Last Book Club Spotlight, we began our celebration of Black History Month and the incredible achievements of the authors in our collection. And to no one’s surprise, we will be covering yet another amazing African-American author who spent her life uplifting Black voices through literature. Dubbed “Liberation Literature”, Virginia Hamilton authored 41 books that celebrated the African-American experience. Her prestigious legacy continues in the Virginia Hamilton Conference on Multicultural Literature for Youth, and in the Coretta Scott King – Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement. Hamilton spent over a decade researching and compiling histories for Anthony Burns: The Defeat and Triumph of a Fugitive Slave. So many stories tell of the brave abolitionists who fought on behalf of those enslaved, but Hamilton wanted to tell a different story. One that centered the person, and not just the idea. Burns was more than a symbol, he was a young, frightened man, who sought his unalienable right to freedom.
Ten years before the American Civil War, marines and infantrymen, state militia – thousands of them, all descended on Boston to secure a young man back to the bondage of slavery in Virginia. They mercilessly attacked the protesting crowd and they walked on. Shouts of “liberty!” rang in the air. A few months prior, Anthony Burns escaped from enslavement in Virginia by stowing away on a ship, and now the Fugitive Slave Act had caught up to him. But Boston had been preparing for this. All across the city, calls were sent out to members of the Vigilance Committee who had at its command lawyers, scholars, doctors, suffragettes, and ship captains as well as working men and women both black and white. All were dedicated to the cause of freedom for slaves. These members were gathering in support and strength, providing legal services, fighting the unjust court, and attempting to secure funds to buy his freedom. But locked away in the courthouse, the only freedom Anthony knew he could count on was the freedom of memory.
“Overnight, without his ever knowing it, Anthony Burns became a symbol of freedom.”
Virginia Hamilton
Sometimes it feels like if we want to get a good grasp of history and learn a lot about a subject, we need to tackle gigantic tomes to get an understanding. Hamilton’s Anthony Burns, is knowledgeable, precise, and concise, which makes it a great tool amongst young and adult readers and groups alike. She weaves in relevant historical details and moments to help the reader understand the wider picture of why Burns’ capture in May of 1854, was so impactful. Only a few years prior, “upstanding” citizens of Boston paraded another figurative slave, Thomas Sims through the town square to his captors. Now, with anti-slavery sentiment growing in the north, in conjunction with the unpopular Kansas-Nebraska Act, Boston was ripe for a riot when Burns was quite literally stolen off the street and held in a makeshift prison. In Anthony Burns, the reader spends much of their time inside his thoughts and memories. How did a young man end up in such a position, and what could he hold on to to survive the inhumane trial set before him? Much like The Legend of Bass Reeves by Gary Paulsen, a lack of firsthand accounts and resources on Anthony Burns’ life exist, therefore Hamilton had to take what she knew about his life, and fill in those gaps creating a thoughtful and rich “historical reconstruction” of his past.
“For once I wanted readers to have a book in which the oppressed slave, a common man, was at the center of his own struggle.”
- Virginia Hamilton, Afterword
If you’re interested in requesting Anthony Burns for your book club, you can find the Request Form here. There are 14 copies. (A librarian must request items)
Hamilton, Virginia. Anthony Burns. New York:Knopf. 1988.
