Moments in History: Slavery, the Civil War, Reconstruction, Expansion and Industrialization

Two girls of Gettysburg / Lisa Klein

When the Civil War breaks out, two cousins, Lizzie and Rosanna, find themselves on opposite sides of the conflict until the war reunites them in the town of Gettysburg.

Run for it : stories of slaves who fought for their freedom / Marcelo d'Salete

This graphic novel tells unforgettable stories about Afro-Brazilian slaves who rebelled against oppression.

Dark sky rising : Reconstruction and the dawn of Jim Crow / Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

This is a story about America during and after Reconstruction, one of history's most pivotal and misunderstood chapters. In a stirring account of emancipation, the struggle for citizenship and national reunion, and the advent of racial segregation, the renowned Harvard scholar delivers a book that is illuminating and timely. Real-life accounts drive the narrative, spanning the half century between the Civil War and Birth of a Nation. Here, you will come face-to-face with the people and events of Reconstruction's noble democratic experiment, its tragic undermining, and the drawing of a new "color line" in the long Jim Crow era that followed.

Civil War cooking : the Union / Susan Dosier

Discusses the everyday life, cooking methods, foods, and celebrations of Union soldiers during the Civil War. Includes recipes and sidebars.

Civil War cooking : the Confederacy / Susan Dosier

Discusses the everyday life, cooking methods, foods, and celebration of Confederate soldiers during the Civil War. Includes recipes and sidebars.

Code breakers and spies of the Civil War / Andrew Coddington

The United States in the 1860s seemed poised to become one of the world's leading powers. Even with the benefits of new innovations such as the railroad and the telegraph, which brought the country together, unresolved issues between the North and the South broke the country in half. This book explores the ways in which the day's new technologies changed the face of warfare and how, in this bloody war for unity, spies from all walks of life, including immigrants, women, and black people, contributed to the struggle.

Jefferson’s Sons / Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

A fictionalized look at the last twenty years of Thomas Jefferson's life at Monticello through the eyes of three of his slaves, two of whom were his sons by his slave, Sally Hemings.

Breaker boys : how a photograph helped end child labor / Michael Burgan ; content adviser, Brett Barker

Little boys as young as six spent long days sorting coal in dusty, dangerous conditions. With his camera, Lewis Hine showed people what life was like for the children working in mines, factories, and mills.

Wake : the hidden history of women-led slave revolts / Rebecca Hall

An historical and imaginative tour-de-force, WAKE brings to light for the first time the existence of enslaved black women warriors, whose stories can be traced by carefully scrutinizing historical records; and where the historical record goes silent, WAKE reconstructs the likely past of two female rebels, Adono and Alele, on the slave ship The Unity. WAKE is a graphic novel that offers invaluable insight into the struggle to survive whole as a black woman in today's America; it is a historiography that illuminates both the challenges and the necessity of uncovering the true stories of slavery; and it is an overdue reckoning with slavery in New York City where two of these armed revolts took place. It is, also, a transformative and transporting work of imaginative fiction, bringing to three-dimensional life Adono and Alele and their pasts as women warriors. In so doing, WAKE illustrates the humanity of the enslaved, the reality of their lived experiences, and the complexity of the history that has been, till now, so thoroughly erased.

Unpunished murder : massacre at Colfax and the quest for justice / Lawrence Goldstone

On Easter Sunday of 1873, just eight years after the Civil War ended, a band of white supremacists marched into Grant Parish, Louisiana, and massacred over one hundred unarmed African Americans. The court case that followed would reach the highest court in the land. Yet, following one of the most ghastly and barbaric incidents of mass murder in American history, not a single person was convicted. The opinion issued by the Supreme Court in US v. Cruikshank set in motion a process that would help create a society in which black Americans were oppressed and denied basic human rights -- legally, according to the courts. These injustices would last for the next hundred years, and many continue to exist to this day.

The Downstairs Girl / Stacey Lee

In 1890, seventeen-year-old Jo Kuan works in Atlanta as a lady's maid for the cruel Caroline Payne, the daughter of one of the wealthiest men in Atlanta. At night, Jo moonlights as the pseudonymous author of a newspaper advice column for “the genteel Southern lady.”

Shackles from the deep : tracing the path of a sunken slave ship, a bitter past, and a rich legacy / Michael Cottman

The Henrietta Marie is the core of an amazing journey stretching across three continents, from foundries and tombs in England, to slave ports on the shores of West Africa, to present-day Caribbean plantations. This is the untold story of millions of people taken as captives to the New World.

