Anya Jabour, Ph.D., explains how most contraband camps were dismal if not downright dangerous places, and how Union authorities were unprepared for the influx of refugees—particularly those who could not be recruited into the ranks of the Union Army. From Fulton, Missouri, one Union captain wrote to his senior officer: “What are we to do with the women and children?”

Genealogist Kenyatta D. Berry examines how song was used by slaves to both communicate and express feeling in the moment, as well as and pass history down through generations.