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.

A white woman talks to several Negro slaves who tell her stories about their personal lives. She learns about their partners and their and families.

Through conversations with his great-great aunt, a man learns the history of a formerly enslaved family matriarch. His brother’s recent arrest gains new meaning as he learns more about his ancestors.

A Black, southern house servant with internalized racism, joins her mistress on a visit to another region, where she observes Black people acting with something she abhors: autonomy.

Two elderly women, one a white woman and the other her former slave, spend their time sewing and reflecting on their lives together.

Louise, a humble "honey-colored" slave, gains a new master whose wife loves to paint. The master leaves town, and Louise must endure an uncomfortable few weeks posing naked for his wife.

A lineage of women born of the First Mother who escaped slavery survive in a swamp for several generations until some of the women begin to consider life outside the swamp.

A young boy stays with his mother and their slaves at a farm in the Deep South, while his father and brother fight as Confederate soldiers. When Union soliders show up for a meal, the boy confronts the humanity of the enemy.

With the help and company of her master's clerk, a young slave girl runs away; however, her search for a habitable town is long and arduous, and she slowly begins to lose hope.

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.