By 1850, Africans had already been in the United States for nearly 300 years. Their labor created a strong economy and defined American society in profound ways, but their rights nearly tore the country apart, a century after its founding.

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The beginning of the Civil War marked a turning point: the beginning of a public fight to recognize African Americans as Americans. Though much of this played out on the battlefield, the real fight was going on in every corner of the country: North and South, free households and enslaved, in the halls of government and secret meetings. That fight didn't end when the South surrendered, and young people were central to the way abolitionists envisioned the future. From soldiers to public speakers to the Underground Railroad, this is the true story of the African American experience of the Civil War and Reconstruction

NOTE: Race to the Truth is the Young Readers Series from Regina Jackson and Saira Rao, the authors of White Women: Everything You Already Know About Your Own Racism and How to Do Better.

About the Author

Dr. Patricia Williams Dockery is a writer, playwright, scholar-activist, and international commentator who is consulted for her expertise on diversity, equity, and inclusion; social justice; and Black women's intersectional experiences.

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She has developed educational public programs for grades K--12 and general audiences at the Field Museum, the Museum of Science and Industry, and the College of Charleston Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture. She currently serves as associate vice president for academic affairs at Morgan State University.

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Dr. Dockery is a Fulbright Scholar and earned a PhD in anthropology from University of Illinois Chicago. A transdisciplinary educator and artist, her play, Septima!, about the life and work of civil rights organizing mastermind and revolutionary educator Septima Poinsette Clark, debuted at Charleston's PURE Theatre. She and her husband share a beautiful blended family of seven children and a loving boxer-hound mix named Sadie Mae. She is also the author of Slavery and the African American Story.

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