| | Prologue: The Mystery of Michelle Obama's Roots | p. 1 |
| | Migration | |
| | Phoebe, the Wanderer | p. 19 |
| | St. Louis | p. 29 |
| | Siren Song of the North | p. 38 |
| | A Family Grows in Chicago | p. 46 |
| | Exploding Dreams | p. 60 |
| | A Child of the Jazz Age | p. 72 |
| | A Man of Promise | p. 77 |
| | Stumbling Backward | p. 81 |
| | Love in Hard Times | p. 87 |
| | Struggling and Striving | p. 98 |
| | The Search for the Truth | p. 111 |
| | The Demise of Reconstruction and the Rise of Jim Crow | |
| | A Man on the Rise | p. 119 |
| | Left Behind | p. 130 |
| | Neither Black Nor White | p. 141 |
| | The Reckoning | p. 153 |
| | Birmingham, The Magic City | p. 161 |
| | Two Brothers, Two Destinies | p. 171 |
| | The One-Armed Patriarch | p. 179 |
| | Twilight | p. 188 |
| | The Search for the Truth: Atlanta | p. 198 |
| | Slavery and Emancipation | |
| | A Slave Girl Named Melvinia | p. 209 |
| | Journey To Georgia | p. 218 |
| | South Carolina Gold | p. 228 |
| | A Child Is Born | p. 240 |
| | Born Free | p. 251 |
| | Exodus | p. 264 |
| | The Civil War | p. 271 |
| | Uneasy Freedom | p. 285 |
| | Epilogue: Melvinia's Secret | p. 297 |
| | Acknowledgments | p. 305 |
| | Notes | p. 311 |
| | Bibliography | p. 357 |
| | Index | p. 369 |