Freedom Over Me

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Freedom Over Me Cover Book

Freedom Over Me is a book written and illustrated by Ashley Bryan. This book is a collection of fictional autobiographies of real men, women, and children who lived in the American South during the time of slavery. It was named a Newbery Honor book in 2017, also Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book and Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Book. [1]

Summary

In a writer's note toward the finish of this book, author/illustrator Ashley Bryan describes a document he claims which records the evaluated estimation of the assets of an estate family in 1828. Close by the pigs, cotton, and cows are the names of eleven people. The Author has painted representations of every one of these eleven slaves as he envisions them and in free verse imagines a story for each one of them about their persistent effort on the Fairchild plantation and about their fantasies of their countries and of freedom. The initial two-page spread of every section combines the first-individual account with a striking representation of the slave, layering the artwork on top of an arrangement of newspaper clippings and documents about slavery from the time. The slaves' accounts of their previous lives and of their positions and connections on the Fairchild estate are set straightforwardly against a setting of the historical backdrop of servitude in the United States. [2]

one of the pages in Freedom Over Me

Pros

This book explains that slaves also have dreams of doing with talents they have. The second set of pages for each slave shows up in full tone and shows the speaker completely drenched in a mindful local area. The speakers' abilities incorporate carpentry, music, sewing, cooking, and then some. Subsequent to including the cost under each slave's image, The Author offers a last count for the finished deal, people, animals, and products: $3,476.05. [3] The Author affectionately reestablishes their humankind and pride, giving them ages, genuine African names, connections, abilities, expectations, and dreams. Here is the record of eleven individuals, every one of whom knows about what they add to the Fairchilds estate and, all the more significantly, what they might want to add to the world. Each slave has managed the cost of two twofold page spreads of poetry: the first spread serves as his or her introduction; the second is devoted to his or her dreams. We meet Peggy, the Fairchilds’ cook, who is praised by the Fairchilds for the flavors she adds to dinners at the Big House. In “Peggy Dreams,” she recalls her life in Africa and uncovers that she's glad for her capacity to mend harmed individual slaves through her work with roots and spices. Bacus is known for his metalwork in fencing the Big House, but his dream admits that the pounding of the metal is “an outlet for anger, for rage…a blow for justice…a cry for respect.” The art is just as intentional. Facsimiles of the historical document serve as background for each slave's presentation page, representations of their faces outweighing everything else as they look out at the peruser. The pictures are scratched in a way like wood carvings, proposing the veil each slave wears for everyday life on the estate. Rather than the dry, material-like tones of the introductions, the dream spreads are in gloriously brilliant colors, as bold as the aspirations of the individuals themselves. [4]

References

  1. Freedom Over Me. Goodreads. Retrieved January 29 2021.
  2. Freedom Over Me. Storypath. Retrieved January 29 2021.
  3. Freedom Over Me. Kirkus Review. Retrieved January 29 2021.
  4. Njoku, Eboni.Review of Freedom Over Me: Eleven Slaves, Their Lives and Dreams Brought to Life. The Horn Books. 2 November 2016. Retrieved January 29 2021.