Come August, Come Freedom:\u00a0 The Bellows, the Gallows and the Black General Gabriel<\/i> by Gigi Amateau, Candlewick Press, September 2012, ISBN978-0-7636-4792-6 (Ages 12-up)<\/p>\n
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One of the least-known stories from our nation\u2019s history is that of the widespread Black resistance to enslavement. \u00a0From the very beginnings of European settlement of the new world, Africans and their descendants fought against the cruelties of slavery with every means available to them: work slowdowns and sabotage; escape from plantations to native settlements or communities of free Maroons hidden in the wilderness; and even desperate acts of suicide and infanticide.<\/p>\n
Young Americans of all racial and ethnic backgrounds need to hear these stories, to gain a more complete understanding of our shared history, as well as the current state of our union.\u00a0 Richmond author Gigi Amateau has bravely taken up this task with her new historical novel for young people, Come August, Come Freedom<\/i>.\u00a0 Amateau tells the story of the enslaved Gabriel, who lived just outside Richmond, Virginia.\u00a0 Gabriel, a skilled blacksmith, learned to read and write as a child.\u00a0\u00a0 As a young man, he was inspired by stories of the American patriots who had recently rebelled against the English king, as well as contemporary reports of the Black general Toussaint L\u2019Ouverture and his successful revolution against the French slavemasters of Haiti.\u00a0 In 1800, with the support of his beloved Nan and a small core of family members and others from neighboring farms, Gabriel planned a daring armed rebellion to win freedom.\u00a0 He secretly began forging swords and other weapons.\u00a0 He and his followers would seize arms from local armories, capture Virginia\u2019s governor, James Monroe, and demand freedom for the enslaved people of Virginia.\u00a0 Their motto was \u201cDeath or Liberty.\u201d<\/p>\n
His smithy\u2019s craft enabled Gabriel to move throughout central Virginia, as he \u201chired out\u201d to various farms and plantations.\u00a0 As he traveled, he recruited people to his cause.\u00a0 Eventually, hundreds of recruits were ready to follow him.\u00a0 Gabriel believed poor whites and Native Americans would also join the rebellion once it began.\u00a0 Had it not been for the confusion created by torrential rain and flooding on the assigned day of the revolt, Gabriel\u2019s scheme might very well have succeeded.\u00a0 Instead, the plan was postponed and betrayed.\u00a0 More than two dozen of the plotters, including Gabriel himself, were captured and hanged.<\/p>\n
Amateau imagines Gabriel\u2019s life from infancy through its violent end.\u00a0 Her storytelling is historically accurate and detailed.\u00a0 Much of the book centers on Gabriel\u2019s love for Nan, a worker enslaved at a neighboring plantation.\u00a0 These sections provide the deepest glimpse into Gabriel as a person. \u00a0Unfortunately, there is almost no remaining record of his actual words. \u00a0Gabriel must surely have been a powerful, charismatic leader, but Amateau imagines less of this aspect of his character than we might like.<\/p>\n
Although she is writing for young people, Amateau doesn\u2019t hide the brutalities of slavery.\u00a0 The story she tells includes beatings and floggings, the hunger and deprivation enslaved people were forced to endure, the sale and separation of families, and even references to slave breeding and the threat of rape by white slaveholders.\u00a0 Her story will help young readers understand that surviving such abuse was a regular part of the lives of enslaved people. \u00a0Amateau chooses her words carefully\u2014for example, she rarely uses the term slave<\/i> but rather identifies Africans as the people<\/i> or bondsmen<\/i>.\u00a0\u00a0 Although Gabriel and Nan\u2019s story is brutal and tragic, Amateau manages to tell it in terms suitable for adolescent readers\u2014at least those willing to face the painful facts of our nation\u2019s history. \u00a0\u00a0Historical documents\u2014some authentic, some imagined\u2014interspersed throughout the text help complete the story.\u00a0 And her writing turns lyrical at times, as she describes the natural beauties of the James River, and the hills and fields where the enslaved people find respite.<\/p>\n
Come August, Come Freedom<\/i> tells an important American story, in an honest and uncompromising way that will touch the hearts and open the eyes of many young readers.\u00a0 Amateau\u2019s new novel should generate some challenging, and much needed discussions in our country\u2019s living rooms and classrooms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Come August, Come Freedom:\u00a0 The Bellows, the Gallows and the Black General Gabriel by Gigi Amateau, Candlewick Press, September 2012, ISBN978-0-7636-4792-6 (Ages 12-up) One of the least-known stories from our nation\u2019s history is that of the widespread Black resistance to enslavement. \u00a0From the very beginnings of European settlement of the new world, Africans and …<\/p>\n