About This Lesson
In this special episode of Past Present – Giving Past Stories New Life, host Lesa Cline-Ransome explores the theme of “freedom” and how it manifests throughout various points in history:• Incorporating Civil Rights and Freedom Fighters in FIGHTING WITH LOVE: THE LEGACY OF JOHN LEWIS• Westward migration in ONE BIG OPEN SKY• Education and Resistance in THEY CALL ME TEACH: LESSONS IN FREEDOM
About the Book
In this stirring and powerfully illustrated story, an enslaved young man uses his ability to read and write to educate others in the pursuit of freedom.
Back inside the storeI write up receiptsfor Master’s deliveriesfor Master’s ordersIn ’tweenI write up a receiptfor her freedom
The young man known as Teach secretly learned to read, write, and use numbers growing up alongside the master’s son. And although on this Southern plantation these are skills he can never flaunt, Teach doesn’t keep them to himself: In the course of a week, he’ll teach little ones the alphabet in the corner stall of a stable and hold a moonlit session where men scratch letters in the dirt. He’ll decipher a discarded letter bearing news of Yankee soldiers and forge a pass for a woman hoping to buy precious time on a perilous journey north. And come Sunday, Teach will cross the swamp to a hidden cabin, reading aloud to the congregation God’s immortal words to the pharaoh: Let my people go. With a spare, moving first-person narration told in an era-appropriate dialect, complemented by stunning watercolor illustrations, the celebrated duo of Lesa Cline-Ransome and James E. Ransome honor the bravery and generosity of spirit behind countless untold acts of resistance during the time of slavery. An author’s note highlights the vital role of literacy and education toward the securing of freedom, both historically and to the present day.
Illustrated by James E. Ransome
