Turtles on a Black Gum Tree is a creative retelling of Charles Ball's 1837 autobiography, Slavery in the United States, closely following the original narrative. It recounts his upbringing in Maryland, his forced march to the lower South, and his escape and journey back home. Although he died in obscurity, Charles Ball left us with one of the most comprehensive and uncompromising portraits of slavery in the post-colonial era. There has not been a re-telling of his story in over one hundred and fifty years.

Charles Ball walked from Georgia to Maryland in a period stretching from August until the following spring. The terrain was rugged and varied; the weather was alternately hot, wet, and cold; food was difficult to secure; shelter haphazard; and his clothes threadbare and inadequate. His shoes wore out quickly, and his second-hand boots failed so often that he had to wrap strips of hickory bark around his feet to keep them from falling apart. He had begun his flight from his late master’s plantation in Georgia on the ninth of August. By November, he had made it no farther than South Carolina. Inclement weather and starless nights had exhausted his patience; fear of being seen had worn on his nerves; loneliness and longing gnawed at his soul. If his physical and emotional needs were not at least partially met, he would falter and collapse, no matter the strength of his character.