Slavery & The Underground Railroad
Teaching Resources Center, Joyner Library
A Selective Annotated Selective Bibliography
Titles in the Teaching Resources Center are cataloged with Dewey call numbers and are
preceded by Curric. Please ask someone at the Teaching Resources Service Desk if you
need any assistance.
Lexile
Score
Title Information
Call
Number
EASY
AD700L
Broyles, Anne. Priscilla and the Hollyhocks. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge, 2008.
E
B828P
A young African American girl is sold away from her mother as a slave, and then later
is sold to a Cherokee Indian, but eventually she is bought by a white man who not only
sets her free, but adopts her into his family of fifteen children.
AD640L
Carbone, Elisa Lynn. Night Running: How James Escaped With the Help of His
Faithful Dog. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2008.
E
C1775N
A runaway slave makes a daring escape to freedom with the help of his faithful hunting
dog, Zeus. Based on the true story of James Smith's journey from Virginia to Ohio in
the mid-1800s.
AD700L
Cline-Ransome, Lesa. Light in the Darkness: A Story About How Slaves Learned
in Secret. New York: Disney/Jump at the Sun Books, 2013.
E
C615L
Risking a whipping if they are discovered, Rosa and her mama sneak away from their
slave quarters during the night to a hidden location in a field where they learn to read
and write in a pit school.
NP
Cole, Henry. Unspoken: A Story From the Underground Railroad. New York:
Scholastic Press, 2012.
In this wordless picture book, a young Southern farm girl discovers a runaway slave
hiding behind the corn crib in the barn and decides to help him.
1
E
C6749U
AD760L
Evans, Freddi Williams. Hush Harbor: Praying in Secret. Minneapolis, MN:
Carolrhoda Books, 2008.
E
EV155H
While Simmy watches for danger from high in a tree, other slaves gather in a hidden
spot in the woods to sing and pray together in their own way, risking their lives in
pursuit of religious freedom.
N/A
Grifalconi, Ann. Ain’t Nobody a Stranger to Me. New York: Jump at the
Sun/Hyperion Books for Children, 2007.
E
G874A
A grandfather tells his granddaughter about his experience on the Underground
Railroad and his escape from slavery.
960L
Grimes, Nikki. Chasing Freedom: The Life Journeys of Harriet Tubman and
Susan B. Anthony. New York: Orchard Books, 2015.
E
G8823CH
In this imaginative biographical story, Harriet Tubman and Susan B. Anthony sit down
over a cup of tea in 1904 to reminisce about their struggles and triumphs in the service
of freedom and women's rights.
AD530L
Hegamin, Tonya. Most Loved in All the World. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2009.
E
H3616M
Even though Mama is an agent on the Underground Railroad, in order to help others she
must remain a slave, but she teaches her daughter the value of freedom through a gift of
love and sacrifice.
AD830L
Johnson, Angela. All Different Now: Juneteenth, the First Day of Freedom. New
York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2014.
E
J6303A
In 1865, members of a family start their day as slaves, working in a Texas cotton field,
and end it celebrating their freedom on what came to be known as Juneteenth.
AD610L
Lyons, Kelly Starling. Ellen’s Broom. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2012.
E
L9953E
Ellen has always known that the broom hanging on her family's cabin wall is a special
symbol of her parents' wedding during slave days, so she proudly carries it to the
courthouse when the marriage becomes legal.
770L
McCully, Emily Arnold. The Escape of Oney Judge: Martha Washington’s Slave
Finds Freedom. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 2007.
Young Oney Judge risks everything to escape a life of slavery in the household of
George and Martha Washington and to make her own way as a free black woman.
2
E
M1396ES
AD150L
Slate, Joseph. I Want to Be Free. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2009.
E
SL14I
Based on a sacred Buddhist tale as related in Rudyard Kipling's novel "Kim," tells of an
escaped slave who rescues an abandoned baby from slave hunters.
520L
Vaughan, Marcia K. The Secret to Freedom. New York: Lee & Low, 2005.
