Freewater is a YA historical fiction novel published in 2023 by Amina Luqman-Dawson. Targeted toward readers attending middle-school, the story is an appropriately dark one about a part of American history that has inexplicably become a point of contention: the era of slavery in the southern states of the U.S. What separates this novel from the bulk of such stories is that it focuses on a little-known alternative for those being held in bondage. While the traditional view is that the state of living was a simple binary of either remaining in slavery or attempting a treacherous escape to freedom in the north, this is a fictionalized telling of the actual possibility of remaining free while living in slave-holding states.
The title of the novel refers to a secret hidden community of escaped slaves. As the prefatory statement asserts, “Some escaped the treacheries of enslavement by going North. But there were also those who ran away to the deep swamps and forests of the American South. There, in secret, they created free lives.
This is a tale of what might have been.” This imaginary idea of such communities is set in the swamp not far from Southerland plantation. Ada and Homer are a young brother and sister duo who have managed to escape from the wicked plantation owner, Mr. Crumb. Although malevolent himself, Crumb’s young daughter, Nora, reveals layers of benevolence in her attempts to assist the mother of Ada and Homer, Rose, in escaping from the targeted torture of the overseers employed by her father. Suleman is an escaped slave living in the swamps who helps those who have run away. The novel is told through multiple perspectives of these characters as a way of encouraging readers to see the whole picture rather than focusing on the limited viewpoint of the young kids. The narrative portrays the difficulties of getting to Freewater, maintaining the secrecy of its existence, and the dangerous means employed by Nora to help those wanting to find greater freedom in the northern states.
The primary reason that young kids should be encouraged to read this novel is that it presents an unflinching look at the reality of life for slaves while also managing to convey themes about maintaining hope even under the most dire circumstances. The swamp is no easy place to live but is a kind of a paradise compared to plantation existence. Throughout the story, characters are faced with the possibility of losing this paradise and yet the hope remains that it can be regained and even, possibly, be a starting point for actual freedom waiting in the northern U.S. and Canada. The addition of the plantation owner’s own daughter being a force for good within this culture of evil is an example of the portrait of diversity which permeates the narrative.
Ultimately, the message of Freewater is that it takes a community to band together to fight the forces of such an abominable institution as slavery. The creation of a safe haven as alternative to slavery within the natural dangers faced within the swamp becomes a commentary on humanity. The suggestion is that humans have the choice to either band together to overcome threats to their existence or they can choose to become the greater danger themselves. Freewater becomes a symbol of the potential for goodness within humanity to overcome the threat of its darkest impulses.
