Work record

Amos Fortune, Free Man

Elizabeth Yates

1950 · Postwar Contemporary · Biography · English

Copyrightedlow medical relevanceFive-minute digest

Abstract

Written: 1950
Setting: 1725-1801; West Africa, the Atlantic crossing, Boston and Woburn in Massachusetts, and Jaffrey, New Hampshire
Author: Elizabeth Yates
Country: United States
Language: English
Genre: Biographical novel for young readers
Form: Prose narrative in ten dated chapters, illustrated by Nora S. Unwin
Recommended: Grades 6–8

Background. A New Hampshire author, Yates worked from a thin documentary trail (a freedom paper, deeds, a will and two gravestones in Jaffrey) and imagined the rest, frankly calling the result a novel built on a life.

Scope. The narrative runs from a raid on an African village in 1725 to its subject's death at ninety-one, following him through a Boston weaver's household, a Woburn tannery and a New Hampshire hill town.

Content. Captured as a youth and sold in Boston, the chief's son learns a trade, reading and the gospel, is resold when his master dies in debt, and at about sixty pays for his liberty. He then redeems three wives in turn and a stepdaughter, starts over in Jaffrey, quarrels with Violet over hidden savings and makes peace after a night on Monadnock, and bids at a pauper auction to give a dying girl a free year.

Themes. Inner liberty, freedom used in service, forgiveness, faithful labor and Christian hope. The lost sister Ath-mun recurs as a quiet motive: each woman Amos redeems stands in for the girl he could not carry away from the raid.

Significance. Awarded the 1951 Newbery Medal, it made a little-known New Englander widely familiar; Jaffrey's summer lecture series still bears his name.

Key figures

Amos Fortune (At-mun): Enslaved African prince turned free tanner and benefactor of Jaffrey
Caleb Copeland: Quaker weaver of Boston, his first master
Ichabod Richardson: Woburn tanner who taught him the trade
Violet: His third wife, freed by him in 1779
Celyndia: Violet's daughter, raised by Amos
Polly Burdoo: Poor girl he takes in after the town vendue

Summary

Amos Fortune, Free Man is a biographical novel about a real man who was born in Africa around 1710, enslaved in Massachusetts, and died free in Jaffrey, New Hampshire, in 1801. Its ten chapters carry dates. In the spring of 1725 slave hunters fall on the village of the At-mun-shi during their planting ceremonies; the chief is killed and his son At-mun, about fifteen, is captured, while his younger sister Ath-mun is left behind. At-mun survives the Middle Passage aboard the slave ship White Falcon and is sold on the Boston wharf to Caleb Copeland, a Quaker weaver who did not mean to own anyone. Renamed Amos, he grows up in the Copeland household beside the children Roxanna and Roger, learns weaving from Caleb and reading from Celia Copeland, and becomes a Christian. Caleb intends to free him, but when Caleb dies in debt Amos is sold again, to Ichabod Richardson, a tanner of Woburn, who teaches him the leather trade and lets him work toward his freedom. Amos buys it at about sixty. Thinking of the sister he could not save, he spends his savings freeing others: first Lily, sick and feeble, whom he buys and marries and who dies within months; then Lydia Somerset, bought from Josiah Bowers for fifty pounds, who also dies; and in 1779 Violet, bought with her small daughter Celyndia from James Baldwin. With Violet and Celyndia he travels north into New Hampshire and in 1781 settles in the hill town of Jaffrey, where he sets up a tannery and saves coins in an iron kettle toward land of his own. When he wants to spend the savings to help Lois Burdoo, a poor widow with children, Violet hides the kettle; Amos climbs Mount Monadnock in his anger to wait for God's answer, comes down at peace, forgives her, and buys twenty-five acres where they build a house and a new tannery. In 1793 the town puts Lois's daughter Polly up at a public vendue, the yearly auction of the poor; Amos bids so low that he wins her, and she spends a happy free year in his home before she dies. In his last years Amos sees Celyndia grown and leaves his property to the church and the school of Jaffrey. E. P. Dutton published the book in 1950 with illustrations by Nora S. Unwin, and it won the Newbery Medal in 1951.

Virtues in this work

Charity: Amos spends his savings to buy freedom for the dying Lily and later bids at the vendue so Polly Burdoo can spend a free year in his home.
Fortitude: Amos endures capture, the Middle Passage and decades of bondage without losing his patience or his will to be free.
Industry: Amos masters tanning at Woburn and fills the iron kettle in Jaffrey with years of honest earnings.
Humility: Angry at Violet for hiding the money, Amos climbs Monadnock to wait on God and comes down ready to forgive her.
Faith: Amos holds to the Christian faith he learned in the Copeland home through every loss, and his epitaph records that he professed Christianity and died hopefully.

