An African man arguing for his ancient grandfather’s passage to Mecca tells the story of his enslavement and separation from his brother during the American Civil War.

A young woman from Dahomey is stolen during the Dutch colonization. She is separated from her brother and hopes to go on a mission to find him.

In 1907, an African porter working for a British hunter starts cataloguing ogres of East Africa with the help of a woman informant. When she reveals she is an ogre herself, he must decide if he can help her fulfill her destiny.

A southern Nigerian woman lives through the colonial invasion of white Europeans, losing her son to assimilation and indoctrination that leads him to view her and her culture as savages. Decades later, her granddaughter, a historian, seeks to reclaim her past.

In colonial Angola, a Herero woman torn between her family and her oppressive white husband finds herself accused of disloyalty on all sides. Despite significant sacrifice, disaster ensues when she tries to honor both commitments.

Years after the success of slave revolts in Louisiana and Haiti, a teenage girl learns the secret of a monster hidden in her mother's bedroom.

A free black man in the late eighteenth century knows that his enslaved companions envy his liberty — but he soon learns just how much they're willing to sacrifice for their own freedom.

A young boy born into slavery meets a newly purchased slave from Africa who refuses to let go of his culture, despite the master's attempts to christianize him.

When he discovers gold near his village, an African man dissatisfied with his lot in life develops new obsessions, flouts old responsibilities, and ultimately loses more than he gains.

A stubborn, lower-class woman holds on to the hope that an ancient horse will awaken for her. Its transcendent power provides a refuge amid family troubles and threats from an invading people called the feverborn.