"The Brothers" by Louisa May Alcott

For our last story honoring #BlackHistoryMonth we bring you “The Brothers” by Louisa May Alcott. I learned another term this week. Contraband. Well, I know this word, but I didn’t know it was used in this way: Contraband was a term commonly used in the United States military during the American Civil War to describe a new status for certain escaped slaves or those who affiliated with Union forces. In August 1861, the Union Army (and the United States Congress) determined that the US would no longer return escaped slaves who went to Union lines and classified them as "contraband of war” or captured enemy property.