"Long Journey Home: Stories from Black History" by Julius Lester

From the inside dust jacket:

History has many voices. There are those of the few so-called great men and women of the past. And there are those that are seldom recorded, the unsung, the many. In their lives may also be seen the truth about the past.

Julius Lester has found the characters in this book, slaves and ex-slaves, concealed in the pages of black history. From brief references -- an interview, a footnote -- he has woven these six stories -- works of historical fiction which are true in the largest sense.

Here is Rambler, who made music his salvation and his trap; Ben, the 'perfect' slave' Louis, the runaway who had to keep running to be free; Bob Lemmons, the black cowboy who mysteriously knew the ways of wild horses; Jake and Mandy, husband and wife divided by slavery; and the unforgettable group of slaves who one day walked away from their masters into the sea. 

Beautifully crafted, these proud, painful, glowing stories capture the very essence of black history.