In celebration of Black History Month, I have had a chance to read some fine children’s books like Viola Desmond Won’t be Budged, as well as participate in local events like Mondo Clarke! which has been showcasing the works of African Canadian writer, George Elliot Clarke. It’s been a time of real discovery for me, and I have been enjoying every minute of it! Today for Books at Bedtime, I’m doing another post on a childrens’ book about Black Canadian history. Working for Freedom by Rona Arato ( Napoleon Publishing, 2008) is the story of Josiah Henson, a former slave, born in Maryland in about 1789. Josiah’s family stays together on a Maryland plantation until Josiah is five. When his father witnesses his wife being attacked by the white overseer, he tears him off of her and throws him to the ground. For touching a white man, Josiah’s father is punished with a severe whipping of a hundred lashes and has his right ear cut off. Thereafter, he is sold to a cotton plantation in Alabama. This is the young Josiah’s introduction to the cruelty and injustice of his lot in life as a slave. Josiah’s mother, however, imparts him with a gift that would carry him through all the difficult circumstances of his life — the gift of faith. It is while under the rough ownership of Isaac Riley — a man Josiah describes as “vulgar in his habits, unprincipled and cruel in his general deportment and immoral” — that Josiah becomes a Christian and begins preaching to other slaves. After many trials, Josiah eventually leaves the heartless Riley and escapes to Canada, where he builds a new society for black refugees like himself in a community he helped found in southern Ontario called appropriately enough, Dawn.
Reading this book (based in part on Josiah Henson’s autobiography) to my daughter was an interesting experience. She was completely fascinated and taken in by the story — but she was also horrified. This book pulls no punches when describing the cruel and torturous lives of slaves in the southern U.S. There are illustrations and pictures of slaves being beaten and in bondage. Hearing Josiah’s story clearly left an impact — occasionally a very troubling one — on my daughter. Despite this, however, she continued wanting to hear the story night after night. I too, was engrossed in the tale. Josiah Henson was a truly inspiring figure and is rightly celebrated as such; Working for Freedom was a book well worth discovering this month!