This is the story of Charles Ball, an American slave who was born in 1780 and remained a slave for fifty years thereafter. Ball told his story to a lawyer who turned it into this written work.

Latest episodes of the podcast Fifty Years in Chains; or The Life of an American Slave by Charles Ball

• Chapter 1
• Chapter 2
• Chapter 3
• Chapter 4
• Chapter 5
• Chapter 6
• Chapter 7
• Chapter 8
• Chapter 9, part 1
• Chapter 9, part 2
• Chapter 10
• Chapter 11, part 1
• Chapter 11, part 2
• Chapter 12
• Chapter 13
• Chapter 14, part 1
• Chapter 14, part 2
• Chapter 15
• Chapter 16
• Chapter 17
• Chapter 18, part 1
• Chapter 18, part 2
• Chapter 19
• Chapter 20, part 1
• Chapter 20, part 2