Author: Ashley Bryan
Illustrations: ink, pen, watercolor, images of historic appraisal
"My art and writing of this story aim to bring the slaves alive as human beings" (Bryan, 2016, p. 47).
Ashley Bryan has always been talented in writing and illustrating. He grew up in New York during the depression years. During these years the government introduced free education of art, so that is where he learned how to write and paint and draw. Within this introduction to the author mini documentary, Ashley Bryan discusses his hopes to teach students in America about traditional African spirituals. He describes how students know popular African spirituals like, "He's got the whole world in his hands!" but doesn't necessarily relate the importance to these spirituals (Simon & Schuster, Meet the Author Movie Collection). As I will describe below, in Freedom Over Me, Bryan includes the repetition of "Oh Freedom! Oh Freedom!" which he states is a common spiritual that slaves used.
Access to Meet the Author: https://www.teachingbooks.net/author_collection.cgi?id=57&mid=219
Looking at the cover to the left, there is a lot happening. When I was first looking at this I saw brightly colored landscapes of houses and huts that reminded me of images I've seen represent Africa. I assumed this as well with the subtitle of, "Eleven, slaves, their lives and dreams brought to life..." Within the circle of interlocking chains is the bold title which is printed on top of what looks like historic writing. To me this represents that "Freedom over me" is more bold than the writing in the background. Portraying that even though on paper slaves were seen as property rather than people, it didn't define their personal freedoms and desires. Inside each of the pieces of chain is an image of each slave. After reading all of the persona poems of the Fairchilds' slaves, it is made known how each of the slaves are connected into each other's lives. Either being a mentor, father, mother, husband, wife, or working closely to each other on the estate, they influence each other.
Opening the book, the end papers have type writer font and handwritten photocopied-like handwriting. This end paper is the formal documentation of buying and selling of slaves.
It is first introduced to the reader that Mrs. Fairchilds cannot handle the estate alone after the passing of her husband. With this, she got her estate appraised and documented in 1828 (Bryan, 2016, p. 2). It would be interesting to have a discussion with student about what they think Mrs. Fairchilds' husband was like as a slave owner and why they think about their reasoning from her poem alone (Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop, Armstrong, Bloom, Marks, Parravano, Roy, & Thompson, 2017, p.15).
The appraisal document that was found by Ashley Bryan was the background of the persona poems. Each individual that was enslaved was documented by gender and name. There was a quantity description. Then a price. This inclusion at the end of the book brings the reality of slavery in this time period. These individuals on the estate that help run, manage, and maintain are not seen as people. Along with this, the idea of devaluing these eleven enslaved individuals is shown when their enlistment on the appraisement was accompanied by animals and cotton.
Using this single document, Bryan used the literacy approach of portraying the slaves on the Fairchilds' estate through persona poems.
"The persona poem can serve as a wardrobe that presents the reader-turned-writer with the opportunity to try on and borrow the appropriate attire and tools in order to move through that sliding glass door better outfitted and equipped to inhabit the (character's) world" (Frye, Hardiin, Bouwman, & Stumb, 2018).
When thinking about how educators teach about slavery in the classroom, there is generally heavy use of nonfiction texts about what slavery was, when it occurred, by who, where, and why. Ashley Bryan personally put on this role of borrowing a "wardrobe" from a historical document to develop a series of narrative fiction poems written in the perspective of each slave. The historical references that Bryan uses is accurate and the poems are exquisitely and creatively written in empathetic prose. The text is altogether simple, easy to read and is not distracted on same page illustrations.
The image to the left accompanies the persona poem of the perspective of life on the estate. Here you see that the font that has Betty's name and age look handwritten as it is portrayed in the appraisal document (Brown, 2016, p. 41). The price that is accompanied by the name and age looks as though it was typed using old typewriters. Along with this, the image has neutral colors. Betty's portrait image shows firm facial structures with the dark inked lines that define facial features. To me it almost looks like wood when you cut a large limb or tree into length pieces. Along with this, the texture of paint of her skin with pen accents gives movement of her tired, unhappy, worn facial expressions. The background of the portrait of Betty is a copied historic deed of the actual appraisal for the Fairchilds' estate. Throughout the book, on the reality portraits of those that were enslaved, Ashley Bryan purposefully incorporated actual documents that relate to slavery during that time period. These portraits along with the portraits that correspond with the dream portraits would allow for a classroom discussion on the questions that Roberta Gardner suggests in initiating students observations and interpretations to what they are seeing. These questions include:
1. What is happening in this picture?
2. What do you see that makes you say that?
3. How does what you see make you feel?
4. What does seeing this image make you wonder?
5. What questions do you have about what is happening, and what would you change in this picture?
(Gardner, 2017, p. 339)
Having a thorough discussion where students feel the freedom to empathize with these portraits and how the characters are portrayed differently in each can bring others to question the reality and harshness of slavery, but also the real life experiences of slaves having dreams. The goal of texts like this is to open students to the ability to address racial injustice throughout history and in the world today.
