Ann Eskridge has a passion for African American history that has led her to explore subjects as diverse as the Underground Railroad, all-black towns in Oklahoma, New Orleans' free people of color, and the Gullah community on the Sea Islands off the Coast of South Carolina.  Her latest project, The Raven, is a fictional Young Adult book that serves as an exciting, "edu-tainment" thriller. This historical fiction book captures the danger of that time when fugitive slaves were hunted and those who helped them were jailed, their property confiscated, or they were killed.