Abolition Stories

Life Stories of Anti-Slavery Abolitionists was a two-year reading group organized by Mariame Kaba and Geoff Johnson. After its conclusion, I wanted to continue learning about abolition and related history. An understanding of what has come before must inform how we respond to our present moment, and recognizing our connections with those living earlier in our long continuous struggle can be a source of power.I invite you to join me in reading and discussing the history of abolition and related topics, including Reconstruction and the modern abolition movement. I'm not a historian or scholar, and perhaps you aren't either. All are welcome to read and share together in good faith.We are currently using a shared Google word document as our space for sharing notes, thoughts, and resources. Please contact me for access.

If you're so inclined, I encourage you to share your thoughts as you read using the hashtag #AbolitionStories in your Internet spaces. Participate in whatever capacity you are able, jump in and out as needed, read which books speak to you most. I would be glad to see art / zines / essays / etc you create about what you are reading, to receive relevant book suggestions, or simply to read alongside you.I will be occassionally posting about my reading at Bluesky:

Thank you for reading with me. We all have something to share and much to learn.

Anticipated Reading Calendar for #AbolitionStories

  • Oct-Dec 2025: Bury the Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire's Slaves by Adam Hochschild (2005)

Previous Books

  • March-May 2025: The Color of Abolition: How a Printer, a Prophet, and a Contessa Moved a Nation by Linda Hirshman (2022)

  • June-Sept 2025: Wide Awake: The Forgotten Force That Elected Lincoln and Spurred the Civil War by Jon Grinspan (2024)

Potential Reading

  • American to the Backbone: The Life of James W.C. Pennington, the Fugitive Slave Who Became One of the First Black Abolitionists by Christopher Webber (2011)

  • Frances E.W. Harper by Utz McKnight (2021)

  • A Slave No More: Two Men Who Escaped to Freedom, Including their Own Narratives of Emancipation by David W. Blight (2009)

  • The Fire of Freedom: Abraham Galloway and the Slaves' Civil War by David S. Cecelski (2012)

  • The Rise and Fall of the Second American Republic: Reconstruction, 1860-1920 by Manisha Sinha (2024)

  • Becoming Abolitionists: Police, Protests, and the Pursuit of Freedom by Derecka Purnell (2021)

  • All on Fire: William Lloyd Garrison and the Abolition of Slavery by Henry Mayer (2008)

  • Remembering Slavery: African Americans Talk About Their Personal Experiences of Slavery and Emancipation edited by Ira Berlin, et al (2021)

  • Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave by Frederick Douglass

  • Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom by David Blight (2018)

  • Stark Mad Abolitionists: Lawrence, Kansas, and the Battle over Slavery in the Civil War Era by Robert K. Sutton (2017)

I invite you to read & talk about the books read in MK and Geoff's group:

Books Discussed in "Life Stories of Anti-Slavery Abolitionists" Reading Group (2023 - 2024)

  • The Fearless Benjamin Lay: the Quaker Dwarf who Became the First Revolutionary Abolitionist by Marcus Rediker

  • David Ruggles: A Radical Black Abolitionist and the Underground Railroad in New York City by Graham Russell Hodges

  • Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom by Catherine Clinton

  • The Untold Story of Shields Green: The Life and Death of a Harper's Ferry Raider by Louis A. Decaro, Jr.

  • Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom by Ilyon Woo

  • Vigilance: The Life of William Still, Father of the Underground Railroad by Andrew Diemer

  • Samuel Ringgold Ward: A Life of Struggle by R.J.M. Blackett

  • Sojourner Truth: A Life, A Symbol by Nell Irvin Painter

  • Lydia Maria Child: A Radical American Life by Lydia Moland

  • Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself by Harriet A. Jacobs

  • The United States Governed by Six Hundred Thousand Despots: A True Story of Slavery; A Rediscovered Narrative, with a Full Biography by John Swanson Jacobs, edited by Jonathan Schroeder

Other Reading of Note

  • The Kidnapping Club by Johnathan Daniel Wells (2020)

  • They Were Her Property: White Women as Slave Owners in the American South by Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers (2019)

  • Rebels Against Slavery: American Slave Revolts by Patricia C. McKissack and Fredrick L. McKissack (1996) [for young readers]

  • Fearless Benjamin: The Quaker Dwarf who Fought Slavery, by Michelle Markel and Sarah Bachman [picture book]

I can be reached via email:
[email protected]and on Bluesky as:
jkmakes.bsky.social

initials, JK