Escape from Slavery The True Story of My Ten Years in Captivity and My Journey to Freedom in America

by Bok, Francis; Tivnan, Edward

• ISBN13: 9780312306236
• ISBN10: 0312306237
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-10-14
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Summary

n this groundbreaking autobiography, Francis Bok shares the riveting history of his brutal capture and enslavement, his desperate escape, and his remarkable journey to freedom. Bok's extraordinary memoir describes: -The raid on his village -His horrific abduction at age seven -Numerous failed and near-fatal escapes -His successful escape to a refugee camp-followed by nine months in jail under the charge of sedition -His harrowing journey to Cairo and with the help of the UN, to freedom in America -His new life in Boston as a student and anti-slavery activist. Escape from Slavery is at once a dramatic adventure, a story of desperation and triumph, and an important commentary on the plight of millions held in slavery today.

Author Biography

Francis Bok is twenty-three-years old and an Associate at the Boston-based American Anti-Slavery Group (AASG). In 2000, he became the first escaped slave to testify before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations in hearings on Sudan. He speaks throughout the United States, has been featured in The Boston Globe, The Christian Science Monitor, The Wall Street Journal, Essence magazine, and on Black Entertainment Television, and he recently met with President George Bush at the White House. He lives in Boston.

Edward Tivnan has collaborated on and is the author of several books. He was a reporter and staff writer for Time Magazine and helped create ABC's 20/20. He lives in New York.

Table of Contents

"In 1986, 7-year-old farm boy, Francis Piol Bol Bok traveled to his local market to sell eggs - and left as a slave. A victim of Sudan's decades-long civil war, Bok was brutally abduxted by an Arab militiaman and forced to endure a decade of death threats, lashings, and meals of rotten meat before escaping (on his third try).

Now, as a U.N. refugee living in Boston, the 23-year-old activist shares his journey in this harrowing memoir. As if Bok's story is gripping enough, his poignantly candid commentary on Sudan's Islamic nationalist government and the millions of enslaved Sudanese will prove equally mindblowing."
- Entertainment Weekly, 10/3/03

"[Bok's] sincerity compels, especially when he describes the decade of mistreatment he endured.
For all his emotional strength, though, Bok remains humble. This is a powerful, exceptionally well-told story, equally riveting and heartbreaking. Although legal strides have been made, with the help of people like Bok, the persistence of slavery in the world makes this a work that can't be ignored."
- Publishers Weekly, 10/6/03