Book excerpt: This unique collection consists of the most influential memoirs - powerful & unflinching narratives of former slaves and stories of people who helped them; including records and letters which unfold all the hardship, hair-breadth escapes and death struggles of the slaves in their efforts to reach freedom: Narrative of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Freedom Fighter & Statesman 12 Years a Slave - Memoir of Solomon Northup, a Free-Born African American Who Was Kidnapped and Sold into Slavery The Underground Railroad (William Still) - stories of 649 slaves who escaped to freedom through a secret network formed by abolitionists and former slaves Harriet: The Moses of Her People – Story of the Woman Who Led Hundreds of Slaves to Freedom as the Conductor on the Underground Railroad Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (Harriet Jacobs) Narrative of Sojourner Truth - leading abolitionist and women's rights activist The Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano - Former Slave, Seaman & Freedom Fighter Up From Slavery, by Booker T. Washington - the Visionary Educator, Leader and Civil Rights Activist The History of Mary Prince, a West Indian Slave – Memoir that Influenced the Anti-Slavery Cause of British Colonies Father Henson's Story of His Own Life – by Josiah Henson who was the inspiration for the character of Tom in Uncle Tom's Cabin Uncle Tom's Cabin, anti-slavery influential novel which made a crucial impact on America's conscience by illustrating slavery's affect on families The Willie Lynch Letter: The Making of Slave! The Confessions of Nat Turner The History of Mary Prince, a West Indian Slave - Autobiography that Influenced the Anti-Slavery Cause of British Colonies Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom (William and Ellen Craft) Thirty Years a Slave: From Bondage to Freedom (Louis Hughes) Narrative of the Life of J. D. Green, a Runaway Slave (Jacob D. Green) Behind The Scenes: 30 Years a Slave & 4 Years in the White House (Elizabeth Keckley)