Chasing Freedom -The Life Journeys of Harriet Tubman & Susan B. Anthony

   
Chasing Freedom--The Life Journeys of Harriet Tubman & Susan B. Anthony Inspired by Historical Facts
   

     A recent online poll conducted by Women on 20s of more than 600,000 people across the United States revealed that Harriet Tubman, the leading abolitionist who rescued hundreds of people from slavery, is at the forefront to replace President Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill.  In light of this recent news, I could not think of a more compelling reason to take a look back at this remarkable woman's life in a time period where the achievements of women who were compelled by an inner voice, or calling, as we learn from the beautifully compelling story Chasing Freedom-The Life Journeys of Harriet Tubman & Susan B. Anthony Inspired by Historical Facts by the 2014 Coretta Scott King Honor winning author Nikki Grimes.
     Picture if you will, two of our nations most prolific voices and activists of social justice and change, Harriet Tubman and Susan B. Anthony, coming together on a cool autumn afternoon in November of 1904, for a conversation that revisits their influential roles in shaping the course of our nations history for the better.
      Both women, coming from two very distinctively different beginnings, where Anthony, while working as a teacher in upstate New York, great outraged by the unequal pay and treatment of women in her position.  Around this same time, hundreds of miles away in the farms of Maryland, Harriet, having endured years of beatings by her owners as a slave, decided to take her fate into her own hands, famously stating that, "there was one of two things I had a right to..liberty or death; if I could not have one I would have the other."  On September 17, 1849, Harriet and two of her brothers, escaped from slavery, and the woman who would go on to be named "Moses" received her "call" in Philadelphia, where, she explains to Susan over tea in a cozy sitting room, "the Lord told me to free my people," starting her journey to rescue and free many slaves as a conductor on the Underground Railroad.
     Chasing Freedom-The Life Journey's of Harriet Tubman & Susan B. Anthony Inspired by Historical Facts is filled with richly detailed illustrations by artist Michele Wood, is an extremely though provoking work of historical fiction.  Drawing young readers into the horrendous world of slavery, the struggle for women's rights and the danger that these brave women faced every time they spoke out in public on these subjects, Grimes story, is a tale that will encourage children (best for the 8 to 12 age group) to discover a time in our nation that was ripe with some of the most influential leaders like these two remarkable women, and the events that helped shape our country's history.  A truly must-read by your little 'bigger' ones!

Chasing Freedom-The Life Journey's of Harriet Tubman & Susan B. Anthony Inspired by Historical Facts
Written by Nikki Grimes & Illustrated by Michele Wood
Publisher:  Orchard Books/Scholastic (2015)
For ages 8 to 12
Retails for $18.99
ISBN: 978-0-439-79338-4