Years of Slavery

School Library Journal

Gr 5–7—Although Humanity covers human origins and the European slave trade in Africa, the series focus is on the African-American experience in the United States, describing the most important events of the centuries-long struggle for freedom and civil rights. The two- to four-page chapters are supplemented with sidebar biographies of important African Americans and large photos and reproductions, but the narratives, often consisting of only a few paragraphs per page, are short on background and context. These volumes provide the broadest of overviews, and given the large number of available alternatives about the topic, are supplemental for most collections.