The Underground Railroad

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead offers a harrowing, yet important glimpse into the brutal realities of slavers on cotton plantations and the unimaginable strength it took to even hope for a bit of freedom. Through the story of Cora, who is forced to work on a plantation in Georgia, the novel explores not only the physical suffering, but also the psychological impact of generations of oppression. When Cora meets Caesar, a slave sent to Georgia from Virginia, he introduces her to the idea of the Underground Railroad, reimagined here as a literal underground train network, leading to the north. What follows then is a tens and emotional journey full of danger, as they are pursued by relentless slave catchers and confronted with new horrors along the way. This novel is both gripping and deeply unsettling, but necessary. You root for Cora, you fear for her and you feel for her. You slowly begin to grasp a fraction of the courage, resilience and strength that enslaved Black people had to summon just to survive and to dare to dream of freedom. Whiteheads writing is so powerful, thought provoking and painful in the most necessary way.