Chasing Freedom Companion Booktalks

Alec’s Primer

Mil­dred Pitts Wal­ter
illus­trat­ed by Lar­ry John­son
Ver­mont Folk­life Cen­ter, 2005

• Based on the true sto­ry of Alec Turn­er (1845−1923), who learned to read as a boy with the help of his own­er’s daughter

• Sup­ple­ment the sto­ry with sto­ries and songs from tape-record­ed inter­views with Daisy Turn­er, Alec’s daughter

• A Carter G. Wood­son hon­or book from a Coret­ta Scott King-win­ning author

All Dif­fer­ent Now: June­teenth, the First Day of Freedom

Angela John­son
illus­trat­ed by E.B. Lewis
Simon & Schus­ter, 2014

• Per­fect­ly and pow­er­ful­ly, 289 words evoke a mon­u­men­tal event

• Back mat­ter includes author and illus­tra­tor notes, impor­tant dates list, short his­to­ry of June­teenth, and a glossary

• Coret­ta Scott King Award-win­ning author and illustrator

Cross­ing Bok Chit­to: A Choctaw Tale of Friend­ship and Free­dom 

Tim Tin­gle
illus­trat­ed by Jeanne Rorex Bridges
Cin­co Pun­tas Press, 2006

• “Set in the Old South, Cross­ing Bok Chit­to is an Indi­an book, writ­ten by Indi­an voic­es, and paint­ed by an Indi­an artist” (from the author’s note)

• Sev­en slaves cross to free­dom, led by a young Choctaw girl; adds a new per­spec­tive to the estab­lished escape literature

• Back mat­ter includes short pro­file of the Choctaw nations and a note on Choctaw storytelling

Eliz­a­beth Leads the Way: Eliz­a­beth Cady Stan­ton and the Right to Vote

Tanya Lee Stone
illus­trat­ed by Rebec­ca Gib­bon
Hen­ry Holt, 2008

• The girl­hood and young adult years of a lead­ing famous suffragist

• Author’s note includes a brief overview of Cady Stanton’s life and pub­lic image

• ALA Notable, Junior Library Guild Pre­mier Selec­tion, 2009 Amelia Bloomer Award Book

Har­ri­et Tub­man, Secret Agent: How Dar­ing Slaves and Free Blacks Spied for the Union dur­ing the Civ­il War

Thomas B. Allen
illus­trat­ed by Car­la Bauer
Nation­al Geo­graph­ic Chil­dren’s Books, 2006

• Com­bines the sto­ry of Har­ri­et Tub­man’s post-Under­ground Rail­road work as spy and mil­i­tary leader with a his­to­ry of the abo­li­tion­ist move­ment and the Civ­il War

• Back mat­ter includes time line, a bib­li­og­ra­phy, and notes and quote sources

• Includes some secret codes to decipher!

Heart and Soul: the Sto­ry of Amer­i­ca and African Americans

writ­ten and illus­trat­ed by Kadir Nel­son
Balzer+Bray, 2012

• “…a grand and awe-inspir­ing sur­vey of the black expe­ri­ence in Amer­i­ca, deliv­ered in 108 pages” (Wal­ter Dean Myers)

• Coret­ta Scott King win­ner (author) AND Coret­ta Scott King hon­or (illus­tra­tor)

• Back mat­ter includes author’s note, time­line, exten­sive bibliography

I Could Do That! Esther Mor­ris Gets Women the Right to Vote

Lin­da Arms White
illus­trat­ed by Nan­cy Car­pen­ter
Far­rar, Straus& Giroux, 2005

• Pic­ture book (some­what fic­tion­al­ized) biog­ra­phy of woman who was instru­men­tal in the suc­cess­ful fight for women’s suf­frage in Wyoming — 51 years before it was won nationally

• Back mat­ter includes author’s note and resources

• Humor­ous  illus­tra­tions expand the kid-appeal of the story

Many Thou­sand Gone: African Amer­i­cans from Slav­ery to Freedom

Vir­ginia Hamil­ton
illus­trat­ed by Leo and Diane Dil­lon
Knopf, 1993

• Giant-heart­ed book from three children’s lit­er­a­ture giants

• 250 years of slav­ery in the U.S. told through pro­files of slaves and freed people

• Pre­sent­ed in chrono­log­i­cal order, each chapter/profile includes a stun­ning black and white illus­tra­tion by the Dillons

March­ing with Aunt Susan: Susan B. Antho­ny and the Fight for Women’s Suffrage

Claire Rudolf Mur­phy
illus­trat­ed by Stacey Schuett
Peachtree, 2011

• The nar­ra­tive is from the point of view of Bessie Kei­th Pond, a (real) ten-year old Cal­i­for­nia girl, which cre­ates engag­ing imme­di­a­cy to the history

• Exten­sive back mat­ter — per­fect for report writing

• Amelia Bloomer project 2012 book list

Moses: When Har­ri­et Tub­man Led Her Peo­ple to Freedom

Car­ole Boston Weath­er­ford
illus­trat­ed by Kadir Nel­son
Jump at the Sun/Hyperion, 2006

• Calde­cott-hon­or for Nelson’s stun­ning illus­tra­tions; most are dou­ble-page spreads

• Unique three-voiced nar­ra­tive that is easy to fol­low and con­veys the pow­er of Tubman’s per­son­al mis­sion; we hear the sto­ry­teller, Har­ri­et Tub­man, and the voice of God as she hears it

• Author is an NAACP image award final­ist and Carter G. Wood­son Award win­ner; author’s note includes con­cise biog­ra­phy of Tubman

Trav­el­ing the Free­dom Road: From Slav­ery and the Civ­il War through Reconstruction

Lin­da Bar­rett Osborne
Hen­ry N. Abrams, Inc., 2009

• Pub­lished in asso­ci­a­tion with the Library of Con­gress, it’s loaded with pri­ma­ry sources — doc­u­ments and images

• Nar­ra­tive focus­es on young peo­ple and includes many first-per­son rec­ol­lec­tions of the time period

• Library of Con­gress author video and oth­er resources to sup­ple­ment reading

With Courage and Cloth: Win­ning the Fight for a Wom­an’s Right to Vote

Ann Bausum  
Nation­al Geo­graph­ic, 2004

• Detailed, pho­to-illus­trat­ed his­to­ry of women’s suf­frage in the U.S. from a Sib­ert hon­or and Carter Wood­son Award author

• Just why is “cloth” so impor­tant? A per­fect top­ic for research and discussion

• Back mat­ter galore for reports