E
V4655SEC
Great Aunt Lucy tells a story of her days as a slave, when she and her brother, Albert,
learned the quilt code to help direct other slaves and, eventually, Albert
himself, to freedom in the North.
N/A
Walter, Mildred Pitts. Alec’s Primer. Middlebury, VT: Vermont Folklife Center;
Lebanon, NH: Distributed by University Press of New England, 2004.
E
W1714A
A young slave's journey to freedom begins when a plantation owner's granddaughter
teaches him how to read. Based on the childhood of Alec Turner (1845-1923) who
escaped from slavery by joining the Union Army during the Civil War and later became
a landowner in Vermont.
AD630L
Winter, Jeannette. Follow the Drinking Gourd. Columbus, OH: SRA/McGraw-Hill,
2003.
E
W7344F.A
By following the directions in a song, "The Drinking Gourd," taught them by an old
sailor named Peg Leg Joe, runaway slaves journey north along the Underground
Railroad to freedom in Canada.
FICTION
820L
Anderson, Laurie Halse. Forge. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers,
2010. (Sequel to Chains)
F
AN2394FO
Separated from his friend Isabel after their daring escape from slavery, fifteen-year-old
Curzon serves as a free man in the Continental Army at Valley Forge until he and
Isabel are thrown together again, as slaves once more.
600L
Bradley, Kimberly Brubaker. Jefferson’s Sons: A Founding Father’s Secret
Children. New York: Dial Books for Young Readers, 2011.
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.
3
F
B7286J
730L
Lee, Stacey. Under a Painted Sky. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2015.
F
L5157U
In 1845, Sammy, a Chinese American girl, and Annamae, an African American slave
girl, disguise themselves as boys and travel on the Oregon Trail to California from
Missouri.
AD380L
Levine, Ellen. Henry’s Freedom Box. New York: Scholastic Press, 2007.
F
L57863H
A fictionalized account of how in 1849 a Virginia slave, Henry "Box" Brown, escapes
to freedom by shipping himself in a wooden crate from Richmond to Philadelphia.
710L
McKissack, Patricia C. Never Forgotten. New York: Schwartz & Wade Books,
2011.
F
M217N
In eighteenth-century West Africa, a boy raised by his blacksmith father and the Mother
Elements--Wind, Fire, Water, and Earth--is captured and taken to America as a slave.
670L
Nolen, Jerdine. Eliza’s Freedom Road: An Underground Railroad Diary. New
York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2011.
F
N717E
A twelve-year-old slave girl begins writing in a journal where she documents her
journey via the Underground Railroad from Alexandria, Virginia, to freedom in St.
Catharines, Canada.
630L
Pignat, Caroline. The Gospel Truth. Markham, ON: Red Deer Press, 2014.
F
P626GO
Award-winning author Caroline Pignat's historical novel recreates the world of a
Virginia tobacco plantation in 1858. Through the different points of view of slaves,
their masters and a visiting bird-watcher the world of the plantation comes to live in this
verse novel.
760L
Polacco, Patricia. January’s Sparrow. New York: Philomel Books, 2009.
F
P7569J
After a fellow slave is beaten to death, Sadie and her family flee the plantation for
freedom through the Underground Railroad.
GN580L
Robbins, Trina. Freedom Songs: A Tale of the Underground Railroad.
Minneapolis, MN: Stone Arch Books, 2008.
Fourteen-year-old Sarah is a slave in Maryland during the 1850s. She knows her only
chance at freedom is to head North, where slavery is illegal. To get there, though, Sarah
needs help from members of the Underground Railroad. But who can she trust?
4
F
R538F
NONFICTION
770L
Rissman, Rebecca. Slavery in the United States. Minneapolis, MN: Core Library,
2015.
306.3
R497S
Slavery existed as a legal institution in the United States beginning in colonial times.
During and after the American Revolution, things began to change. See what events
took place, who was involved, and what life was like for slaves.
NC1060L
Kimmel, Allison Crotzer. A Primary Source History of Slavery in the United States.
North Mankato, MN: Capstone Press, 2015.
306.362
K571P
Uses primary sources to tell the story of slavery in the United States.
