True stories and traditional songs shed light on a lesser known era in African-American history - the crucial decades between Emancipation and the start of the Civil Rights movement.

An International Reading Association Teachers’ Choice

A Cooperative Children’s Book Center Choice

A Chicago Public Library Best Book

Rappaport and Evans reprise the passion and power that informed their 2002 collaboration, shining their spotlight on the progess and struggles of African Americans from 1863 to 1954. Vigorous prose is punctuated by poems, songs, and excerpts from primary sources, all of which illuminate the peculiar experiences of a people freed and still not free. - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Back matter includes a list of important dates, an artist’s note, sources, resources for further information, and an index.