Readers who wish to delve into the background of this novel may wish to consult the following original sources:

Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman (1869) and Harriet, The Moses of Her People (1886) by Sarah Hopkins Bradford

Army Life in a Black Regiment (1900) by Thomas Wentworth Higginson

Reminiscences of My Life in Camp with the 33rd United States Colored Troops, Late 1st South Carolina Volunteers (1902) by Susie King Taylor

The Letters and Diary of Laura M. Towne: Written from the Sea Islands of South Carolina, 1862-1884, ed. Rupert Holland (1912)

The Journals of Charlotte Forten Grimké, ed. Brenda Stevenson (1988)

A Woman Doctor’s Civil War: Esther Hill Hawks’ Diary, ed. Gerald Schwartz (1989)

Incidents in the Life of A Slave Girl (1861) by Harriet Jacobs

My Bondage and My Freedom (1855) by Frederick Douglass

Bullwhip Days, The Slaves Remember: An Oral History, ed. James Mellon (2014)

Slave Songs of the United States, ed. William Allen, Charles Ware, and Lucy Garrison (1857)

War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, United States War Department (1880-1901)