A wonderful book documenting stories and poems of those who suffered, endured and surmounted slavery and oppression. This is one of the first civil rights books documenting the devastation and destruction of human kind for the ignorance of the more 'civilized' race. The stories are told by Freed people who once faced slavery or fought for freedom during their enslavement. It also chronicles of those people who, while not blacks or slaves, gave themselves to the cause that color does not distinguish another human being as being lesser or greater than. I have reviewed and documented hundreds of books and none moved me more or helped me to understand better the cause these people fought for and the frightening reality of capture and slavery. This should be on everyones required reading before reaching adulthood and while we may believe we have left prejudice and ignorance in the past, we should never forget the suffering that some endured which makes our freedom something more than just obligatory, it is something that had to be worked for.