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

My 12 year old is reading this for homeschool. I wish I had time to read it all myself. I’ve had to tell her to do other school work or she’d read it all at once! It’s soul-feeding to read well written stories about these amazing people.

Well written, great story telling, engaging, organized in a format perfect for one-at-a-time lessons. Highly recommend.

Great quality hardcover book. Very nicely bound.

I love to help a detailed history in this book.

Many students might be surprised to learn that African Americans played roles on both sides of the American Revolution, sometimes even playing the part of double-agent. This collection of stories shares the experiences of 13 such individuals during those early years of our nation's founding. While some readers may have heard of Phillis Wheatley or Sally Hemings, many of the others will be newly discovered characters in U.S. history.This is a good introductory collection for social studies units on the time period, or for those who are looking for more information than the usual details covered in a textbook. I would also suggest pairing this with some of the picture book biographies available such as:- Mumbet's Declaration of Independence by Gretchen Woelfle,- A Spy Called James: The True Story of James Armistead Lafayette, Revolutionary War Double Agent by Anne F. Rockwell, or- Phillis Sings Out Freedom: The Story of George Washington and Phillis Wheatley by Ann Malaspina and Susan Keeler.I love the illustrations by R. Gregory Christie and the way Gretchen Woelfle incorporates quotes from the individuals whenever possible. As Agrippa Hull said, "It is not the cover of the book, but what the book contains [that] is the question. Many a good book has dark covers." Back matter in this particular book includes helpful timelines for the lives of each individual, a selected bibliography of books and websites, source notes, and an index.A very helpful addition to elementary school library or classroom collections or grade levels studying the period of the American Revolution.

ANSWERING THE CRY FOR FREEDOM, stories of African Americans and the American Revolution by Gretchen Woelfle, was deservedly granted a Eureka! Honor Book Award by the California Reading Association. It is scholarly and well-researched, but also alive with the fascinating details of the lives of thirteen men and women striving for freedom. Ms. Woelfle is a warm, respectful storyteller and she shows how the quest for freedom and self-respect is the driving force of their lives, whether freed or slave, educated or not, Patriot or British Loyalist. Some had painful choices to make in service of this quest: Ona Judge, Martha Washington’s enslaved maid, who chose to run away rather than remain in a life of relative comfort; Sally Hemings, who exchanged freedom in France to return to America and her family, because of Thomas Jefferson’s promise of freedom for her children; Boston King, who gave up his American family for the freedom offered by the British army, despite the gamble that they might lose the war. The choices were painful and Woelfle poignantly makes them real. Author notes and timelines, a bibliography and source notes are included. This book belongs in every school library, and is a necessary addition to a home library as well. Bravo!

I really like this book because it talks about history and people.I would pay $100 for it.It is sooooooooooo good!

Ambleside Online should be ashamed to promote and or recommend this book. It truly is difficult to have a great book that has multiple snippets of biographies. The major issue with this book is that the author definitely allows her very liberal biases to engulf the vibrant stories of people. Because of todays bent to believe that systemic racism is rampant and that telling a brown skinned persons story should be wrought with hardships solely because of color, we neglect the gestalt of the personhood, the truly miraculous story of a who a person is, to simply feed a theory or agenda.I bought this book on the recommendation of Ambleside Online Curriculum and definitely was disappointed. I want my children to understand and recognize the theories of life that stem from a Biblical perspective. That all people have a beautiful story and that people in their personhood have choices and God given abilities special to them. This book used people to attempt to prove a theory and for that alone should be discredited. Stop using people to promote nasty agendas, especially people who are no longer living and can not speak for themselves.