Amos Fortune, Free Man is a short autobiographical novel about an African slave who is taken to America and, though patience and determination, wins his own freedom and establishes a quiet, content life for himself. This work of literature, intended for younger readers, won the Newbery Medal (for children's literature) in 1951, the year after it was published. Since then, it has been a common book for schools to assign younger students on account of its pleasant portrayal of an African who took his life in his own hands and made the most of his situation, as well its accessible and entertaining style of prose.
The book is cited as a "biographical novel," and that's an accurate description. Part of the appeal of this book is the fact that Amos Fortune isn't a famous character from American history; he was just a simple man living a quiet, determined life that might have gone unremembered if not for Elizabeth Yates. Details about Amos Fortune were sparse, so Yates made up a good amount of the story - hence the "novel" classification. As much as possible, though, she modeled Amos's life in the book after the real life of the man known as Amos Fortune. The real man did buy his own freedom around the age of sixty, and he really did establish his own tanning business in Jaffrey, New Hampshire, but many of the other details are entirely fabricated.
In the modern age, many have claimed this novel to be racist, arguing that if not for the Newbery Prize, it would have been taken from schools long ago. Despite these accusations, Amos Fortune, Free Man is a touching story that teaches children the value of patience and hard work, along with the importance of treating everyone with respect and generosity, as Celia Copeland does and as Amos Fortune comes to do. It's a worthwhile lesson to teach to children, even though it might portray slavery as a lesser evil than it truly was.
