11.   In a country founded by free American blacks before the Civil War, Taylor thought his ace might be black political leadership in America.

12.   More important to scholars, it has put Union at the center of ongoing research showing the kidnapping of free blacks to be far more widespread than originally believed.

13.   Some free blacks devised their own methods to end bondage, buying slaves from their masters, bringing them to New York and setting them free.

14.   The scene is New York City during the Civil War, when both poor Irish immigrants and free blacks occupied the lower strata of society.

15.   This special status began to dry up just before the Civil War and evaporated when slavery ended and free blacks competed with whites for jobs and political power.

16.   This tiny village, where Cromwell now routinely strolls along a quiet cove, was once the largest settlement of free blacks outside of Africa.

17.   Free blacks were counted as whole people.

18.   The regiment was made up primarily of free blacks, including the sons of abolitionist Frederick Douglass.

19.   Visitors at Richmond National Battlefield Park can listen to readings taken from letters and diaries of residents, soldiers, free blacks and former slaves.