18 books like Father Henson's Story of His Own Life

What to read after Father Henson's Story of His Own Life — books similar to it, matched on shared themes.

Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass · 1845 · ★ 4.1 This book is an autobiographical account by runaway slave Frederick Douglass that chronicles his experiences with his owners and overseers and discusses how slavery affected both slaves and slaveholders. Shares: African American abolitionists, Slaves, Slavery, Personal narratives

Life and times of Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass · 1881 · 629p · ≈ 20h · Demanding Life and Times of Frederick Douglass is Frederick Douglass' third autobiography, published in 1881, revised in 1892. The emancipation of American Slaves during and following the Civil War allowed Douglass to go into greater specifics of both his life as as slave and his escape from slavery in this volume than he could in his two previous autobiographies (which would have put both himself and… Shares: African American abolitionists, Fugitive slaves, Slaves, Slavery

My bondage and my freedom Frederick Douglass · 1815 · ★ 4.4 · 350p · ≈ 11h · Challenging Autobiography of the nineteenth-century abolitionist who advocated the full freedom of the blacks. Shares: African American abolitionists, Fugitive slaves, Slaves, Slavery

Uncle Tom's Cabin Harriet Beecher Stowe · 1850 · ★ 3.9 · 461p · ≈ 15h · Challenging This unforgettable novel tells the story of Tom, a devoutly Christian slave who chooses not to escape bondage for fear of embarrassing his master. However, he is soon sold to a slave trader and sent down the Mississippi, where he must endure brutal treatment. This is a powerful tale of the extreme cruelties of slavery, as well as the price of loyalty and morality. When first published, it helped… Shares: Fugitive slaves, Slaves, Slavery, African Americans

La rue Cases-Nègres Joseph Zobel · 1970 · 240p · ≈ 8h · Moderate L'action démarre rue Cases-Nègres. À Petit-Morne, en Martinique, dans les années 1930, c'est une série de cabanes fragiles, refuge des ouvriers agricoles harassés par leur travail sur une plantation sucrière – on dit une habitation. Dans cette autobiographie, le romancier antillais nous livre un beau récit d'enfance, dans une langue très tenue, depuis les premières années vécues auprès de la… Shares: Black people, Biography & Memoir

Palmares Gayl Jones · 2020 · ★ 3.5 · 503p · ≈ 16h · Moderate 2022 Pulitzer Prize Finalist in Fiction As praised in: The New York Times · New York Times Book Review · NPR · Guardian · Esquire · Buzzfeed · Bustle · LitHub · Kirkus Reviews · Root“This story shimmers. Shakes. Wails. Moves to rhythms long forgotten . . . in many ways: holy. [A] masterpiece.”—The New York Times Book ReviewThe epic rendering of a Black woman’s journey through slavery and… Shares: Black people, Blacks, Slavery

Twelve years a slave Solomon Northup · 1853 · ★ 4.2 · 192p · ≈ 6h · Challenging Twelve Years a Slave is a harrowing memoir about one of the darkest periods in American history. It recounts how Solomon Northup, born a free man in New York, was lured to Washington, D.C., in 1841 with the promise of fast money, then drugged and beaten and sold into slavery. He spent the next twelve years of his life in captivity on a Louisiana cotton plantation. Shares: Slaves, Slavery, Personal narratives, African Americans

Rev. Calvin Fairbank during slavery times Fairbank, Calvin · 1890 · 207p · ≈ 6h · Challenging This riveting autobiography tells the tales of abolitionist Reverend Calvin Fairbank, who was imprisoned for 17 years for his anti-slavery activities. Shares: Fugitive slaves, Slavery, Clergy, Biography & Memoir

The life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African Olaudah Equiano · 1789 · ★ 4.2 · 132p · ≈ 4h · Demanding The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, written in 1789, details its writer's life in slavery, his time spent serving on galleys, the eventual attainment of his own freedom and later success in business. Including a look at how slavery stood in West Africa, the book received favorable reviews and was one of the first slave narratives to be read widely. Shares: Slaves, Slavery, Personal narratives, Biography & Memoir

