Chains and Freedom: or, The Life and Adventures of Peter Wheeler, a Colored Man Yet Living

While many people over the course of early US history wrote about slavery, few of them did what Charles Edwards Lester did in «Chains and Freedom: or, The Life and Adventures of Peter Wheeler, a Colored Man Yet Living», that is, write an actual biography of a man who experienced slavery first-hand. Following the life of Peter Wheeler as he managed the harrowing transition from slave to sailor. The book is a seminal part of American history that has, thankfully, been salvaged from being lost to time.