Many Thousand Gone: African Americans from Slavery to Freedom

Hamilton, V. (1992). Many thousand gone: African Americans from slavery to freedom.

New York, NY: Random House.

            Many Thousand Gone: African Americans from Slavery to Freedom is a collection of stories about becoming a slave and how to escape it.   There are over thirty short stories, divided into three sections that describe the pain, suffering and survival of the slave era.  The first section Is Slavery in America, it tells about the beginning of slavery and how some of the laws were created.  The first story tells how a slave named Somersett escaped and made his way back to England, where a law was passed stating that a man’s freedom could not be taken away.  The second section, titled Running-Aways, includes stories of how slaves ran away from their masters and the start of the Underground Railroad.  One of the stories was about Gabriel Prosser, a slave who had planned an uprising but was captured because another slave turned him in.  This frightened whites so they passed slave codes, known as Black Codes that limited movement and rights of free blacks.  The third section, titled Exodus to Freedom, includes stories of how slaves came to be free.  One story talks about a slave, named Jackson, of vice-president William R. King.  When he becomes vice-president Jackson ran away.  He met a free Creole woman and married her.  To reach a Northern state so he could be free, Jackson dressed up as a woman and pretended to be a servant to his wife, who could pass for white. 

            The author, Virginia Hamilton, did an excellent job writing this multicultural nonfiction book about slavery.  The structure is organized by sequence, telling stories from the beginning of slavery to the Underground Railroad to the Emancipation Proclamation.  The details that Hamilton included were culturally accurate as she used several sources and bibliographies to create the stories of past events. Although not considered a picture book, there are several black and white framed illustrations that help enrich the meaning and mood of the text.  One of the short stories is about Henry Brown, who used a box to ship himself to freedom.  There is one illustration, four men helping Henry Brown out of his box once he made it to Pennsylvania. 

            Many thousand gone: African Americans from slavery to freedom would be an excellent book to use in upper-elementary and middle school classes.  I think when discussing the Civil War students do not get information from the perspective of the African American slaves.  Hamilton’s book will give students that perspective and help them develop an understanding and hopefully an appreciation for the history of the suffering and survival African Americans endured because of slavery.  This book will also provide young students with information that will help them realize the injustices that slaves underwent so many years ago.  The BIG questions to ask:

• Why was the Underground Railroad so important? What might have happened if the Underground Railroad did not exist?
• How did Emancipation Proclamation help turn things around for slaves?