Plot or Argument

Africa, 1725
Slave hunters raid the At-mun-shi village during the planting rites; the chief dies, At-mun is taken, and his sister Ath-mun is left behind.
The Middle Passage
The voyage across the Atlantic in the hold of the White Falcon and At-mun's resolve to endure.
Boston, 1725-1740
Caleb Copeland buys him; Amos learns weaving, reading and the Christian faith in the Copeland home until Caleb's debts force his sale.
Woburn, 1740-1779
With Ichabod Richardson he learns tanning, buys his freedom, and in turn redeems Lily, Lydia and Violet with her daughter Celyndia.
Journey to Keene, 1779
Amos, Violet and Celyndia travel north into the New Hampshire hills.
Arrival at Jaffrey
The family settles in Jaffrey and is welcomed into the town and its meetinghouse.
Hard Work Fills the Iron Kettle, 1781-1789
Amos builds his tanning trade and fills the kettle with savings for land.
Amos on the Mountain
He wants to help the Burdoo family; Violet hides the savings; Amos climbs Monadnock, returns forgiving, and buys his land.
Auctioned for Freedom
At the town's public vendue of the poor in 1793, Amos bids for Polly Burdoo and gives her a free year in his home before her death.
Evergreen Years, 1794-1801
In old age Amos sees his work done, provides for the church and school, and dies a free man.

Characters

Amos Fortune (At-mun), subject
African chief's son enslaved in New England who becomes a free tanner of Jaffrey and spends his savings freeing others.
Ath-mun, Amos's sister
The younger sister left behind in Africa, whose memory moves him to help the helpless.
Caleb and Celia Copeland, first owners
A Boston Quaker weaver and his wife who teach Amos a trade, reading and the Christian faith.
Ichabod Richardson, Woburn tanner
His second master, who teaches him tanning and lets him buy his freedom.
Lily, first wife
A frail enslaved woman whom Amos buys and marries; she dies within months.
Lydia Somerset, second wife
Redeemed by Amos for fifty pounds from Josiah Bowers; she too dies soon after.
Violet, third wife
Practical and loyal, she guards the family's savings and is Amos's companion in Jaffrey.
Celyndia, Violet's daughter
Freed with her mother as a small child and raised by Amos as his own.
Lois and Polly Burdoo, Jaffrey neighbors
A poor widow and her daughter whom Amos tries to help; Polly lives her last year in his home.

Lessons

Freedom spent for others
Amos's long-awaited liberty is not the end of his story. He uses his savings again and again to buy the freedom of women who cannot buy their own, remembering his sister. Yates shows freedom as a gift to be used for others rather than a prize to be kept.
- Why does Amos buy the freedom of Lily even though she is very sick?
- How does the memory of Ath-mun shape the choices Amos makes?
- What would you have done with the savings in the iron kettle?
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- What changes in Amos on the mountain?
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Context

Amos Fortune (c. 1710-1801) was a real man. Records show him enslaved to the Woburn tanner Ichabod Richardson, who drew up an unsigned freedom agreement in 1763; after Richardson died in 1768, Fortune made the final payment for his freedom in 1770. He married Lydia Somerset, bought from Josiah Bowers of Billerica, who died within a year, and in November 1779 bought and married Violet from James Baldwin. In 1781 he moved to Jaffrey, New Hampshire, where he built a tannery, and in 1789 he bought land on Tyler Brook. His will left money for the town's school, now the Amos Fortune Fund, and his gravestone, with epitaph by the Reverend Laban Ainsworth, records that he was born free in Africa, a slave in America, purchased liberty, professed Christianity, lived reputably and died hopefully, at ninety-one.

Composition

Yates called the book a biographical novel: she built it on the surviving records and the Jaffrey gravestones and filled the gaps with imagined scenes and conversations, including Amos's African childhood, the Copeland household and the first wife Lily. Nora S. Unwin illustrated it, and E. P. Dutton published it in New York in 1950.

Reception

It won the Newbery Medal in 1951 and the William Allen White Children's Book Award in 1953. In Jaffrey the Amos Fortune Forum, a summer lecture series held at the old meetinghouse, carries his name. The book has stayed in print and is widely read in units on early American history.

Race Slavery Faith / Religion Family Stoicism Endurance Virtue Ethics Home Exile Money Wealth Identity Self

Comparisons

up-from-slavery
Booker T. Washington's own life story, like Amos Fortune's, joins freedom with skilled work, thrift and Christian faith, and ends with a man building institutions for others.
narrative-and-fourth-of-july
Frederick Douglass tells in his own words what Yates imagines for Amos: learning to read, the inner resolve to be free, and the cost of liberty; Douglass writes with far sharper protest.
twelve-years-a-slave
Solomon Northup was born free and sold into slavery; Amos was born free in Africa and enslaved in New England. Both books trace endurance and faith under bondage.
uncle-toms-cabin
Stowe's Tom and Yates's Amos are both enslaved Christian men marked by patience, forgiveness and charity toward others.
franklin-autobiography-and-poor-richard
Both portray eighteenth-century New England tradesmen who rise by industry and thrift and leave legacies for public good, from very different starting points.

Quotes

“Night came down swiftly over the equatorial forest.”

— Elizabeth Yates, Amos Fortune, Free Man, Chapter 1, "Africa 1725", opening line (1950 first edition; copyrighted).

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For Students

A reading companion for classical Christian high school students. See the student guide.

