This is the harrowing tale of Cora, an enslaved young woman whose sense of herself as an individual gives her the courage to face and overcome many terrors met on her journey on an imagined railroad.

There is nothing welcoming or pleasant about the atmosphere in which we meet Cora. She picks cotton on the Randall plantation in Georgia as her mother and grandmother had; but although her family history has landed her here, she doesn’t feel much connection to the other slaves. In fact, she finds herself dispatched by them to the cabin that houses the oddest outcasts among them. As in most parts of her life, Cora has no say in the matter. This exclusion and Cora’s natural intelligence, courage, autonomy, grit, and even humor, take her on a terrifying journey through the antebellum South along an underground railroad. She must decide whom, if anyone, to trust along the way.

Colson Whitehead describes some of the horrors of our shameful shared history as experienced by Cora and other enslaved people. He also writes about courage, hope and kindness. As one of his characters John Valentine says, “As long as one of our family endured the torments of bondage, I was a freeman in name only”. This is an important book; our future depends on how we see and treat each other.

Margaret’s Inclusive Cause: The Gesu School, Philadelphia, PA

https://www.gesuschool.org