“Freedom over me” is a book written about the stories of the eleven slaves in the Fairchild’s estate. The Fairchild’s estate was an estate established to training slaves in learning certain tasks in order for other people to hire them. They trained their slaves to be skilled at certain tasks, and then have them available for other people to hire their slaves. The money profits back to the estate, and that was how their business was able to continue. That was until Mr. Fairchild passed away. Therefore, Ashley introduces these eleven slaves and writes about their dreams of freedom and more. However, what surprises me even more is the fact that the stories of these eleven slaves were real and actually existed. Ashley Bryan acquired a collection of slave-related documents, which dated from the 1820s to the 1860s. He found those documents so fascinating and touching that he decided to make their stories come to life through this book. He even picked the Fairchilds Appraisement of the estate document from July 5, 1828 to tell this story. His book also included a primary document listing the names and prices of these eleven slaves that were being sold with the cows, hogs, and cotton of the Fairchild’s estate. I find that to be fascinating because he found these written stories that back then would’ve been treasoned with death for reading and writing, and he wrote it as if they were alive and were writing this with her. I think it was beautifully written, and I really enjoyed the literacy work that he’s done here as well. One of my favorite excerpt written from the book was about Peggy, the cook, which he wrote, “My knowledge makes me hunger for more. Relieving the aches, the pains, the suffering of the slaves is my chief joy” (Bryan, 2016). That’s a pretty powerful excerpt about Peggy, or should I say Mariama, her real name. I really enjoyed the beautifully written stories of these eleven slaves by Ashley. I don’t think he could have portrayed them any better than what he did. I could really feel their emotions and yearning for freedom and hope for a better future. I really enjoyed how he introduces them with a persona poem of who they are as a slave, and then having us, the readers, turning the page only to find that they are more than what they appear to be on the outside, and that they are human like any of us and that they, too, have dreams of their own. I think this is where he truly helps the slaves come to life and starts to move us from a window perspective to a sliding glass door perspective, which is a great addition to books that teaches students different perspectives about slavery. This is a must have in every teacher’s collection. ThemesSome of the themes that I’ve noticed from this book are freedom, hope, dreams, slavery, and identity. This book takes place in a time where slavery still had a place in the heart of the world. These eleven slaves talked about what they were taught and told to do during their lifetime in the Fairchild’s estate. They talked about how they didn’t really have a choice, and that all of their hard work and talents only benefited the estate. This was very common for slaves during that time period. Slaves were objects and were treated like them and not human. They were used for their abilities and talents, and were praised for it, but didn’t really gain from it as shown in these stories. Throughout their stories the author also included dreams of each one of them. They all had different dreams relating to their talents, but it all tied down to being free. It was one thing that they all had in common. They dreamed more than anything to be free from slavery and to be whoever it is that they wanted to be. They all lived with hope that one day their dreams would come true. Their singing, music, art, crafts, hard works, stories, threads, and children were the only hope they had in enduring the hardships of slavery year after year. And with those endurance, they continued to hone these preordained skill sets and slowly allowed it to help shape who they are. They showed to us, readers, that they are more than slaves, and that they enjoy doing these tasks because it is a part of them. It’s one of the good memories that they still have left of home. That’s one of the things that I really loved about this book as well. These slaves were told to do certain tasks, but as we continue reading we find that these tasks are a big part of who they are and that’s important to them. They allowed that to define their identity instead of it taking away or erasing their identity. They did all of these tasks in memory of their ancestors and memories of Africa, so they don’t hate it completely, and I really haven’t read a book about this kind of perspective before. Therefore, I think the author did a great job at portraying this point of view and showing that their hopes and dreams are filled with freedom and their identities of more than slavery. Building Critical Connections...I think it’s fair to take a few moments to discuss the approach Ashley took to make the story so real to readers. I mentioned his use of persona poem, but I’m going to talk a bit about what that is and what it looks like. Persona poems are a type of poem intentionally written in the perspective of another person. This is meant to help readers engage into the character and story and transport them to experiencing and sharing emotions through the characters. This type of writing really helps “enhances the readers’ capacity for empathy. As students walk into the wardrobe of persona poetry, they are transported into the lives of “others,” and through imaginative reconstruction, they attempt to understand the complexities of the character’s inner world, the poet’s craft and structural moves, and are better prepared to move through the sliding glass door” (Frye, Hardin, Bouwman, & Stumb, 2018). Ashley’s stories of these eleven slaves are a great example of how powerful persona poems can be. It was able to pull in my perspective even further in to gain an even more understanding of these slaves. He wanted the readers to know more about them other than she/he is a cook, a carpenter, a seamstress, or a blacksmith because in reality, they were more than a slave. To be more accurate, they can’t really be defined as slaves because that’s not what they choose to be. They didn’t have a choice to be