Richards, Virginia Mcgee - The Inner Passage: An Untold Story of Black Resistance Along a Southern Waterway

A deeply moving photographic and narrative history of a southern waterway that the enslaved were forced to build for mercantile shipping—but which they used to escape slavery. A BEAUTIFUL GIFT BOOK FOR READERS PASSIONATE ABOUT AMERICAN HISTORY AND THE LEGACY OF BLACK RESISTANCE: This book blends fine art photography with the history of a forgotten escape route for Black freedom seekers, appealing to those interested in American, Southern, and environmental history. AN INTRODUCTION BY NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER, IMANI PERRY, who discusses her travels along the Inner Passage route and gives context to this vital piece of Southern history. Richards is an award-winning photographer, historian, and environmental lawyer, and Estrin is a photography and photography critic at the New York Times. Over a century before the advent of the Underground Railroad to the North, Ricards reveals how enslaved people in the South planned and carried out their own escape from slavery by paddling hundreds of miles on the Inner Passage to reach freedom. FEATURING 61 FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHS of compelling, haunting images made with an eighteenth-century wet plate collodion process.