The Friends of Sandy Springs Library have invited historian and author Richard Bell to discuss his work “Stolen.” The book examines a little-known practice that took place in the 1800s—slavers would kidnap free black Americans in the North, and take them to the South, where they were then enslaved. The practice is known as the “Reverse Underground Railroad,” a network of slavers and human traffickers who literally kidnapped thousands of African Americans who were legally free, and sent them south to work the plantations.
“Stolen” is the true story of five boys kidnapped in Philadelphia in 1825 and smuggled out of the North, and their attempts to free themselves and bring the slavers to justice. Critics have compared “Stolen” to “Never Caught” and “Twelve Years a Slave.”
The “Wall Street Journal” calls the work a
“superbly researched and engaging book”
that
“exposes previously hidden horrors of American slavery.”
Bell is the author of two other Books, “We Shall Be No More: Suicide and Self-Government in the Newly United States,” and “Buried Lives: Incarcerated in Early America,” which he co-edited with Michele Lise Tarter.
Bell will appear at the Sandy Springs Library on Mount Vernon Highway Northeast, from 2.00 pm until 4.00 pm on February 12. Flyer printing can be used to provide information about events like this to attendees.
Get a Free Quote for Books