{"title":"Classic African American literature","description":"\u003cp\u003eClassic African American literature spans narratives of enslavement and freedom, novels, poetry, and accounts of racial injustice. This list is for readers exploring that range, from Phillis Wheatley to James Weldon Johnson; start with Twelve Years a Slave.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"the-red-record","title":"The Red Record","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhat happens when a journalist uses the press’s own records to expose the violence it excuses?\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn The Red Record, Ida B. Wells-Barnett gathers the numbers, cases and excuses behind lynching in the United States. A Black journalist driven out of Memphis for her reporting, she builds her case largely from white newspapers and white officials. 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His childhood moves between a plantation and Baltimore, where Sophia Auld begins teaching him his letters. Hunger, fear and hard labor shape his world, but reading opens a path that slavery seeks to close.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis fuller account looks beyond the struggle to escape. Douglass examines what slavery does to enslaved people and slaveholders alike, then turns to his life as a free man, speaker and newspaper editor. His break with William Lloyd Garrison and growing faith in political action bring the meaning of freedom into sharp debate.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eWhat you'll discover\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReading as resistance\u003c\/strong\u003e – Follow a boy's forbidden education as words become a means of challenging his bondage.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eThe daily weight of slavery\u003c\/strong\u003e – Encounter the hunger, thin clothing and fear that shape childhood on the Lloyd plantation.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eA struggle against being broken\u003c\/strong\u003e – See Douglass confront Edward Covey, a farmer known for breaking the spirits of enslaved youths.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eFreedom beyond escape\u003c\/strong\u003e – Explore how Douglass connects personal liberty with a growing commitment to political action.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eA fuller personal witness\u003c\/strong\u003e – Discover names, places and reflections that Douglass's earlier account holds back for safety.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003cp\u003ePerfect for readers of American history, memoir and moral argument who want a firsthand witness to slavery in plain, powerful prose.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOpen the first page now and follow Douglass from a childhood in bondage toward a life of public purpose.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Library of Alexandria Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":59534563410268,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1027\/9442\/8764\/files\/01556_en_ebook-front_c24.jpg?v=1792174894"},{"product_id":"up-from-slavery-an-autobiography","title":"Aus der Sklaverei empor: Eine Autobiografie","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBefore he builds a school, Booker T. 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He works and plays the violin as a free Black citizen. Then kidnappers carry him south and sell him into slavery in Louisiana. Under the name Platt, he enters a system that gives his own account of his life no weight.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn Twelve Years a Slave, Northup records plantation life with precision. William Ford’s kindness exists alongside his claim to own another person. Eliza faces separation from her children, while Patsey’s skill offers no protection from abuse. 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