Cover Image

Under the freedom tree

Tells of the Civil War's first contraband camp that began when three escaped slaves were granted protection at a Union-held fort, prompting runaway slaves to seek freedom there and build the country's first African American community.

Main Author:	VanHecke, Susan.
Other Authors:	Ladd, London (Illustrator)
Format:	Books Print Book Book-CD Combo Audiobooks Book-CD Combo Kits Book-CD Combo
Language:	English
Published:	Watertown, Massachusetts : Charlesbridge, [2014]
Subjects:	Fugitive slaves > Juvenile poetry. Children's poetry, American. United States > History > Civil War, 1861-1865 > Juvenile poetry.

Summary:	Tells of the Civil War's first contraband camp that began when three escaped slaves were granted protection at a Union-held fort, prompting runaway slaves to seek freedom there and build the country's first African American community.
Item Description:	Book-CD combo.
Physical Description:	1 volume (unpaged) : color illustrations ; 29 cm + 1 sound disc (digital ; 4 3/4 inches)
Bibliography:	Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN:	9781580895507 (library binding) 1580895506 (library binding)
Author Notes:	Taut free verse tells the little-known story of the first contraband camp of the Civil War-seen by some historians as the "beginning of the end of slavery in America." One night in 1861, three escaped slaves made their way from the Confederate line to a Union-held fort. The runaways were declared "contraband of war" and granted protection. As word spread, thousands of runaway slaves poured into the fort, seeking their freedom. These "contrabands" made a home for themselves, building the first African American community in the country. In 1863, they bore witness to one of the first readings of the Emancipation Proclamation in the South-beneath the sheltering branches of the tree now known as Emancipation Oak.

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