David L. Parsons
Since there is little written for children about slavery in Connecticut, the emphasis of this reading list is on two related topics: slavery elsewhere in America, and society in colonial Connecticut. These books are intended as “outside” or “book report” reading for individual students.
Bacon, Martha.
Sophia Scooby Preserved
. Atlantic Monthly, 1965.
This is an action-packed story of a young African girl’s capture, her slavery in New Haven, her escape and involvement with pirates. Students enjoy it although it is for better readers.
Beyer, Audrey.
Dark Venture
. 1968.
A twelve-year-old African boy is captured by an enemy tribe and sold into slavery. He ends up the house slave of a rural New England doctor.
Goodman, Walter.
Black Bondage
:
Life of Slaves in the South
. Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1969.
This is a moving history of slave conditions. It is valuable for its many photographs and illustrations.
Henessy, Maurice and E. Sauter, Jr.
A Crown for Thomas Peters
. Ives Washburn, 1964.
Another adventurous account of a young African’s capture, transportation to America and escape. The wrinkle here is his return to Sierra Leone to fight the slave trade.
Lester, Julius.
To Be a Slave
. Dial, 1968.
This is a skillfully edited collection of slave narratives. Based largely on abolitionist editions of the 1850’s and 1860’s and on WPA accounts from the 1930’s, this book is more accessible to students than Blassingame’s book (see teacher’s bibliography).
Sterne, Emma Gelders.
The Long Black Schooner
, Follett, 1968.
Somewhat fictionalized in the beginning, this is nonetheless a well-told account of the Amistad Affair of 1883.
Underwood, Betty.
The Tamarack Tree
. Houghton-Mifflin, 1971.
Prudence Crandall’s story is made exciting by judicious fictionalizing.
Yates, Elizabeth.
Amos Fortune
,
Free Man
. Dutton, 1950.
This is the account of a New Hampshire slave who worked for a tanner until he could purchase his freedom at the age of fifty-nine. As a free man he continued as a tanner and was treated as a respected local citizen.
