Black, Blue & Gray: African Americans In The Civil War [Hardcover]

Jim Haskins (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 1998

Four-time Coretta Scott King Honor Award winner Jim Haskins brings readers face-to-face with the African Americans who fought in the war between the states. Excerpts from letters and government documents introduce the names and places that set the stage for the war's unfolding. Vintage photographs offer a vivid look at the brave soldiers who risked their lives in the fight for human equality Ages 10 and up. Pub: 1/98. .

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 7 Up?Haskins again brings U.S. history to life. This tightly organized book is packed with facts and meticulously footnoted, yet it reads like a novel, thanks to the author's stylistic skills. He dismisses and disproves outmoded historical interpretations that denied black participation in the North's final victory. The facts show that African Americans were anything but passive beneficiaries of a "white man's war." More than 178,000 black soldiers served in Union military units, and casualties were high. The author sets his topic within the larger historical context by tracing the history of slavery and its relation to U.S. politics and economics from the Colonial period to the attack on Fort Sumter. He includes stirring stories of the Underground Railroad and the growth of the abolitionist movement. Dramatic examples punctuate the narrative throughout, among them the moment Frederick Douglass and 6000 followers first heard that the Emancipation Proclamation had been signed and the courageous charge upon Fort Wagner by the 54th Massachusetts Regiment (fictionalized in the popular film Glory). While he concentrates on Union forces, the author does not neglect the seemingly incongruous contributions of black Americans to the Confederate armies, sections that may provide surprises for some readers. Period photographs and reproductions and primary-source quotations are used to good effect, and students will benefit from the notes, bibliography, and time line.?Starr E. Smith, Marymount University Library, Arlington, VA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 5^-8. Veteran author Haskins presents a rich and clear picture of the role of African Americans just before, during, and after the Civil War, using contemporary sources. He allows, whenever possible, the voices of the slaves, soldiers, abolitionists, and officers to be heard for themselves, through letters, diaries, and documents. He details the struggle for the North to accept black soldiers as willing and capable fighting men, and he describes how some blacks fought on the Confederate side, either as support for their masters who went to war, or on their own. Black soldiers comprised 12 percent of Northern forces and suffered losses far greater than their numbers implied. Haskins includes a list of soldiers who received the congressional Medal of Honor for their service. Finally, he illuminates how these brave men were erased from the written history of the Civil War as it was taught. GraceAnne A. DeCandido

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing; 1st edition (February 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0689806558
• ISBN-13: 978-0689806551
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 7.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.4 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #490,860 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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