Accepting Kicks from Nobody follows multiple generations of a midwestern family from the closing decades of the eighteenth century well into the twentieth. Born enslaved immediately after the American Revolution, William Trail, the family patriarch, self-emancipated near the end of the War of 1812, escaping from western South Carolina to southeastern Indiana Territory. There, William helped to clear the land for settlement, established economic ties with his white neighbors, defended his freedom twice, married, raised seven sons, and provided a comfortable existence for his family through farming and carpentry.

In Indiana, William and his freeborn wife managed to secure an education for their children, who, in turn, educated the next generation. Four of the Trail sons served in the Federal Army during the Civil War; two made the ultimate sacrifice. Trail's descendants continued the family quest by becoming leaders in their community who sought liberty and justice for all.

For this broadly researched, multigenerational biography, historians Charles M. Hubbard and Edna Greene Medford mine archival sources such as personal correspondence and papers, official documents from state and national agencies, and oral histories of William Trail's early experiences collected and recorded by his sons. The saga of this rural family epitomizes the experiences of many "ordinary" Americans who have pursued life, liberty, and happiness-and whose stories are seldom told.