Anthony Burns: The Defeat and Triumph of a Fugitive Slave

This 1993 non-fiction biography addresses slavery in the U.S., through the spell-binding story of Anthony Burns, who was captured and tried in 1854 Boston as a fugitive slave. Chapters alternate between 1854 and the 1840s, when Burns spent his boyhood and youth as the slave of Virginia plantation-owner Charles Suttle. In 35 children's books, the late Virginia Hamilton (1936-2002) frequently focused on themes of slavery and inequality. No dry or fictional account, this riveting read-aloud elucidates 19th century heroism culminating in a dramatic denouement before Burns' untimely death at 28 in Canada on July 27, 1862. The epilogue covers repercussions to Boston abolitionists and others who helped him. The book initiates fine in-class discussions of current-day slavery and abolitionists at Christian Solidarity International, iAbolish (the American anti-Slavery Group) and other groups who seek to end the practice, forever. The story opens with Burns' Boston abduction. His flashbacks transport readers to his early years in Virginia; these crescendo in his flight from slavery and trial. Hamilton sets historical figures in context and invigorates their fiery sermons, posters and political gatherings with life. She fleshes out the details of Burns' life, from his point of view. He experiences hardships but dares to hope. His story includes suspense and drama that gets children's attention. Burns suffered horribly. For example, he was once confined for four months to a slave jail in North Carolina, his arms and legs always shackled. In solitary confinement with inadequate hygiene and food, he became seriously ill. Still, Anthony Burns went on to achieve great things.The book infuses children with the indignation of the abolitionists here portrayed. They were determined to defeat barbarism on American soil. Pastors and politicians, freed men and attorneys, and even some southerners, willingly defied federal laws to advance humanitarian ends, which the U.S. achieved within a decade of these events.Kids see here a predominantly Judeo-Christian society, willing to accept responsibility for wrongs, amend them and repair to honest labor and nation building. The U.S. freed its slaves 150 years ago, at enormous but willing sacrifice--a gruesome war that took 600,000 lives. By contrast, radical Muslim Sudan today claims it neither condones nor practices slavery, yet indentures some 100,000 black southern Sudanese Christians, according to the New York Times, and systematically murders 1,000 blacks weekly in a genocide that has thus far felled more than 2 million non-Muslim and other blacks. Sudan, with only Islamic human rights, mandates institutional enslavement and discrimination against all non-Muslims.Hamilton's saga is a fabulous teaching tool. Indeed, she was named Virginia to remind her of her family's roots--and the imperative to use her liberty well. Burns was a hero in every sense of the word, as were those compassionately determined to eliminate slavery

I read this book with my 8th grade English students, and althouth the pace is not at lightening speed, they enjoy it in conjunction with supplemental activities on Black History, true stories of slaves, debates, art activities, and acting out various scenes from the book. We discuss the relationship of Anthony and his white father, the common occurence of slave masters fathering children with their slaves, the lose-lose situations of overseers, the value of freedom versus the unknown of being thrust into a society which does not at all embrace you, the definitions, dangers, and occasional irony of abolitionists, whether or not Anthony is guilty of that with which he is charged, and what he is REALLY on trial for. After we finish reading the book, I bring in 2 lawyers (these can be parents of the children) and get them to help the kids break up into the prosecution and the defense, prepare for a trial, and then we put on the trial the next day. This is a wonderful way to wrap up the book, and the kids take it very seriously. The book itself is not too graphic in nature (as are many slave accounts because they are true), but it does tell an effective story on which one can easily elaborate in class.

My students just finished reading this story set in 1854 Boston as yet another cause of the Civil War; the Fugitive Slave Act part of the Compromise of 1850. Prior to this we have studied Congress's efforts at keeping the Senate balanced with an equal number of slave and free states, slave revolts and slave codes, abolitionists, and the country's ambivalence about "the peculiar institution."The story of Anthony Burns personalizes slavery for this generation in the way Uncle Tom's Cabin exposed the evils of slavery in 1851-1852. Students are outraged at the treatment of slaves as property, by the "dark side" of human nature that chooses to humiliate and degrade Anthony in the name of the law of the land even though Anthony's owner and captors have opportunities to sell him to those who would free him. The Fugitive Slave law is used against Anthony, yet the Fugitive Slave law is broken by the very people enforcing it.Recently I heard the argument again that the Civil War was not about slavery but about states' rights, the right of people to live the way they were used to. I urge people with this belief to consider trading places with a slave such as Anthony Burns; to have your mother be a breeder of more slaves; to be leased out to whomever and your wages go to your owner; to be forced to believe this is the way things are and always should be.Following reading Anthony Burns, we are reenacting the trial of Simeon Bushnell, a resident of Oberlin, Ohio, accused of helping a runaway slave escape as described in the book The Town that Started the Civil War. Then we will be ready to study the Civil War itself.