R. Gregory Nokes, author of Massacred for Gold, about the death of Chinese gold miners on the Snake River, brings his substantial research abilities to bear on the little-known history of slavery in Oregon with his most recent release, Breaking Chains: Slavery on Trial in the Oregon Territory. It is the story of an illiterate freed slave going up against a wealthy, prominent white man to regain custody of his children in 1840s Oregon and winning.

Robin Holmes was up against incredible odds. His former owner, Nathaniel Ford, had been important politically in his native Missouri, and did not take long to make a name for himself in Oregon politics as well. But Holmes case was taken on by Reuben Boise, the 31-year-old prosecuting attorney for the Oregon Territory. The case lasted 15 months, and four different judges were involved by the time the case was settled. The newly appointed chief justice of Oregons Territorial Supreme Court, George H. Williams, ruled in Holmes favor within days of being seated on the bench, on July 13, 1853.

The book covers not only the specific case of Holmes vs. Ford but the general attitude toward slavery, people of African descent and their place in an emerging state. Nokes gives a lot of ink to discussion of anti-slavery laws before and after Oregon became a state and the exclusionist policies toward blacks that were not completely eradicated from Oregon law until 1926.

Slavery is a subject of great shame to many people. But for Nokes, the shame is personal; through genealogical research, he discovered one of his ancestors brought a slave with him when he emigrated to Oregon. Nokes extreme distaste for the idea that his family could have been involved in something now considered so abominable helped uncover a compelling story that illustrates a dark chapter in Oregons history.

Breaking Chains: Slavery On Trial in the Oregon Territory, by R. Gregory Nokes. © 2013, Oregon State University Press. Softcover, 224 pages. Retail: $19.95.