"An enlightening and thoughtful piece of work. . . . This is the burden of Mr. Webber's book-the cultural impregnability of the black slaves in America, and the futility of the centuries-long white endeavor to enslave the black mind-and it is an impressive lesson." -The New Yorker

By the time of the Civil War, Thomas L. Webber shows, American slaves had created for themselves a new and separate culture, combining elements of their African past and their experiences under slavery in the South. How they were able to educate themselves and their children is the story of this book, told in many cases in the words of the slaves themselves.