Answering the Cry for Freedom ─ Stories of African Americans and the American Revolution

Even as American Patriots fought for independence from British rule during the Revolutionary War, oppressive conditions remained in place for the thousands of enslaved and free African Americans living in this country. But African Americans took up their own fight for freedom by joining the British and American armies; preaching, speaking out, and writing about the evils of slavery; and establishing settlements in Nova Scotia and Africa. The thirteen stories featured in this collection spotlight charismatic individuals who answered the cry for freedom, focusing on the choices they made and how they changed America both then and now. Includes individual bibliographies and timelines, author note, and source notes.

Gretchen Woelfle is the author of multiple award-winning fiction and nonfiction books for young readers, includingJeannette Rankin: Political Pioneer, Write On, Mercy!: The Secret Life of Mercy Otis Warren, andMumbet’s Declaration of Independence. She lives in Los Angeles, California.gretchenwoelfle.com

R. Gregory Christie is the illustrator of over fifty children’s books, includingThe Palm of My Heart: Poetry by African American Children, edited by Davida Adedjouma, which won a Coretta Scott King Honor for illustration, andOnly Passing Through: The Story of Sojourner Truth, which was selected as aNew York Times Best Illustrated Book. He lives in Decatur, Georgia, where he also owns and operates a bookstore that sells autographed children’s books.gas-art.com