The Past as a Lens for the Present

Colson Whitehead explores America’s fraught racial history through his acclaimed novel The Underground Railroad.
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Photo credit: Michael Lionstar
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Speaking Engagements

One of the most celebrated writers of the decade, Colson Whitehead will captivate your team members with his wit while delivering hard truths about our shared history.

Physical & Digital Books

One of the most critically acclaimed novels of recent years, The Underground Railroad is a magnificent chronicle of a young slave’s journey for freedom and delivers a shattering meditation on the United States’ complicated political and racial history.

Digital Content

Bonus Content

Reading guides and curated content to complement The Underground Railroad and Colson Whitehead’s discussion of his award-winning book.

Colson Whitehead on OWN

While Oprah was promoting the movie Beloved, a group of journalists asked her why we needed another story about slavery. Here, she and Colson Whitehead, author of the latest Oprah’s Book Club selection, The Underground Railroad, discuss why those stories matter more than ever.

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“[Colson Whitehead is] a rare and talented speaker who deeply engages his audience, dares them to face harsh realities, and then turns on a dime charming them.”
Friends of the Hennepin County Library
“I was especially impressed with how well he engaged a multi-generational audience....Colson’s generosity was quite remarkable for one of his stature.”
Hamilton College
“Colson delivered a masterful performance...so funny and insightful that he may have convinced a few staid businessmen to give up their careers to join him as a writing disciple.”
New Orleans Public Library
“After turning the final page, I knew immediately I'd read something that would never leave me…I couldn’t wait to sit down with the author.”
Oprah Winfrey
“Given the disturbing, often grim content of his book, I think it was a welcome surprise to people that he used humor to lead into the evening.”
Butler University

Program Topics

  • Revisiting the Underground Railroad

    Colson Whitehead addresses the powerful complexities associated with writing about slavery. His lectures are frank and powerful, highlighting the research used to construct his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Underground Railroad.

The Underground Railroad

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, and a #1 New York Times bestseller, The Underground Railroad chronicles a young slave’s escape to freedom in the antebellum South.  In Whitehead’s conception, the Underground Railroad is no mere metaphor—engineers and conductors operate a secret network of tracks and tunnels beneath the Southern soil.  As Whitehead re-creates historical terrors, his narrative seamlessly weaves the saga of America from the importation of Africans to the unfulfilled promises of the present day.

Available in hardcover, paperback, eBook, or anabridged audio book
320 pages; August 02, 2016

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The Underground Railroad

“Terrific.”

—President Barack Obama

“Potent. . . .  Devastating. . . . Essential.”

—Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times
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