The History, Civil and Commercial, of the British Colonies in the West Indies ...: In Two Volumes Bryan Edwards · 1789 · 512p · ≈ 17h · Demanding The GENERAL HISTORICAL collection includes books from the British Library digitised by Microsoft. This varied collection includes material that gives readers a 19th century view of the world. Topics include health, education, economics, agriculture, environment, technology, culture, politics, labour and industry, mining, penal policy, and social order. Shares: Blacks, Slaves, Slavery

Soul on ice Eldridge Cleaver · 1863 · ★ 4.0 · 210p · ≈ 7h · Challenging A collection of essays and open letters written while a prisoner at California's Folsom State prison. Shares: Blacks, African Americans, Biography & Memoir

All God's Children Aaron Gwyn · 2020 This sweeping novel set in the province of Texas is "a powerful depiction of the rough realities of frontier life [and] the vicious influence of racism" (The New York Times).Finalist for the Reading the West Book Award for Fiction In 1827, Duncan Lammons, a disgraced young man from Kentucky, sets out to join the American army in the province of Texas, hoping that here he may live—and love—as he… Shares: Fugitive slaves, Slavery, African Americans

Lay This Body Down Gregory A. Freeman · 1999 · 195p · ≈ 6h · Moderate The John S. Williams plantation in Georgia was operated largely with the labor of slaves—and this was in 1921, 56 years after the Civil War. Williams was not alone in using “peons,” but his reaction to a federal investigation was almost unbelievable: he decided to destroy the evidence. Enlisting the aid of his trusted black farm boss, Clyde Manning, he began methodically killing his slaves. As… Shares: Slaves, Slavery, African Americans

Kindred Octavia E. Butler · 1979 · ★ 4.3 · 272p · ≈ 9h · Moderate Dana, a modern black woman, is celebrating her twenty-sixth birthday with her new husband when she is snatched abruptly from her home in California and transported to the antebellum South. Rufus, the white son of a plantation owner, is drowning, and Dana has been summoned to save him. Dana is drawn back repeatedly through time to the slave quarters, and each time the stay grows longer, more… Shares: Slaves, Slavery, African Americans

Delilah Shelia M. Goss · 2011 · ★ 4.9 · 346p · ≈ 11h · Moderate Thirty and fine, Samson Judges is preacher of the Peaceful Rest Missionary Baptist Church . He's beloved by his congregation, but temptation is about to strike in the form of divalicious beauty Delilah, and only the Good Lord knows if Samson will be able to keep his head on straight with her. Especially considering he's about to be married to Julia Rivers. Julia helped shape Samson into the man… Shares: Clergy, African Americans

Up from Slavery Booker T. Washington · 1900 · ★ 4.1 · 168p · ≈ 5h · Challenging Booker T. Washington, the most recognized national leader, orator and educator, emerged from slavery in the deep south, to work for the betterment of African Americans in the post Reconstruction period. "Up From Slavery" is an autobiography of Booker T. Washington's life and work, which has been the source of inspiration for all Americans. Washington reveals his inner most thoughts as he… Shares: Slaves, African Americans, Biography & Memoir

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Harriet A. Jacobs · 1861 · ★ 4.2 · 152p · ≈ 5h · Challenging The true story of an individual's struggle for self-identity, self-preservation, and freedom, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl remains among the few extant slave narratives written by a woman. This autobiographical account chronicles the remarkable odyssey of Harriet Jacobs (1813–1897) whose dauntless spirit and faith carried her from a life of servitude and degradation in North Carolina to… Shares: Slaves, Slavery, Biography & Memoir

Roots Alex Haley · 1861 · ★ 4.4 · 476p · ≈ 15h · Challenging Roots is a novel written by Alex Haley and published in 1976. It portrays the story of Kunta Kinte, an 18th-century African, captured as an adolescent and sold into slavery in the United States, and follows his life and the lives of his alleged descendants in the U.S. down to Haley. The release of the novel, combined with its hugely popular television adaptation, Roots (1977), led to a cultural… Shares: Blacks, African Americans, Biography & Memoir

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