The Emancipation of Nate Bynum — Napoleon Crews

As the Civil War drew to a close, one young slave is catapulted into the journey of a lifetime. The death and destruction of the American Civil War did not reach many of the isolated southern plantations until the South had already been knocked to its knees. Overnight, slaves and slaveholders, alike, were catapulted into a new and traumatic existence. For the slaveholders it meant an end to their civilization of gallantry, knighthood, pretty belles and dutiful slaves. For the slaves it meant a new life of confusion and havoc borne by generations of total dependence on their white masters. The Emancipation of Nate Bynum probes the trauma, confusion and havoc of seventeen-year-old Nate Bynum after the death of his master, Jacob Bodine. The War is at its end, but the journey for this young slave is only beginning. To save his sisters and take them to freedom, Nate will tempt fate in an uncertain world. Texas, the 'New South', is his destination.