1040L
Cromwell, Sharon. Dred Scott v. Sandford: A Slave’s Case for Freedom and
Citizenship. Minneapolis, MN: Compass Point Books, 2009.
342.7308
C8809D
A lawsuit filed in 1846 by Dred Scott, an African-American slave, to gain freedom for
himself and his family became a landmark legal case in U.S. history. Scott’s argument
that he became free when his owner took him to a free state did not prevail. The U.S.
Supreme Court ruled that he was still a slave, he was not a U.S. citizen, and so he could
not sue in federal court. The decision angered many Americans and pushed the country
toward civil war.
N/A
Smith, Maximilian. The History of Juneteenth. New York: Gareth Stevens
Publishing, 2016.
394.263
SM625H
Juneteenth is usually celebrated on June 19. It honors the day in 1865 when Union
troops swept into Galveston, Texas, and told the elated slaves there that they were free.
This volume delves into the American Civil War, the Emancipation Proclamation,
and the events that led to this special holiday for African Americans and everyone who
celebrates the end of slavery in the United States.
990L
Grady, Cynthia. I Lay my Stitches Down: Poems of American Slavery. Grand
Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 2012.
811
G7557I
A volume of evocative and moving poems considers the experiences of slaves in a
variety of circumstances including a house slave, a mother who loses her daughter on
the auction block, and a slave fleeing through the Underground Railroad.
NP
Shange, Ntozake. Freedom’s A-Callin Me. New York: Amistad/Collins, 2012.
A collection of poems brings to life the treacherous journey of the travelers on the
Underground Railroad, in a universal story about the human need to be free.
5
811
SH186F
GN350L
Bolte, Mari. Flight to Freedom! Nickolas Flux and the Underground Railroad.
North Mankato, MN: Capstone Press, 2015.
973.7
B6392F
In graphic novel format, follows the adventures of Nickolas Flux as he travels back in
time and must survive a journey on the Underground Railroad.
N/A
Krensky, Stephen. The Emancipation Proclamation. New York: Marshall
Cavendish Benchmark, 2012.
973.7
K882E
An analysis of the Emancipation Proclamation, with information on how it was created
and its impact on American history.
990L
Marrin, Albert. A Volcano Beneath the Snow: John Brown’s War Against Slavery.
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2014.
973.7
M349V
Examines the life of abolitionist John Brown and the raid he led on the United
States arsenal at Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, in 1859, exploring his religious
fanaticism and belief in "righteous violence,"--and commitment to domestic terrorism.
NC940L
Rajczak, Michael. The Underground Railroad. New York: Gareth Stevens
Publishing, 2014.
973.7
R1375U
Readers will learn about the beginning of the Underground Railroad and the many
routes slaves traveled.
1170L
Sawyer, Kem Knapp. The Amazing Underground Railroad. Berkley Heights, NJ:
Enslow Publishers, 2012.
973.7
SA973A
Read about how slaves from the South tried to escape to freedom by use of what
became known as The Underground Railroad.
1050L
Senker, Cath. Who Traveled the Underground Railroad? Chicago, IL: Heinemann
Library, 2014.
973.7
SE579W
Readers learn about the Underground Railroad and the slaves who used it to escape.
N/A
Allen, Thomas B. Harriet Tubman, Secret Agent: How Daring Slaves and Free
Blacks Spied for the Union During the Civil War. Washington, DC: National
Geographic, 2009.
973.7115
AL545H
Tells the story of Harriet Tubman and other slaves and free African-Americans who
risked death to gather information about the Confederacy for the Union during the Civil
War.
NC840L
Arnéz, Lynda. My Journey on the Underground Railroad. New York: Gareth
Stevens Publishing, 2016.
Readers learn what it was like to travel on the Underground Railroad through the eyes
of a child escaping slavery. From food to traveling conditions, the narrator's unique
6
973.7115
AR626M
perspective will enhance readers' understanding of what it was like to be a slave in early
America.
GN370L
Hale, Nathan. The Underground Abductor. New York: Amulet Books, 2015.
