Happy Friday Everyone! Want something interesting this summer? Here are a couple of new books that might interest you on African Americans in Missouri: "Remembering the Path to T-Town: Migration of an African American Family." "Remembering the Path to T-Town" traces the travels of an African American family, over a two-hundred year period, through seven (7) States to Lincoln, Nebraska. Their journey gives testimony to the sagas faced by many black families as they survived enslavement and the fight for freedom in search of better opportunities. The story resurrects history about black residents in several small American towns--recalling information lost for decades. Readers of all backgrounds should recognize family experiences common throughout the territories of the West and Midwest in "Remembering the Path to T-Town" - an American Story! For those interested in the migration of African American families from the Seaboard frontier to the West through Missouri -- this is an excellent book; easy to read and illustrates the documents etc., recovered in the process of researching enslaved ancestors. Even if you are NOT doing slave research; many Missouri researchers will find enslaved peoples were a part of their families; this book will give you some insight into one family's travels and experiences. http://www.missouri-slave-data.org/slaveinfo.html Another interesting book to pick up is: "Slavery North of St. Louis" by George R. Lee. It is advertised on the Northeastern Missouri Genealogy Society (NEMO) website. http://www.rootsweb.com/~monemgs/ -- Click on the Featured Book link: If you would like to purchase a copy, please click here to bring up a separate window with a printable version of the order form. Here is a brief description of the book -- you can read excerpts from the book at the weblink noted above: "Slavery North of St. Louis" is a study of the slave system in seven Missouri counties along the Mississippi river from St. Charles to Clark. To the east was the free state of Illinois, and to the north was the free state of Iowa. The vulnerability of slavery to attack by abolitionists was obvious, and the region became paranoid about threats to the system. While many think of slaves as being all alike, there were many different reactions to their situation in this region. Some were obedient and loyal, and others were hostile and even rebellious. In the book, over 70 slaves are identified by name, and each of those is discussed as an individual. Three of the slaves became well known: the mountain man Jim Beckwourth, abolitionist spokesman William Wells Brown, and Augustine Tolton, the first black Catholic priest in the United States. The tools helping the slaves survive the system are discussed: their family, religion, music, sense of humor; recreational activities, and pride in their abilities. The whites in the story also range in their qualities as well. Catherine Collier buys slaves to keep families together, gives them job skills and education, then gives them freedom. Ezra Ely buys an escaped slave as an act of charity, and on one night, the slave, Ambrose, comes to his house to work for him. There are also cruel owners - Thornton who kills a slave for stealing a chicken, the temperamental Ben Robinson, and trader White who gives a crying slave child to strangers. The slave system itself is discussed, how masters disposed of their slave property (the slave trade, hiring out, and how they became pawns when the masters made out their wills). Slaves in the justice system describes actions by legal authorities that might surprise many modern readers. The system found itself in a struggle with opponents in Missouri and across the rivers, individuals like Elijah Lovejoy, David Nelson, Richard Eells, and Elihu Frazier and his fighting Quakers. This war, like any conflict, had its casualties on both sides, killed, wounded and disappearing. By the 1850's, the consensus that had always supported some slavery in Missouri was breaking. When Civil War came, public opinion split wide open between Unionists and Southern sympathizers. The collapse of slavery came swiftly when the public concluded the state was better off without it. If anyone is interested -- I have uploaded my recent transcription of the Saline County Black Marriages 1863-1868; and a link for the "Finis Creek Negro Cemetery" in Saline Co., MO (see the link for Marriage, Census and Cemetery Data) at: www.missouri-slave-data.org Best regards everyone -- and happy reading --- Traci Wilson-Kleekamp African Americans in Missouri www.missouri-slave-data.org