The following collection of thematically related readings is available in In My Father's House and Related Readings in McDougal Littell's Literature Connections series.

"A Dark Indefinite Shore" by Bruce Catton
(from Reflections on the Civil War, © 1981)
Summary: In this essay, a respected historian argues that the Civil War ultimately made the United States a stronger and better nation.

"When Freedom Came" by Julius Lester
(from Long Journey Home: Stories From Black History, © 1972)
Summary: This short story focuses on a former slave's search for his wife and children, who were sold away from him under slavery.

The War Comes to Richmond Children by Sallie Hunt
Summary: This memoir provides a child's-eye view of the excitement and enthusiasm in the Confederate capital as the Civil War began.

"The Battleground" by Elsie Singmaster
Summary: In this short story, the life of a distraught and grieving Gettysburg woman is changed when she hears President Lincoln speak.

"Southern Mansion" by Arna Bontemps, © 1963
Summary: In this poem, the ghosts of the Old South--its gentry and its slaves--haunt the mind of the speaker, who is pondering a long-gone way of life.

"In Honor of David Anderson Brooks, My Father" by Gwendolyn Brooks
(from Blacks, © 1991)
Summary: This poem praises the poet's late father and rejoices in the freedom his soul now enjoys.

"She" by Rosa Guy
(from Sixteen: Short Stories, © 1984)
Summary: In this contemporary short story, the narrator fights a battle of wills with her stepmother.