Speak a Word for Freedom: Women Against Slavery

Readers who think of slavery as an institution relegated to the past will be enlightened by this engrossing study of female abolitionists from the 18th century to the present day. Familiar figures include Harriet Tubman and Harriet Beecher Stowe, but the majority of the individuals will likely be new to many readers. Among them are Ellen Craft, the daughter of a slave and a plantation owner who disguised herself as a white slave master to travel north with her black husband; missionary Alice Seeley Harris, whose photographs documented atrocities committed against Congolese rubber workers; and Micheline Slattery, who was enslaved in both Haiti and the United States and now speaks out on behalf of other victims. A powerful indictment of human rights abuses and tribute to the women who have fought them. Ages 12–up. (Sept.)