Frank Carlson Library

As a free African American living in the North in the 1800s, Charlotte Forten was luckier than most African Americans of her time. But she still faced segregation, limited opportunities, and the sharp barbs of racism. Through it all, Charlotte wrote down her experiences in a diary. Read her story, and learn about the pre Civil War days from someone who lived it.

In 1777 the Revolutionary War forced Sally Wister and her family to flee their home in Philadelphia to seek safety in the Pennsylvania countryside. But the war as never far behind. Army officers visited the family. The sounds of light horses and cannon booms brought the war into their household. Through it all, Sally kept a diary of her life during the fight for independence. Follow her story of challenges and triumphs.

"Presents excerpts from the diary of Sarah Gillespie, a pioneer girl living in Iowa in the late 1860s"--

Susie King Taylor, born a slave in 1848, would learn to read at secret schools and go on to teach countless others to read and write. Follow the course of the Civil War in her own words as she remembers her work as a nurse and teacher with an Army troop of African-American soldiers.