The first book is a story about the terrible ordeals endured by a young black slave that escapes her bondage though the aid of the Underground Railroad. The book describes in explicit detail the inhumane treatment on the large Georgian plantation, the creepy new order and subjugation of South Carolina, the murderous mobs of North Carolina, the disorder of Tennessee, and the brief but not lasting comfort of Indiana. The runaway, Cora, is pursued by the Slave catcher Ridgeway, aided by Caesar in her escape, abolitionists along the way, and Royal on her final leg. The evil, cruelty, and death are almost too much to take, yet she escapes it all to journey west.
David's second selection, The Nickel Boys, involves the trials and tribulations of a black man growing up in the South in the 60's. The story revolves around a reform school in Florida that tortured and abused young men, particularly the "colored" boys. The main character, Elwood, is a morally strong young man that appears to somehow survive his unjust fate, with a twist at the end.
Both books show the power of the human spirit to overcome adversity. As Elwood quotes Martin Luther King..."But be assured that we will wear you down by our capacity to suffer, and one day we will win our freedom. We will not only win freedom for ourselves, we will so appeal to your heart and your conscience that we will win you in the process and our victory will be a double victory."
