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  Up From Slavery

  Booker T. Washington

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  Booker Taliaferro Washington began life as a slave in Virginia shortly before emancipation, but rose to become one of the most celebrated leaders the African American community has ever had. His principal occupation was as president of the Tuskegee Institute, which he founded in 1881, but he earned national renown as an orator, writer and political advisor. His address at the Atlanta Exposition was a pivotal moment in race relations in America. Washington believed deeply in the dignity of physical labor, and that merit and talent are eventually rewarded regardless of race or class. The Tuskegee Institution was primarily a technical college, and aimed to teach industrial skills in addition to academic training. Students built many of the buildings on the campus, grew the food that was eaten there, and even made the furniture, tools and vehicles used by the school. Up from Slavery was originally published as a serialized work in The Outlook , a Christian magazine based in New York, before being collected in a single volume in 1901. This edition includes an introduction by Walter H. Page, a future U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom. Booker T. Washington (died 1915) was a prominent voice of the late 19th and early 20th century. Their work has endured across generations and continues to be read and studied worldwide. Memoir and autobiographical writing offer uniquely intimate access to lived experience. Up From Slavery invites readers into a singular consciousness, sharing observations and reflections that transcend their specific historical moment to illuminate universal aspects of human life.

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  Long Ago Last Summer

  Wesley Moore III

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  Long Ago Last Summer is a Southern Gothic gumbo part Flannery O'Connor, part Tennessee Williams with a dash of Delta blues. An array of unforgettable characters come alive on the page: village idiots, eccentric aunts, beloved dogs, and at least one serial killer, Donald 'Pee Wee' Gaskins. Moore's memoir embodies the profound paradoxes of Southern culture against a landscape dotted with antebellum plantations, shotgun shacks, suburban subdivisions, Pentecostal churches, and juke joints. PRAISE FOR WESLEY MOORE'S WRITING: "Long Ago, Last Summer is, like life, sometimes hilarious, sometimes tragic, full of unforgettable characters whose power to hurt rivals their power to love. Wesley Moore is a child of the complicated South, and it's a joy to 'grow up and grow old' with this terrific writer. This collection is a 'guided tour of the haunted houses and cobwebbed attics' of his youth, but it's also the story of a man who discovers, through tragedy, that 'the world is a marvelous place, full of good, compassionate people." – Lee Robinson, author of Lawyer for the Dog and Lawyer for the Cat. "I found in these pages something of what Faulkner meant when he wrote, 'The past is never dead. It is not even the past.' Reading this book was like walking in the wind or swimming. I was touched at all points and conscious everywhere. I was also reminded of Huck Finn's raw wisdom when he said about his adventures, 'All of this is true and most of it happened.'" – Chuck Sullivan, author of Zen Matchbox and The Juggler on the Radio.

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  The Snowy Battlefield of Ohio -...

  Stanley O'Shea

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  In this captivating memoir, Stanley unflinchingly shares his tumultuous experience as an international graduate student in the American Midwest. His narrative weaved through a labyrinth of unexpected trials, crises, and cultural clashes as he grappled with the perplexing healthcare system, the haunting justice system, the intimidating immigration maze, and the bureaucratic intricacies of academia. 
  Through his triangular interactions with two “elite” students, he not only rectified his understanding of mainstream American culture but also delved into the depths of human relationships. The multi-layered emotional turmoil Stanley endured as he confronted the “devil” within and outside, mixed with the benevolence and insights he received from peers and fellows, resulted in his transcendence of the original “American dream.” 
  Along this journey, Stanley invites readers to reflect on universal themes of identity, resilience, mental health, and spiritual growth. 
  Fantastic and uncompromising expression of what it means to be an immigrant to the US today. Essential reading for anyone considering immigrating or who has already immigrated and finding it unexpectedly difficult to assimilate into US culture. As a third culture kid and hidden immigrant, I wish I’d had this book decades ago. Its insights would have saved me years of heartbreak, loss and sorrow. — Andrew Indahl, civil rights attorney, UCLA graduate 
  In a land where the coffee is strong and the health insurance is weak, the author navigates friendships like a tightrope walker — balancing between cultural faux pas and the fear of being misunderstood. Love was a puzzle with missing pieces, and every legal form felt like an existential riddle. Yet, through each cringing trial, he discovers that the quirks of human behavior are the threads that weave us all together, regardless of the results. — Alfred Olivas, STEAM Education Consultant, former expat in Asia

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  Father Hensons Story Of His Own...