This illustrative choice shows the defined limitations of a slave and what they are believed to only be. The poem that corresponds with this image has a title of "Betty" in a faded typewriter font. Along with this, the page color that the poem is on corresponds with her portrait because it is a pastel like color. This poem specifically spoke to me the most. It truly gave me an example of how Ashley Bryan used literary devices and poetic structures to represent those who were enslaved. Betty talks about how her gardening skills build her confidence because of her jobs around the estate and being able to commute to others. More specifically, she mentions how on the estate she has a personal priority in speaking out about everyone's talents on the estate. Ashley Bryan used repetition of the word "our" to demonstrate poetically how all those enslaved were interconnected and communicated. Ashley Bryan purposefully made the word "our" in italics to stand out to the reader to understand Betty's acknowledgement of everyone's skills that are visually seen around the estate at that time. Along with this, he included the phrase: "Freedom! Oh, Freedom!" These were repeated in several other persona poems and represents the song that those who were enslaved would sing when completing their labor on the estate to give themself some sense of hope for freedom one day. According to Ashley Bryan in the author note, this song was used primarily again in the Civil Rights movement over 100 years after slavery ended (Bryan, 2016, p.47). As stated previously, Ashley Bryan included these spirituals in all of his poetic books because he believes their background is important to learn. He stated that students know the popular spirituals, but don't know the background of these spiritual. I believe that as another activity with this book, students should listen to the words of this specific spiritual that Ashley Bryan included throughout this book. It would be interesting to see how students relate the words in this spiritual to the words that and dreams of the eleven enslaved individuals on the Fairchilds' estate (Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop, Armstrong, Bloom, Marks, Parravano, Roy, & Thompson, 2017, p.15).
The next page is entitled "Betty's dreams". The font of this text is cursive-like and looks more eloquent. Along with this, the page is again simple with text but the main difference is that it is a bright color. The illustration that accompanies this persona poem is below. As you can see, this illustration compared to the prior one is vibrant in colors, shapes, designs, and texture. This was my favorite illustration in the entire book! You can see Betty more artistically expressed for her age that Ashley Bryan used to describe her, so we can relate to her as readers. She is surrounded by fruits, vegetables and a large field. Along with this, there is a large dark male figure to the right that she is looking at that portrays her dreams of wanting to maintain her African descent.
Her dream is that if she were to become free she would buy her own land and hire workers to benefit the land.
"But we are a people,
though enslaved.
We remember our African cultures,
our traditions, our craftsmenship.
Within us lives this knowledge, this undefeated pride."
(Bryan, 2016, p. 43)
Though I chose to specifically talk about one individual on the estate, the components of how one poem described the daily life of what the individual did on the estate and one poem written about their dreams is the same throughout the book. This continuous structure throughout the book gives the readers two perspectives. It demonstrates first, the voice we primarily use to teach about slaves in what they had to do in terms of harsh and forced labor. Secondly, it takes us to another voice that we don't necessarily represent in teaching social studies which is though slaves were not seen as humans, but property, their recognition of their dreams and desires is equally as important as just their daily jobs. I believe this inclusion of desires and dreams develops a theme throughout the book that in times of despair and hopelessness, there are dreams to feel inspired by.
Below is the persona poem that I wrote about one of the main characters from The Crack in the Sea by Heather Bouwman. Poem writing has been something I always dreaded in school. I overlooked poem templates and stressed myself over if my stanzas were meaningful enough, or if I had enough rhymes. I always seemed to be more engaged in doing free write poems where I had the freedom to decide how to form my poem. Though I had a template and was still uneasy about writing, I used the actual text for motivation. After looking at my sticky notes about Mai throughout my book, I developed ways I imagined her if I personally knew her. I wrote from evidence based passages that I marked about how she stood out and how she embraced her magical powers to help people. The main reason why I chose her was because of her selfless act at the end of the book and her unwillingness to be brave and go beyond the gender stereotypes of being a girl.
MAI
I am scrupulous and selfless.
I lived in South Korea,
until Uncle Hung decided we should take refuge,
somewhere else.
I wonder why Thanh is so focused on competing against me,
why can't he accept that I'm just a better sailor?
So what I'm a girl disguised as a boy.
It's survival.
I hear water brushing harshly against the side of the boat;
No voices,
silence for safety,
no one hears us
I see a scared brother,
sister,
and unusual named baby
I want freedom to feel at peace
I’m as confident as a child riding a tricycle;
able to do things,
but need support.
