In the United States, February is African American History Month. It's a time to teach the young people about the contributions of African Americans to American culture, to explain to them about the civil rights struggle, and to make sure that nobody, old or young, ever fails to learn the lessons of our history.


This year, some of us want to share the things we've learned worldwide.

Do you like getting things for free? I do, with all my little Scotch-Irish heart. If you're like me, you'll love this reading list. You can read all these books online, or download them, clever things that you are, onto the ebook reader of your choice. Then you can go be lazy and read them lying down, or be energetic, and read them in the park on your walk.

If you haven't encountered these books before, be prepared for surprises. The writers have amazing stories to tell. They are survivors, people of courage. For the most part, they describe a world that has ceased to exist – for which we are profoundly grateful. Read, learn about what they faced, and get a glimpse into what it took for them to accomplish all that they did.

All but two of the stories in this list are autobiographical. I've included the biography of Harriet Tubman because she's just too good to pass up. This woman was her own 'Mission: Impossible' team as she smuggled fugitives from the South to Canada. Another book on the list that reads like a spy novel is Henry Brown's. Brown, known as 'Box Brown', smuggled himself to freedom by parcel post.

Olaudah Equiano tells us what slavery was like in the early days. Frederick Douglass and Charles Ball take the story forward into the 19th Century. Sojourner Truth imparts wisdom and the perspective of the women's rights movement. Harriet Jacobs' tale will shock you – in fact, she had trouble getting it printed in the 19th Century, even in abolitionist New York.

Slavery finally ended, but the fight for civil and economic rights was far from over. Booker T Washington's book, Up from Slavery, tells how he built a school from nothing, and started a quiet revolution in the way things were. If you want to know how to get things done, read Booker T Washington. You'll be amazed.

As the voice said to St Augustine, 'take, read'. Give these folks a chance to tell you their stories. Then come back and leave us a comment to say what you learned.

Charles Ball, Fifty Years in Chains, or, The Life of an American Slave

Sarah H Bradford, Harriet, the Moses of Her People

Henry Brown, Narrative of the Life of Henry Box Brown, Written by Himself

Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

Olaudah Equiano, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, The African

Olive Gilbert, Narrative of Sojourner Truth

Harriet Jacobs (aka Linda Brent), Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

Sojourner Truth, Ain't I a Woman?

Booker T Washington, Up from Slavery

Dmitri Gheorgheni

13.02.12 Front Page

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