Freedom Lessons - Libroj.org

Bitlibro, 257 paĝoj

Eldonita de She Writes Press.

(1 recenzo)

Freedom Lessons begins in Louisiana 1969 as Colleen, a white northern teacher, enters into the unfamiliar culture of a small Southern town and its unwritten rules as the town surrenders to mandated school integration. She meets Frank, a black high school football player, who is protecting his family with a secret. And Evelyn, an experienced teacher and prominent member of the local black community, who must decide whether she’s willing to place trust in her new white colleague. Told alternately by Colleen, Frank, and Evelyn, Freedom Lessons is the story of how the lives of these three purportedly different people intersect in a time when our nation faced, as it does today, a crisis of race, unity, and identity.

School desegregation is something we all learn about in history class; perhaps we even remember the striking image of Ruby Bridges being escorted to and from school by the U.S. Marshals. …

Freedom Lessons begins in Louisiana 1969 as Colleen, a white northern teacher, enters into the unfamiliar culture of a small Southern town and its unwritten rules as the town surrenders to mandated school integration. She meets Frank, a black high school football player, who is protecting his family with a secret. And Evelyn, an experienced teacher and prominent member of the local black community, who must decide whether she’s willing to place trust in her new white colleague. Told alternately by Colleen, Frank, and Evelyn, Freedom Lessons is the story of how the lives of these three purportedly different people intersect in a time when our nation faced, as it does today, a crisis of race, unity, and identity.

School desegregation is something we all learn about in history class; perhaps we even remember the striking image of Ruby Bridges being escorted to and from school by the U.S. Marshals. But for most of us in 2019, that’s near the extent of what we understand about that tumultuous time. Eileen Sanchez, the debut novelist behind Freedom Lessons (She Writes Press, November 12, 2019), draws on her own remarkable experience as a young, white teacher in the Jim Crow South during desegregation, to write her immersive work of fiction inspired by those events. The result is an unusually authentic exploration of a snapshot in history through the eyes of characters that are relatable and unmistakably human—living lives and navigating relationships against the backdrop of extreme societal upheaval. Sanchez has woven a beautiful story not just about desegregation as an abstract concept, but about the people who lived it—and asks us to question our assumptions about that time, and the issues it has left in its 50-year wake.

1 eldono

Stephanie Jane recenzis Freedom Lessons de Eileen Harrison Sanchez

A quiet gem

4 steloj

Freedom Lessons is a quiet gem of a novel which I am grateful to have had the opportunity to read thanks to this iRead Book Tours blog tour. Narrated in turn by three residents of a small 1960s Louisiana town, Freedom Lessons, by focusing through this small personal lens manages, I think, to authentically portray the intense upheaval across great swathes of America at this time and the antagonisation that has, sadly, continued through the following decades.

I understand that this book was initially envisaged as a memoir and, in its final incarnation, the character of idealistic new teacher Colleen is based on author Eileen's own experiences. Despite the years that have passed, I felt her recounting of events and the people's reactions to them retains a such a freshness that I easily became immersed in this story. Evelyn is a strong character too. Her views of the forced school …

Freedom Lessons is a quiet gem of a novel which I am grateful to have had the opportunity to read thanks to this iRead Book Tours blog tour. Narrated in turn by three residents of a small 1960s Louisiana town, Freedom Lessons, by focusing through this small personal lens manages, I think, to authentically portray the intense upheaval across great swathes of America at this time and the antagonisation that has, sadly, continued through the following decades.

I understand that this book was initially envisaged as a memoir and, in its final incarnation, the character of idealistic new teacher Colleen is based on author Eileen's own experiences. Despite the years that have passed, I felt her recounting of events and the people's reactions to them retains a such a freshness that I easily became immersed in this story. Evelyn is a strong character too. Her views of the forced school integration being informed by local history and knowledge allowed me to understand how the way in which the law was (finally) enacted made no sense and was instead yet one more way for white Louisiana to oppress and denigrate the black population. I was horrified (although not surprised) at things like the black kids' football team automatically being considered second-rate to the white team, and that the teams were kept strictly segregated. That this effectively prevented black footballers from representing 'their' school was intentionally cruel.

There are numerous such instances of cruelty and spite throughout Freedom Lessons, however, other than one sensitively handled fire scene, nothing is graphically violent so I feel that the book would still be highly suitable for young adult audiences as well as adults, and I think it would be particularly beneficial for white readers. Following Colleen's journey gave me insights into institutional racism that wouldn't necessarily make headlines, but its daily accumulation was so damaging to young minds, both black and white.

Temoj

Historical fiction
American history
Louisiana