William Wells Brown was born into slavery and later escaped to become one of the foremost supporters of abolition.

Mary loves Sunday mornings and the spirituals that give her and Mama hope.

Patty, a young enslaved girl, shares some insight about life on a South Carolina plantation.

Nat Turner was an American freedom fighter who led one of history’s most successful revolts by enslaved people in Southampton County, VA.

Mum Bett hears the cries for American freedom from British tyranny and launches her own American Revolution against slavery in Massachusetts.

Frederick Douglass made an amazing journey from slavery to freedom. Once free, Douglass committed his life to fighting for the freedom of others.

In the face of extreme punishment for enslaved people and breaking the law for whites, roughly 5 percent of the enslaved population learned to read and write. Letters like the ones written below show the lengths they would go to learn.

Two small boys on a plantation strike up a dangerous friendship.

Young Delia learns a hard lesson from her papa about what it means to be enslaved on George Washington’s plantation.

On July 6, 2016, Philando Castile was pulled over by police near Saint Paul, Minn., after being misidentified as a robbery suspect. He was then shot and killed by an officer during the traffic stop. In this StoryCorps edition, Chad Eisen-Ramgren has a conversation with his 10-year-old daughter, who was a student at the school where Mr. Phil managed the cafeteria.