Gold mountain / Betty G. Yee

Fifteen-year-old Tam Ling Fan disguises herself as her twin brother, journeys from her village in China to California, and works as a laborer on the Transcontinental Railroad--where she faces danger on multiple fronts--to earn the money her family desperately needs.

A sitting in St. James / Rita Williams-Garcia

1860 Louisiana. After serving as mistress of Le Petit Cottage for more than six decades, Madame Sylvie Guilbert has decided, in spite of her family's indifference, to sit for a portrait--a testament to all the hardships she has overcome and the glory her life ought to have had. But there are other important stories to be told on the Guilbert plantation. Like that of Thisbe, the enslaved young woman who must stand silent by her mistress, but who observes everything. Or Byron, the heir to the plantation, whose desires cannot possibly fit with his family duty. Stories that span generations, from the big house and out in the fields, of routine horrors, secrets buried as deep as the family fortune, and a tangled lineage of descendants and dependents who have never forgotton who they are.

Crossing the deadline : Stephen's journey through the Civil War / Michael Shoulders

Stephen, an accomplished bugler in the town band, joins the Union effort in the Civil War and endures trial after trial, from battle to Confederate prison and the shipwreck of the steamboat Sultana, and through luck and fortitude, Stephen survives.

Words on fire / Jennifer A. Nielsen

In 1893 twelve-year-old Audra lives on a farm in Lithuania, and tries to avoid the Cossack soldiers who enforce the Russian decrees that ban Lithuanian books, religion, culture, and even the language; but when the soldiers invade the farm Audra is the only one who escapes and, unsure of what has happened to her parents, she embarks on a dangerous journey, carrying the smuggled Lithuanian books that fuel the growing resistance movement, unsure of who to trust, but risking her life and freedom for her country.

The journey of Little Charlie / Christopher Paul Curtis

Striking a deal with a formidable local in the aftermath of his father's death, 12-year-old Charlie, the child of sharecroppers, agrees to track down a band of thieves only to confront a difficult moral choice when he learns the true identities and circumstances of his targets.

To stay alive : Mary Ann Graves and the tragic journey of the Donner Party / Skila Brown

A young survivor of the tragic Donner Party of 1846 describes how her family and others became victims of freezing temperatures and starvation.

The year we were famous / Carole Estby Dagg

A novel based on the true story of seventeen-year-old Clara Estby's walk across America with her mother Helga in 1896, to win a ten thousand dollar prize and save their home from foreclosure.

The slave trade : black lives and the drive for profit / Elliott Smith

Slavery grew in America with the enslavement of indigenous peoples and millions of Africans. Learn about the Middle Passage and how the slave trade operated and was brought to its end.

Inside/Out is closed through December 4 for Garden of Lights setup.
Garden of Lights premieres at 5:30pm on December 4.

Moments in History: Slavery, the Civil War, Reconstruction, Expansion and Industrialization

Two girls of Gettysburg / Lisa Klein

Run for it : stories of slaves who fought for their freedom / Marcelo d’Salete

Dark sky rising : Reconstruction and the dawn of Jim Crow / Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

Civil War cooking : the Union / Susan Dosier

Civil War cooking : the Confederacy / Susan Dosier

Code breakers and spies of the Civil War / Andrew Coddington

Jefferson’s Sons / Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

Breaker boys : how a photograph helped end child labor / Michael Burgan ; content adviser, Brett Barker

Wake : the hidden history of women-led slave revolts / Rebecca Hall

Unpunished murder : massacre at Colfax and the quest for justice / Lawrence Goldstone

The Downstairs Girl / Stacey Lee

Shackles from the deep : tracing the path of a sunken slave ship, a bitter past, and a rich legacy / Michael Cottman

Gold mountain / Betty G. Yee

A sitting in St. James / Rita Williams-Garcia

Crossing the deadline : Stephen’s journey through the Civil War / Michael Shoulders

Words on fire / Jennifer A. Nielsen

The journey of Little Charlie / Christopher Paul Curtis

To stay alive : Mary Ann Graves and the tragic journey of the Donner Party / Skila Brown

The year we were famous / Carole Estby Dagg

The slave trade : black lives and the drive for profit / Elliott Smith

Book List: Moments in History: Slavery, the Civil War, Reconstruction, Expansion and Industrialization

Sachem Public Library

Inside/Out is closed through December 4 for Garden of Lights setup. Garden of Lights premieres at 5:30pm on December 4.

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Moments in History: Slavery, the Civil War, Reconstruction, Expansion and Industrialization

Book List: Moments in History: Slavery, the Civil War, Reconstruction, Expansion and Industrialization

Sachem Public Library

Inside/Out is closed through December 4 for Garden of Lights setup.
Garden of Lights premieres at 5:30pm on December 4.