My Name Is Henry Bibb A Story of Slavery and Freedom

Hardcover Jacket
978-1-55337-813-6
Grades: 5 to 9
Ages: 10 to 14
© 2009
BW •5 1/4 x 6 7/8 • 160 pages

Often shocking, always compelling, Afua Cooper's novel is based on the life of Henry Bibb, an American slave who after repeated attempts escaped in 1841 to become an anti-slavery speaker, author and founder of a Black newspaper. Cooper takes painstakingly researched details about slavery and weaves an intimate story of Bibb's young life, which is overshadowed by inconceivable brutality.

At nine years old, Henry is separated from his mother and brothers and hired out, suffering abuse at the hands of cruel masters so severe he almost dies. Henry's courageous life is described in intimate detail and young readers will learn about everyday slave life on a plantation and in towns and cities, the coded language of slave escapes and the dangerous routes over land and water to safe houses.

As Henry Bibb moves from boyhood to manhood, he knows that one day he will “fly away” as in the old legend of the Africans who flew away to freedom. The first-person narrative, convincingly told in Henry's voice, traces Bibb's boyhood, marriage, fatherhood and the developing awareness of his bondage and his determination to break free of it or die.  

My Name Is Phillis Wheatley A Story of Slavery and Freedom

Hardcover Jacket
978-1-55337-812-9
Grades: 5 to 9
Ages: 10 to 14
© 2009
BW• 5 1/4 x 6 7/8• 152 pages

This is the remarkable story of Phillis Wheatley, who is born into an African family of griots, or storytellers, but captured by slave raiders and forced aboard a slave ship, where appalling conditions spell death for many of her companions. Numerous sharks follow the ship, feeding on the corpses of slaves thrown overboard.

Weakened by the voyage and near death in a Boston slave market, Wheatley is bought by a kind family who nurses her back to health and teaches her to read and write. Soon her mistress recognizes that the girl is a quick learner and talented. At the age of 12, a torrent of poetry begins to flow out of Wheatley. Proud of her achievements, her mistress organizes readings in Boston's finest parlors and drawing rooms, and Wheatley's fame spreads. But even when many in Boston are calling her a prodigy and a genius, some remain unsure that a slave should be able to write, much less write poetry. When Phillis travels to London she is a media sensation, feted by the cream of English society. A book of her poems is published, and she finally gains her freedom.

This amazing story, wide in scope, is based on fact and told convincingly from young Wheatley's point of view.

The Manley Memoirs
by Dr. Beverley Anderson Manley

A former First Lady of Jamaica in the 1970s, Beverley Manley served as Jamaica's representative to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women and the OAS Gender Section. She is a gender and transformational trainer; consultant on Third World developmental and Communications issues. A Vice President of the Third World Foundation headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, Manley was active in the politics of the Peoples' National Party in the 1970s and early 1980s. She was President of the PNP Women’s Movement and Chairperson of the PNP Political Education Programme as well as its Canvassers Training Programme. She was also a member of the Party Executive and National Executive Council – working tirelessly in the interest of women. This was a period when the women’s movement in Jamaica was very active resulting in changes in many laws that discriminated against women and children. Click here to read more.