[This page describes the characters found in one of two books published in the year 2073. Click here to learn more about these works of fiction. The books can be downloaded in a variety of formats at no cost.]
I would like to thank readers who have made it through this book. Writing is very time-consuming. It is always good to be rewarded by knowing that the book is being read.
This book adds immensely to the literature about Jane Foreman and, hopefully, will be the basis of some full-length biographies. Until now, there have been some children's books which really could not tell the whole story. There have also been some adult books which focused on one isolated part of this story. My hope is that this will lead the way to some careful work which explores the full story in the detail it deserves.
Any mistakes and omissions in this book are my own. I wish I could have convinced Jane to describe the days she spent in the slave processing center just after her capture. I have to respect Jane's privacy on something that is still too painful for her to relate to others.
Julie Hildebrandt's death last year cleared the last obstacle to write out the story in detail. Finally, the details of the loan or theft of Julie's money can be mentioned and explained. This account explains why Zach Perez was so richly rewarded for his work on behalf of “the enterprise.”
Most people are not aware that Emily Mitchell has been working with the National Data Centers for the last five years. All of the logging, password, and control weaknesses that she exploited were corrected years ago. Readers are cautioned not to attempt any of the tricks described in this book. All the loopholes in the law have been closed. You have been warned.
I have to say how pleasant it was to be asked by the Smithsonian Institution to work with Jane in preparing a large display about Jane. We created a duplicate of the bedroom we shared in high school, which shows how Jane was chained up every night. It was this work that led me to want to write this book.
I urge readers who want to get an “authentic experience” to visit the Smithsonian. We have all of Jane's writing from her youth, including her remarkable output in the two weeks after her sale, but before her trip to Atlanta. We have the original hard drive given by Roger Carter to Jane. The actual contents have been removed, but there is an excellent selection of documents from the original drive available online. The Smithsonian has the original of Jane's valedictorian speech from high school and her papers from the Second Constitutional Convention. I always laugh when I see the photo of Jane inside the official photo booth at the beginning of her own wedding, with Amir looking annoyed and confused in the background. I know how much my wife and I and our kids enjoy seeing this exhibit.
Every time I see Jane on TV or in various media presentations, I see her gold collar. She is a woman who has transformed our era. I am grateful for my chance to tell her story.
– Deb Coulter-Jackson