Amos Fortune: Free Man

Amos Fortune: Free Man Summary | Plot Summary

Amos Fortune: Free Man by Elizabeth Yates is the biography of a man born freely in Africa, who was abducted as teenager to be sold as a slave in the new American Colonies. This youth learned to communicate with the people of his new world, learned a deep devotion to the Bible, and became a free man who lived with a kindness and generosity of heart that taught those around him the meaning of compassion. This biography won the Newberry Medal for its contribution to children's literature in 1951, and continues to teach a new generation of readers what it is to be human.

It was springtime in the a small African village off the Gold Coast. The At-mun-shi people were participating in an annual celebration to appease the gods of spring, when a group of slavers interrupted their celebration by killing the king and rounding up the youngest and healthiest of the group. At-mun, the fifteen year oldfifteen-year-old son of the king was one of these youths.

At-mun, aware of the death of his father and the importance this placed on his shoulders, attempted to keep the spirits of his fellow villagers high during the journey to the ocean. However, the longer the journey and the harsher the treatment, the less the At-mun-shi cared to respond to At-mun's courageous council. Once on board the ship that would take them to another world, the At-mun-shi began to forget their language, their past, and their own names. At-mun, himself, struggled to hold on to these simple truths.

Once they arrived on the American coast, the weakest were unloaded first. At-mun, being a strong young man, left the boat on the final stop in Boston. Once on the auctioneer's block, At-mun found sympathy in a kind weaver, who bought him without haggling with the auctioneer and named him Amos. Amos now had a new home with kind people, who taught him to read and write along side their own young children.

Amos was offered his freedom many times over the next fifteen years. However, Amos always turned it down, preferring the security of an older mentor and the time to search for the sister he left behind in Africa. When the man who so kindly bought him, Caleb Copeland, passed away, his wife and daughter were forced to sell him despite their own desires to the contrary, in order to pay off debts left behind.

Amos went to a kind man and his wife. Ichabod Richardson was a tanner, and he taught Amos the trade, a trade that would sustain Amos the remainder of his life. Richardson kept Amos for almost thirty years, finally promising Amos he would free him in six years time, if he would pay money every month into a fund. Amos agreed. However, Richardson died before Amos could finish his payments. The kind wife, who never really agreed with her husband's bargain with Amos, gave Amos his freedom early. Mrs. Richardson then offered to allow Amos use of her husband's shop and tools, until he could buy one of his own.

Amos had waited until he had gained his freedom to consider marriage. Amos knew a woman, a slave of forty years, through a group of fellow slaves. Amos paid for Lily's freedom before he married her. It was Amos's sole consolation on the day of his wife's death, less than a year later, that she died free. Amos then bought the freedom of another woman he loved, Lydia, and married her only to have her die soon thereafter, as well. Finally, Amos bought the freedom of and married a younger woman with a four- year- old daughter and remained happily married to her until his death more than twenty years later.

On a trip to deliver some leather in a distant town, Amos found an idyllic village situated at the base of a mountain. Amos knew this was the place he wanted to buy for his own farm. Amos packed up his new wife and child and moved to this village, living on borrowed land, until he could reestablish his tanning business and save for a farm of their own. In the process of saving the money, Amos met a window woman who was in desperate need for financial assistance in taking care of her many children. Violet would not allow Amos to give up his dream of owning his own farm and refused to let him help this woman. However, Amos would later find a way to help the woman's oldest daughter, Polly.

After once again reestablishing himself on his own land, Amos took on several local boys as apprentices to his business, while his wife and daughter began selling linens they wove themselves on a loom. When Amos learned the indigent woman's two eldest children, Polly and Moses, were to be auctioned off at a vendue to help the town pay for their care, Amos purchased Polly with an insanely low bid. Amos knew the girl was ill and would not live much longer. He and he wanted her to die in the freedom of his home, rather than in the servitude of another home.

As Amos aged and became aware that he would soon die, he began to think about the legacy he would leave behind. Amos decided that he wanted to support the local church and the local school. Amos left the majority of his savings to the church in order to buy a silver communion set and to the school to purchase anything they might need. Amos passed away on November 17, 1801, leaving behind a living legacy of kindness and generosity.