I am scrupulous,
selfless,
honorable,
and powerful
Why is the water so rough all the time?
My clothes aren’t ever drying
I feel bubbly water beneath my feet
I'm on water.
I taste freshwater,
different from the salt water that dehydrates me
I worried that we were lost forever,
in the ocean
finding no destination
I excel at calming the ocean water
I understand that I can become in control of communicating with the water
I am scrupulous,
selfless,
brave,
and a leader
I say, “This is my choice. I choose to go back with you”
I believe that I can help transport us by walking on water,
but I am in control
I try to think ahead in preparing for our safety on this boat
I hope that one day I can see Thanh and Sang again
They are now my brother and sister
I was once a girl who played in the river,
never one to walk on water
But now I have powers with water that I can use,
to bring Uncle Truc and Uncle Hung back to retrieve their families,
everyone deserves a chance to get freedom,
right?
I am scrupulous
I am selfless
Having students to take the opportunity to write from the perspective of a specific character allows for a new sense of comprehension from students. It allows readers to have another source of developing empathy for an individual character that goes beyond what they are physically like throughout the book. Specifically for mine, I had a new sense of empathy for Mai for feeling it was needed for her to go back with Uncle Hung and Uncle Truc. She was finally at peace and happy at Raft World, but felt like she had to go back. It was selfless and was difficult to write a line about it. It truly allowed me to reflect that even though she was brave and stubborn at some times, she was a character that cared of other character's happiness. For students, it helps them develop more writing skills that become more literary in expressing more of a critical analysis of characters (Frye et al., p. 50).
Complimentary Text
Freedom in Congo Square
Author: Carole Boston Weatherford
Illustrator: R. Gregory Christie
"The stories speak of individual desires and the beauty in daily life, illustrating the complexities of Black experience rather than the restrictive and one-dimensional narratives of pain and damage" (Gardener, 2017, p. 339).
This children's book would be a complimentary text to Freedom Over Me. This book has a detailed introduction to what Congo Square was in New Orleans and how it became an influential gathering space for both the enslaved and free. When this video above reads aloud the book, it purposefully reads the forward and author's note to distinguish the importance that the Congo Square had not only for people during the time of slavery, but its everlasting influence on today with jazz music. The illustrations in this book are vibrant and admirable to the simple text. The story line of how poetically the week of Monday to Saturday was hard work for slaves, but the delight in looking forward to Sunday to be able to commune in Congo Square made them hopeful. It was a place to gather, communicate, appreciate their culture, sell items, and enjoy a sense of freedom. This book would be a great mentor text along with Freedom Over Me to portray persona poems in a variety of ways. Specifically for this book, students can have open discussions to describe the illustrations and ways they provide a more complex image than the text portrays on some pages. A book like this should allow freedom in discussion of the wonders, questions and connections to other literature and classroom discussions about slavery. Just like Freedom Over Me gave a new onset voice of slavery through the perspective of slaves, this book provides another example of hope of freedom with a sense of community (Gardner, 2017, p. 341).
Classroom Discussion
After class tonight, I wanted to go back to fill in some gaps that I feel bring persona poems more to life than I had originally imagined. From my experience of poetry, I was forced to write poems throughout middle and high school, so of course I was not a fan of writing them. However, after Dr. Frye introduced us to several persona poem structures in a variety of books, I was transformed by the power of poetry. She book talked science related persona poems and social studies poems that could easily be incorporated into a shared reading or writing lesson. It gives students and the teacher another opportunity to demonstrate comprehension.Watching videos of how the seventh grade teacher appropriately modeled, questioned, and differentiated how she chose student's responses in order to make a beautiful poem was captivating. I was mesmerized by several student lines that they read aloud and how it demonstrated that they truly empathized with how the Raft King had internal struggles he had to deal with.
References
Bryan, A. (2016). Freedom Over Me. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop, Armstrong, Bloom, Marks, Parravano, Roy, & Thompson, (2017). Coretta Scott King Book Awards 2017 Discussion Guide. American Library Association, p.15. Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/rt/sites/ala.org.rt/files/content/cskbookawards/docs/CSK-2017-discussion-guide_FINAL.pdf#page=15
Frye, B., Hardin, B., Bouwman, H., & Stumb, A. (2018). Walking Into the Wardrobe and Through the Sliding Glass Door: Writing Persona Poems with A Crack in the Sear. Voices from the Middle, 26 (2), 46-52.
Gardner, R. (2017). Discussing Racial Trauma Using Visual Thinking Strategies. Language Arts, 94 (5), 338-346.
Simnon & Schuster Publishing. (n.d.). Meet the Author Movie Collection with Ashley Bryan. Retrieved from https://www.teachingbooks.net/author_collection.cgi?id=57&mid=219