Susie King Taylor: Nurse, Teacher & Freedom Fighter

Based on the memoir of Civil War nurse and teacher Susie King Taylor, this book by Erica Armstrong Dunbar (author of Never Caught and She Came to Slay) and Candace Buford offers a gripping story of Taylor’s life for ages 10+.

The book is full of examples of what a brilliant, brave, and righteous woman Taylor was.

One instance is her commentary from more than a century ago on the hypocrisy of the Daughters of the Confederacy, words that ring as true today about Moms for Liberty: “Did these Daughters of the Confederacy ever send petitions to prohibit the atrocious lynchings of Black people? I’d never heard of them claiming a noose could have a bad effect on the children. But they protested books and performances. Which of these two realities made a degrading impression upon the minds of our young generation — a play or a brutal hanging?”

There is much to learn from this book not only about Taylor, but also about the conditions for African Americans just before, during, and after the Civil War.

At the end of their book, Dunbar and Buford include the full text of Taylor’s memoir, Reminiscences of My Life in Camp with the 33D United States Colored Troops Late 1st S.C. Volunteers, so that students can read her own words. It is the only published memoir by an African American woman about the experiences of the Civil War.

ISBN: 9781665919937 | Aladdin Paperbacks