Sleeping with the Ancestors: How I Followed the Footprints of Slavery
For two hundred nights, over twelve years, Joseph McGill has "slept rough" in former slave dwellings in twenty-five states, all for a great cause. This historian—and re-enactor—knows the power of "place" to make history real; his mission is to give witness, prompt meaningful conversation, to save an essential history of the nation. For readers who loved Clint Smith’s How the Word Is Passed or the travels of Tony Horwitz, Sleeping With the Ancestors should be your next read!
With a new Afterword and Reading Group Guide exclusive to the paperback edition.
In this enlightening personal account, one man tells the story of his groundbreaking project to sleep overnight in former slave dwellings that still stand across the country—revealing the fascinating history behind these sites and shedding light on larger issues of race in America.






















