Blonde Roots, by Bernardine Evaristo

What if Europeans had been enslaved by Africans? Hmmm....

I've Got a Home in Glory Land : a Lost Tale of the Underground Railroad, by Karolyn Smardz Frost.

As a history major and generally someone who knows, broadly, what the deal was with escaped slaves before the Civil War, it amazes me that I never thought about what happened to runaways after they reached "Glory Land," i.e. Canada. This book traces one couple from northern Kentucky not only during their escape and travel to Detroit and thence to Toronto, but also during the years of the Civil War and afterwards.

I only wish that it hadn't been written so much like a term paper. There's a lot in this book, but it's a slog to get through it. I felt like I needed a chart with everyone's name on it.

On the other hand, despite having very little on which to build this book originally, Frost managed to dig up a lot of information from a wide variety of sources. She manages to bring Lucie and Thornton Blackburn to life, albeit in a somewhat shadowy life.

(I'm also glad to be finished with it so that I can stop bursting into song whenever I see the cover: "I've got a home in glory land that outshines the sun, oh Lordy...")

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, by Harriet Jacobs

Simply one of the best books about what it meant to be a slave girl in the first half of the 19th century.

Bought this at the Booker T. Washington Historic Site this summer.