Finding Francis: One Family's Journey from Slavery to Freedom

Winner of the 2023 College Language Association Book Award

Finding Francis, finding family, freeing history

Francis is found. Beyond Francis, a family is found—in archival material that barely deigned to notice their existence. This is the story of Francis Sistrunk and her children, from enslavement into forced migration across South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. It spans decades before the Civil War and continues into post-emancipation America. A family story full of twists an...