Stolen: Five Free Boys Kidnapped into Slavery and Their Astonishing Odyssey Home

by Richard Bell
@R_J_Bell

A gripping and true story about five boys who were kidnapped in the North and smuggled into slavery in the Deep South—and their daring attempt to escape and bring their captors to justice, reminiscent of Twelve Years a Slave and Never Caught.

Philadelphia, 1825: five young, free black boys fall into the clutches of the most fearsome gang of kidnappers and slavers in the United States. Lured onto a small ship with the promise of food and pay, they are instead met with blindfolds, ropes, and knives. Over four long months, their kidnappers drive them overland into the Cotton Kingdom to be sold as slaves. Determined to resist, the boys form a tight brotherhood as they struggle to free themselves and find their way home.

Interview with the Author

The Age of Jackson
125 The Reverse Underground Railroad Toward Slavery with Richard Bell
3/26/21         66 min

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New Books Network
Richard Bell, “Stolen: Five Free Boys Kidnapped Into Slavery and Their Astonishing Odyssey Home” (Simon and Schuster, 2019)
10/16/19         48 min

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Boston Athenaeum
Richard Bell “Stolen: Five Free Boys Kidnapped into Slavery and Their Astonishing Odyssey Home”
2/7/20       36 min

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Axelbank Reports History and Today
#33: Richard Bell – “Stolen
1/26/21        48 min

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Historically Thinking
Episode 141: Stolen, or, a Journey on the Reverse Underground Railroad
12/30/19         62 min

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