973.7115
H134U
Araminta Ross was born a slave in Delaware in the early 19th century. Slavery meant
that her family could be ripped apart at any time, and that she could be put to work in
dangerous places and for abusive people. But north of the Mason-Dixon line, slavery
was illegal. If she could run away and make it north without being caught or killed,
she'd be free. Facing enormous danger, Araminta made it, and once free, she changed
her name to Harriet Tubman. Tubman spent the rest of her life helping slaves run away
like she did, every time taking her life in her hands.
N/A
Smith, Charles R, Jr. Brick by Brick. New York: Amistad, 2013.
975.3
SM535B
Describes the building of the White House, the home of the United States president, and
how it took many hands, several of them slaves', who will be remembered throughout
history for their extraordinary feat.
BIOGRAPHY
990L
Hendrix, John. John Brown: His Fight for Freedom. New York: Abrams Books for
Young Readers, 2009.
B
B81367J
In the late 1850s, at a time when many men and women spoke out against slavery, few
had the same impact as John Brown, the infamous white abolitionist who backed his
beliefs with unstoppable action.
930L
Swain, Gwenyth. President of the Underground Railroad: A Story About Levi
Coffman. Minneapolis, MN: Carolrhoda Books, 2001.
B
C654S
A biography of a Quaker man from North Carolina whose fearless work on the
Underground Railroad in Indiana and Ohio helped thousands of men and women escape
the cruelty of slavery.
770L
Rappaport, Doreen. Frederick’s Journey: The Life of Frederick Douglass. Los
Angeles, CA: Disney, Jump at the Sun, 2015.
B
D7475RAP
Traces Frederick Douglass's journey from slavery to international renown as writer
and lecturer.
730L
Tate, Don. Poet: The Remarkable Story of George Moses Horton. Atlanta, GA:
Peachtree Publishers, 2015.
In the nineteenth century, North Carolina slave George Moses Horton taught
7
B
H7893T
himself to read and earned money to purchase his time though not his
freedom. Horton became the first African American to be published in the South,
protesting slavery in the form of verse.
1060L
Fradin, Judith Bloom. Stolen Into Slavery: The True Story of Solomon Northup,
Free Black Man. Washington, DC: National Geographic Society, 2012.
B
N8192F
The true story of Solomon Northup, a free black man living in upstate New York,
who was kidnapped in 1841 and spent 12 years as a slave on deadly Louisiana
coastal plantations.
940L
Fradin, Judith Bloom. The Price of Freedom: How One Town Stood Up to Slavery.
New York: Walker Books for Young Readers, 2013.
B
P9314F
Documents the efforts of an Ohio community to secure the freedom of escaped slave
John Price, examining various aspects of Price's escape from Kentucky, the Fugitive
Slave Act of 1850, and the heroic showdown.
690L
Slade, Suzanne. Sojourner Truth: Preacher for Freedom and Equality.
Minneapolis, MN: Picture Window Books, 2008.
B
T777SL
A biography of Sojourner Truth, who fought for the abolition of slavery and
women's rights in nineteenth-century America.
N/A
Taylor, Charlotte. Harriet Tubman: Hero of the Underground Railroad. New York:
Enslow Publishing, 2016.
B
T7908TAYC
A biography of abolitionist Harriet Tubman.
NC740L
Asim, Jabari. Fifty Cents and a Dream. New York: Little, Brown and Co., 2012.
B
W2763AS
Born into slavery, young Booker T. Washington could only dream of learning to
read and write. After emancipation, Booker began a five-hundred-mile journey, mostly
on foot, to Hampton Institute, taking his first of many steps towards a college degree.
When he arrived, he had just fifty cents in his pocket and a dream about to come true.
790L
Cooper, Afua. My Name is Phyllis Wheatley: A Story of Slavery and Freedom.
Toronto, ON: Kids Can Press, 2009.
The remarkable story of the young slave Phillis Wheatley, America's first black poet.
8
B
W5607CO
PROFESSIONAL
Common Core, Inc. Common Core Curriculum: United States History, Grades K-2.
Last Updated July 2016 ES
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973.071
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