a slave, so I think through writing these persona poems, Ashley wanted us to enter into their world and not only see but feel their pain, yearnings, dreams, and memories of being free. He was, after all, telling the stories of these eleven real slaves that had dreamed more than anything to be part of the world. Which he succeeded through this writing approach. I think it would have been different if he had just wrote it as “a story about eleven slaves” because then it wouldn’t bring out that realism aspect of the stories that he had discovered from the slave documents. Therefore, I think writing the persona poems from the character’s point of view really helps bring the characters out to life and makes us relate and connect to the characters more than if it were a typical children’s book about slaves. I also think that the visuals in this book were also powerful. Though it may not have won an award for its visuals, I think the visuals in this book were just as powerful. For example, I loved how the background of the slaves were all words of documents of some sort whether it be a slave document, newsletters, or maybe even the Emancipation Proclamation document. He included documents of property and the appraisement held at the house of Mrs. Fairchilds on the 5th of July 1828, which draws our attention as readers to experience these events. As Roberta Price Gardner stated, “Visuals are powerful, forcing viewers to experience and/or witness events, even if only from within” (Gardner, 2017). Therefore, I think his persona poems of each slaves in addition to these visuals made this book so powerful that it was recognized and won the Coretta Scott King Award. This award was designed to commemorate the life and works of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and to honor Mrs. Coretta Scott King for her courage and determination to continue the work for peace. Books were annually recognized for their great works and representation of the African American experience. Overall, this book is a great representation of viewing slaves from a different perspective using a different writing approach. My very own Persona Poem...I am Caesar, an orphan of Raft World I live with a big family that probably doesn’t even know I’m missing I work day in, day out Trying to care for myself Cause I know I can’t afford to rely on anyone. Like a lost child, I am always searching for a home. The Raft King praises my gifts to sink low within the ocean floor. Yet I don’t feel belonged when helping him. Instead, I think it’s unfair for him To decide for the whole Raft World. I left in hopes to find a family that can understand me and my gifts. As an orphan of Raft World, I am free to wander and do almost anything, And I also learned along with that Comes taking some responsibility myself. Which is probably why I don’t understand why Kenchen is so set to protecting Pip. I may not know him, but I know What it feels like to lose someone special to you, Which is why I want to help Kenchen. I may not belong with Kenchen, But it's nice to know that someone cares about me. Although I worry constantly About what will happen to me Once this is all over, I don’t want to ruin this moment. This moment of friendship, companionship, and adventure. After all, that’s always better than having Eyes and whispers of pity from others Staring down into my very soul. It makes me want to sink and never rise, But the only thing that keeps me from sinking Is the hope that one day I, too, will belong somewhere with someone. Yet, as I emerged from the brown sack and locked eyes with the girl who was “suppose” to be my new family, the look of disappointment tells me I haven’t quite found it yet. I am Caesar, an orphan of Raft World Who is now accompanied, yet still alone. I’ve never said it out to anyone, But I dreamed of a family. I dreamed of belonging to someone. However, my dreams evolved into worries. I try not to show my true feelings When everyone seems to belong somewhere, But I can’t help but question, “When will I belong with someone?” “When will I get to rely on someone else?” And “when will I be set free from this loneliness?” That is, until I met Thanh, Sang, and Mai. I am Caesar, an orphan of Raft World Whose dreams just came true. Processing of writing...“Writing lets us think of things we didn’t know we knew until we began writing” (Frye, Hardin, Bouwman, & Stumb, 2018) By writing my own persona poem about Caesar, a character from A Crack in the Sea, I was able to dig in deeper and understand more about her feeling of wanting to belong. In my previous blog post, I analyzed her character portrayed in throughout the story. Caesar is a very brave, determined, and independent girl who hides behind her happy face and personality a lot. Therefore, I tried to picture how she felt for the most part throughout the story, and to me, it was her longing for a sense of belonging with someone that stood out to me the most. So the first thing I did was writing down everything that I knew, thought, or felt about Caesar as I read the book. Using a template, I added words and phrases that would best describe and express Caesar's feelings of yearning for belonging, and then I read through it. I went back into the book to reread certain parts to dig deeper inside her and how she might have felt during those times, and then I wrote it out. I also used the "Freedom Over Me" template to help guide me into writing my poem because I wanted it to sound more natural as if Caesar were writing it. Once I did all of that, I just sat down in a nice, quiet place and wrote while thinking about Caesar. I'm not entirely sure that I was able to fully portray Caesar through my poem, but in some sense, I believe that I did. Throughout the whole book, I felt like Caesar secretly was worried about what would happen to her once everyone had return back to where they came from. Even though she didn't show it, I could feel her anxiety and fear of being alone once again. So with those traits and images of her in mind, I was able to write this persona poem about Caesar.
Bryan, A. (2016). Freedom over me. New York: Simon & Schuster. Frye, E. M., Hardin, B. L., Bouwman, H. M., & Stumb, A. E. (2018, December). PDF. Frye, E. M., & Hash, L. A. (2013, March/April). PDF Gardner, R.P. (2017, May). PDF
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