” Texas Highways magazine.
Smith, Ryan P. “How Native American Slaveholders Complicate the Trail of Tears Narrative.” Smithsonian Magazine.
South County History Center. Slavery in Southern Rhode Island.
Waters, Leon. “Jan. 8, 1811: Louisiana’s Heroic Slave Revolt”, Zinn Education Project.
Weil, Julie Zauzmer, Adrian Blanco, and Leo Dominguez. “More than 1,800 Congressmen enslaved Black people. This is who they were and how they shaped the nation.” Washington Post.
Boston African American National Historic Site / National Park Service
Just History -- Brick Store Museum, Kennebunk, Maine
New England Historic Genealogical Society: American Ancestors
Primary Research: Local History, Closer to Home
Slavery and the British Transatlantic Slave Trade – National Archives, U.K.
Teaching Maine’s Relationship to Global Slavery with Primary Sources
The Liberator Files
Upstander Project (Phips Bounty Proclamation)
10 Million People (recovering the names of the 10 million people of African descent enslaved in pre- and post-colonial America.)
Coates, Ta-Nehisi, "The Case for Reparations". (The Atlantic)
Darity, William A. Jr. and A. Kirsten Mullen. From Here to Equality: Reparations for Black Americans in the Twenty-First Century.
DeWolf, Thomas Norman and Jodie Geddes. The Little Book of Racial Healing: Coming to the Table for Truth-Telling, Liberation, and Transformation (Justice and Peacebuilding).
"Facing our Unhealed Past: Slavery & Its Legacy." Racial Justice Rising
Ford, LesLeigh and John Sankofa. "The Next Reconstruction: Examining the Call for a National Reparations Program."
Friedle, Hannah. " Treaties as a Tool for Native American Land Reparations." Northwestern Journal of Human Rights.
"Harm Report: Connecting The Past to the Present State of Black Boston." Embrace, Boston.
Neiman, Susan. Learning from the Germans: Race and the Memory of Evil.
Speaking Truth: Confronting Slavery, Pursuing Reconciliation
The Logic of Slavery Reparations (The Guardian)
The Next Reconstruction: Examining the Call for a National Reparations Program.
What is Owed? podcast
Historic online maps