Davis, Kenneth CC

IN THE SHADOW OF LIBERTY : THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF SLAVERY, FOUR PRESIDENTS, AND FIVE BLACK LIVES

 New York: Holt, 2016

IL 5-8, RL 6.6

ISBN 1627793119

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…” You probably recognize these words from the Declaration of Independence. But did you know that Thomas Jefferson, one of our Founding Fathers and the man who penned these words, owned slaves? In fact, ten of the first fifteen American presidents owned slaves or grew up in slaveholding households. In the Shadow of Liberty tells the story of slavery in America by focusing on five enslaved people owned by four presidents, from Billy Lee, valet to George Washington, to Alfred Jackson, faithful servant of Andrew Jackson.  (Oklahoma High School Sequoyah Award, 2018)