Do You Know Them?: Families Lost and Found After the Civil War

By Shana Keller, illustrated by Laura Freeman. Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2024. 40 pages. $18.99/hardcover; $10.99/eBook. Recommended for ages 4–8.

The cover illustration of a young Black girl in a yellow dress clutching a newspaper to her chest caught the children’s eyes as we formed a circle to read Do You Know Them?: Families Lost and Found After the Civil War in religious education class that First-day morning at Richmond (Va.) Meeting. On most First Days, the children would have been quieter, but this group spanned kindergarten through age 15, including three pairs of siblings and a mix of private, public, and home-schooled students.

Once the group settled, we started off by noting that the book is set right here in Richmond and includes mention of a real newspaper that had been owned by African Americans over a century ago. “After the war ended,” the first page tells us, “everyone was missing someone.” We learn right away that the girl on the cover is Lettie, who had a family like many Black families then: torn apart as siblings, parents, and other family members were sold to White people and taken away to work for them in their houses and fields. But these people did not return after slavery was abolished.

During that time, in an effort to find family members separated by the war, enslavement, and emancipation, formerly enslaved people placed ads in newspapers such as The Richmond Planet. At first, Lettie reads the ads with her uncle, underlining words and phrases to use for her own ad one day—once she has saved up enough pennies from helping people. As she learns to read on her own, she begins reading the ads to the congregation at her church, and members listen for names they recognize.

Every newspaper advertisement included in the book is real, and author Shana Keller draws upon these snippets of history to narrate an inspiring tale about the search for family. In the acknowledgement, Keller thanks the director of the Last Seen: Finding Family After Slavery project (informationwanted.org), which has identified, digitized, and published over 3,500 of these ads spanning eight decades from 275 newspapers. The title phrase “Do You Know Them?” comes from an ad that ran in The Richmond Planet in 1897.

Keller’s words and illustrator Laura Freeman’s digital paintings soulfully carried our group of kids through an array of emotions. When a man writes that his lost father was found, and spent his money to run an ad saying so, Lettie recognizes that it wasn’t just to say thank you. “This was proof that the advertisements worked!” Her whole congregation shouted “Hallelujah!” and raised the roof with praise. And it renewed their hope. When one reader in our class stumbled over the word “hallelujah,” perhaps having seen it written “alleluia,” a rising third grader burst into Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus”—a touching moment from reading this book together.

Adult Friends in our meeting have been laboring over our legacy of systematic racism for years now, and the children have certainly learned some of the history and landmarks in our area, including the slave trails along the James River, markets where people were bought and sold, and the dismantling of monuments to Confederate generals. So this book opens another window into the lives of those who lived through these years. Lettie’s story to find her family is moving, and her persistence along the way is exemplary. The book may qualify as a first historical fiction title on this topic for many children. The story is told gently enough for young children, while being substantive enough to satisfy older children’s desire for a fuller narrative.

Do You Know Them? is compelling, historically accurate, unique, and fun as well. It would be a useful addition to any classroom or school library and would be a good first historical picture book for youngsters.

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Patricia Stansbury has been a member of Richmond (Va.) Meeting since shortly after the turn of the century. She serves on several committees, including Peace and Social Concerns and Religious Education. She currently serves on the Board of Quaker House in Fayetteville, N.C. She lives with Georgia, a very good dog who attends board meetings with her.