The Civil War began when eleven Southern states refused to give up the practice of slavery and seceded to form the Confederate States of America. In both the Union and the Confederacy, enslaved Black people found new opportunities for escape and resistance. Meanwhile, many free Black people joined or helped the Union war effort, though they often faced unfair treatment. Learn how the events around and during the Civil War shaped the United States in the 1860s and resonate to this day.

Read Woke™ Books are created in partnership with Cicely Lewis, the Read Woke librarian. Inspired by a belief that knowledge is power, Read Woke Books seek to amplify the voices of people of the global majority (people who are of African, Arab, Asian, and Latin American descent and identify as not white), provide information about groups that have been disenfranchised, share perspectives of people who have been underrepresented or oppressed, challenge social norms and disrupt the status quo, and encourage readers to take action in their community.