Reading Guide

Watch for

The dates in each chapter title, which turn the book into a timeline of a single life from 1725 to 1801.
Amos's memory of Ath-mun, and the moments when it moves him to help someone weaker than himself.
The iron kettle of savings in Jaffrey, what Amos plans for it, and what Violet does with it.
The climb up Monadnock and how Amos's anger changes on the mountain.
The public vendue of 1793, and why Amos's low bid is an act of mercy.

Key terms and names

At-mun-shi: The African people of Amos's birth, whose chief was his father.
Middle Passage: The voyage of enslaved Africans across the Atlantic; for At-mun it is made in the hold of the White Falcon.
Tanning: The craft of turning animal hides into leather, which Amos learns at Woburn and practices for the rest of his life.
Manumission: The legal freeing of an enslaved person; Amos buys his own and then pays for the freedom of others.
Monadnock: The mountain above Jaffrey that Amos climbs to wait for God's answer when he is angry with Violet.
Public vendue: A town auction at which the care of poor people was let to the lowest bidder for a year; Amos bids for Polly Burdoo.

Seminar Questions

Comprehension Who buys At-mun at the Boston wharf, and what does he learn in that household?
Comprehension How does Amos earn his freedom, and how old is he when he gets it?
Comprehension Why does Violet hide the iron kettle, and what does Amos do when he finds out?
Interpretation Amos buys the freedom of three wives and a child before buying land for himself. What does this order of choices show about him?
Interpretation Why does Amos bid so little for Polly Burdoo at the vendue, and why does the book call the chapter Auctioned for Freedom?
Interpretation The title calls Amos a free man. At what point in the story does he first become free, in your view?
Big Question Amos forgives the people who wronged him and spends his life helping others. Is forgiveness a sign of strength or weakness?

Faith Connections

Galatians 5:1, 13 (Scripture)
Paul tells believers to stand fast in the liberty with which Christ has made them free, and to use that freedom to serve one another in love. Amos uses his hard-won liberty to buy freedom for others.
Psalm 121:1-2 (Scripture)
I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. Amos climbs Monadnock in his anger and comes down having found help from the Lord who made heaven and earth.
Ephesians 4:26-32 (Scripture)
Be angry and sin not; let not the sun go down upon your wrath, and forgive one another. Amos's night on the mountain and his forgiveness of Violet follow this pattern.
Epictetus, Discourses (on freedom), and Boethius, Consolation of Philosophy II (Great Conversation)
The Stoic slave-philosopher Epictetus and the imprisoned Boethius both argued that a person's true freedom lies within. Yates draws Amos as inwardly free while still in bondage, a Christian version of the same claim.

Logic and Rhetoric

Central argument: Amos is robbed of his home, his name and his liberty, yet he keeps his patience, his faith and his skill. Because he will not let bondage make him bitter, he is inwardly free before he is legally free. Once free, he spends his savings to free others, forgives a wife who wrongs him, and gives a dying girl a free year. Therefore true freedom, the book argues, is not merely being one's own owner but being able to give oneself away in love.

Rhetorical device: dated chapter titles (chronological framing). Chapters such as Africa, 1725, Woburn, 1740-1779 and Evergreen Years, 1794-1801 set every event in a fixed year, making an imagined inner life read like a documented biography.

Debate: Resolved: Violet was right to hide the savings from Amos.

Writing Prompts

Essay: Choose three people whose freedom or comfort Amos pays for (for example Lily, Violet and Celyndia, or Polly Burdoo) and explain what each choice cost him and why he made it.

Comparison with Up from Slavery: Amos Fortune and Booker T. Washington both rise from slavery through hard work and faith. Compare how each one uses his freedom to help others, and explain which story shows more clearly what freedom is for.

Medical Lens

Illness and age are part of the story rather than its subject. Amos buys and marries Lily knowing she is gravely ill and cares for her until she dies within months; Lydia also dies soon after her redemption; Polly Burdoo, weak from hardship, dies after her year in the Fortune home; and the last chapter shows Amos in old age. The Middle Passage chapter touches on the crowding and suffering in the hold of a slave ship. The town's public vendue of the poor reflects how eighteenth-century New England towns provided for paupers and the sick by auctioning their care.

Nursing Caregiving Aging Senescence Death Dying

Woburn, 1740-1779
Amos buys the sick Lily's freedom, marries her and nurses her until her death.
Nursing Caregiving Death Dying
Auctioned for Freedom
Polly Burdoo is taken into the Fortune home after the vendue and dies there.
Nursing Caregiving Death Dying
Evergreen Years, 1794-1801
Amos's old age and death at about ninety-one.
Aging Senescence Death Dying

Creative Prompts

Classroom
Make a timeline of Amos Fortune's life from 1725 to 1801 using the dates in the chapter titles, marking each time he buys someone's freedom.
Fiction
Write the night Violet hides the iron kettle, told from Violet's point of view, explaining why she believes she must.
Essay
Explain how the epitaph on Amos Fortune's gravestone in Jaffrey sums up his life, phrase by phrase, using events from the book.
Dialogue
Write a conversation between Amos and Caleb Copeland in Boston about what it means to be free.