Cezanne Pinto, Mary Stolz

Slave, free man, friend, devoted son, trusted employee, self-made success, horseman, cowboy—all of these terms describe the protagonist of Mary Stolz's fictional memoir. Set just before, during, and after the Civil War, the novel follows Cezanne from childhood in Virginia to the Underground Railroad and freedom in Canada and finally into Texas in a search for his mother. Here he becomes a cowboy, finds a home, and begins a family of his own. Cezanne describes his journeys—geographic and emotional—with unforgettable detail.

Related Readings

"O, Freedom," "Free at Last," and "Many Thousand Gone"—African American spirituals

"The Railroad That Wasn't"—history by Gena K. Gorrell

from Song of Myself—poem by Walt Whitman

"Black Cowboys"—nonfiction by Gina De Angelis

from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl—autobiography by Harriet A. Jacobs

Study Guide (PDF)