Slaves' Gamble: Choosing Sides in the War of 1812 (First edition.)

Images of American slavery conjure up cotton plantations and African American slaves locked in bondage until the Civil War.

Yet early on in the 19th century the state of slavery was very different, and the political vicissitudes of the young nation offered diverse possibilities to slaves.

Gene Smith draws on a decade of original research and his curatorial work at the Fort Worth Museum in this original narrative history.