  Josiah Henson

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  We rely on your support to help us keep producing beautiful, free, and unrestricted editions of literature for the digital age. Will you support our efforts with a donation ? Born into slavery in Maryland in 1789, Josiah Henson was separated from his family and endured brutal treatment before eventually escaping to Canada with his wife and children in 1830. His remarkable story of survival, faith, and ultimate freedom became one of the most influential slave narratives of the 19th century. Henson's narrative is a firsthand account of the horrors of slavery, including the violent punishment of his father, the heart-wrenching sale of fellow enslaved people, and his own struggles with loyalty to his master versus his desire for freedom. After gaining his freedom, Henson became a Methodist preacher and community leader in Canada, helping other escaped slaves build new lives and conducting dangerous missions back to the South to guide others to freedom via the Underground Railroad. Published in 1858 with a preface by Harriet Beecher Stowe , this autobiography is widely believed to have inspired her novel Uncle Tom's Cabin . Henson's story stands as a powerful testament to human resilience and the pursuit of dignity in the face of oppression. Josiah Henson (died 1883) was one of the most distinguished authors of the Victorian age. Their work has endured across generations and continues to be read and studied worldwide. This work stands as a testament to the enduring power of literature to illuminate the human condition. Father Hensons Story Of His Own Life has been read and admired for generations, and this carefully prepared public domain edition ensures it remains accessible to new readers in the digital age.

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  The Road Unpaved - Border to...

  Risa August

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  After a shocking diagnosis for a rare pituitary disease, and with her eighteen-year marriage in shambles, Risa's life has fallen far from picture-perfect. Recovering from brain surgery and desperate to get back to her former self, she signs up for the bike tour of a lifetime-six weeks from Canada to Mexico on the Pacific Coast Highway. 
  The old Risa could have done the ride in her sleep, but for the new Risa, trapped in a body that no longer feels like her own and stuck in the company of her brain tumor, Bubba, the ride becomes a challenge unlike anything she's ever faced. 
  As Risa pedals through rain, pain, and the ghosts of her memories, she wonders if the woman she once was will ever return or whether the new woman rising up in her place might just be the person she was meant to be all along. 
  A remarkable story of transformation and resilience, The Road Unpaved speaks to shifting gears to navigate life's roadblocks and live a life without limits-a life fully unleashed.

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  Fields of Fortune - 'Viking'...

  Robert Dodge

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  A gripping history of one Norwegian immigrant family’s experience in the United States from the mid-nineteenth century to World War II. 
   
  In the spring of 1853, a family of eight drove their wagon to the wharf in Bergen, Norway. They unloaded their belongings alongside the other stacks labeled, AMERICA, MINNESOTA, ILLINOIS, MICHIGAN, NEW YORK CITY, CHICAGO and boarded the crowded ship. 
   
  Hopeful, nervous Norwegians—giving up everything for a place they knew of only through second-hand tales of freedom and opportunity—watched as the shoreline retreated, knowing they would never see their homeland again. Their trip ahead would be spent in cramped conditions for two or three months until they reached Ellis Island. The United States, where they were immigrating to, was facing many problems including tensions over slavery and the subsequent beginning of the Civil War. 
   
  The family moved west to farm the free land that was offered to them but were met with resistance, as it was land that had been cultivated by Native Americans for thousands of years before. The family was nearly eliminated during these times, often referred to as the American Indian Wars. 
   
  Future generations carried on to the Dakotas and Alberta with difficulties. These Norwegians persisted. Through ardent research and narrative biography, Robert Dodge reflects on the immigrant experience of one Norwegian family from the mid-nineteenth century through World War II in Fields of Fortune: ‘Viking’ Farmers in America. 
   
  Praise for Fields of Fortune 
   
  “A thriller, a family adventure, a Viking heritage story that kept me turning the pages and asking for more.” —Alice C. Schelling, author of Hiding Alinka 
   
  “A riveting tale . . . featuring strong women who carried their families forward even when their men failed them.” —Carolyn Bradley Bursack, author of Minding Our Elders 
   
  “Award–winning author Robert Doge doesn’t just write history, he paints it in true story-telling style.” —Jodi Bowersox, president of the Colorado Authors League

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