The Underground Railroad

This is by far the most intense, emotional, and heart wrenching fictional book that I have ever read. It is fictional so there are aspects of the book that are fantastical but I believe that this adds to the experience. Colson Whitehead does an amazing job combing many of the atrocities that the USA has committed against African Americans into the singular experience of Cora. Through Cora the reader gets to experience first hand the rape, despair, and heart break that white Americans caused among the African American community. I found the that the adjustment to new circumstances and the hope that comes right before tragedy very poignant especially considering current events. Throughout US history we have grown complacent when, slavery was not allowed above the 32nd parallel, slavery was abolished in 1865, after the Civil Rights movement, and after the first Black president was elected. After each of these events there has been a resurgence of white-supremacy. I have learned from this book and the events over the past year that it is imperative that we never stop fighting for equal treatment of all human beings.