Seeking Freedom
The Untold Story of Fortress Monroe and the Ending of Slavery in America
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
In this dramatic Civil War story, a courageous enslaved fugitive teams with a cunning Union general to save a Union fort from the Confederates–and triggers the end of slavery in the United States. This is the first children's nonfiction book about a Black unsung hero who remains relevant today and to the Black Lives Matter movement.
On the night Virginia secedes from the Union, three enslaved men approach Fortress Monroe. Knowing that Virginia's secession meant they would be separated from their families and sent farther south to work for the Confederacy, the men decided to plead for sanctuary. And they were in luck.
The fort's commander, Benjamin Butler, retained them--and many more that followed--by calling them "contraband of war." Butler depended on the contrabands to provide information about the Confederates. He found the perfect partner in George Scott, one of the contrabands, whose heroism saved the fort from enemy hands. And, it was the plight of the contrabands that convinced President Lincoln that slavery MUST be abolished and inspired him to write his Emancipation Proclamation, ending slavery in the rebellious states.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Castrovilla spotlights the actions of a little-known contributor to the end of slavery: a Black freedom seeker named George Scott, who assisted white Maj. Gen. Benjamin Franklin Butler "to track down the Confederates" who threatened Fortress Monroe, a Union military base in Virginia, in 1861. Scott's heroic feat led Butler to write a letter to President Lincoln "arguing for Scott's liberty—and for that of all the contrabands," or the freedom seekers who sought refuge at the Fortress. Bolded headings track time as action-centered diction moves the plot forward: "Scott peered at the bridge to Fortress Monroe. He'd arrived to see eight more Negroes headed inside." Immersive watercolor art by Caldecott Honoree Lewis presents realistic portraits and natural landscapes with dramatic use of light and shadow in this well-paced historical narrative. Extensive back matter includes further historical context as well as a bibliography. Ages 7–10.
