Inspired by an unpublished memoir, this book featuring period photographs and illustration evokes the childhood and social milieu of a young girl, Maritcha, born in 1848 in New York's small community of free blacks. Whilst her parents were involved in offering a safe house to individuals fleeing slavery, Maritcha is also caught up in the fight for equality: she becomes the first black person to graduate from Providence High School, and goes on to become a teacher.