Amos Fortune: Free Man

I picked up this Newbery winner by Elizabeth Yates at the big book sale in our area a month or so ago. I recognized the title because I’d wanted to read it for the Decades Challenge this year, but I couldn’t get my hands on a copy and ended up reading something else instead.

I thought it was wonderful. I’ve read Roots, Classic Slave Narratives, poetry by Phyllis Wheatley, and The Autobiography of Frederick Douglass, so I think (with embarrassment) that I probably approached this story for young readers feeling like I wouldn’t find anything new. But this tale of a young African taken to the American colonies as a slave during the 18th century took me by surprise.

I appreciated it on several levels. Elizabeth Yates’ writing is very simple and unadorned. I’m trying to think of a way to describe its effect… This story is told in an almost myth-like manner in spots, where whole eras of Amos’ life are rendered in a sentence or a paragraph. This keeps the pace moving and makes us ready for the passages that slow down and give a more detailed picture.

I liked the view of 18th century American life, where the good work of tradesmen was rightly valued. Amos is a skilled tanner, and I wondered what he would think of this century of disposable products and stationary, non-physical labor. The story also touches on the problem of poverty; the one crisis in Amos’ married life takes the form of a disagreement over how to respond to an indigent family.

Thematically, Amos’s life illustrates several things I liked being reminded of: the possibility of responding to adversity with grace, the value of skilled, diligent work; the quietness of true heroism; the possibility of maintaining dignity and worth no matter what the world tries to tell you. Amos was a king in Africa before his tribe was abducted, and he maintains that kingly stature despite being cast in the role of a slave. He learns a trade, embraces the Christian faith, and eventually obtains his freedom.

Amos’ freedom, and what he does with it, make for the most touching parts of the storyline for me. He lives redemptively, winning freedom for several others over the course of his life. His tale stirs readers to consider how to leave a similar legacy.