Fortune's Bones: The Manumission Requiem (Coretta Scott King Honor - Author Honor Title(s))

ISBN: 1932425128

Author: Nelson, Marilyn

Condition: New

Winner of the Coretta Scott King Book AwardFor young readers comes a poetic commemoration of the life of an 18th-century slave, from a past poet laureate and three-time National Book Award finalistFor over 200 years, the Mattatuck Museum in Connecticut has housed a mysterious skeleton. In 1996, community members decided to find out what they could about it. Historians discovered that the bones were those of an enslaved man named Fortune, who was owned by a local doctor. After Fortunes death, the doctor rendered the bones.Further research revealed that Fortune had married, had fathered four children, and had been baptized later in life. His bones suggest that after a life of arduous labor, he died in 1798 at about the age of 60. The Manumission Requiem is Marilyn Nelsons poetic commemoration of Fortunes life. Detailed notes and archival photographs enhance the readers appreciation of the poem.