num_pages: 40
description: Winner of the Coretta Scott King Book AwardFor young readers comes a poetic commemoration of the life of an 18th-century slave, from a past poet laureate and three-time National Book Award finalistFor over 200 years, the Mattatuck Museum in Connecticut has housed a mysterious skeleton. In 1996, community members decided to find out what they could about it. Historians discovered that the bones were those of an enslaved man named Fortune, who was owned by a local doctor. After Fortune’s death, the doctor rendered the bones.Further research revealed that Fortune had married, had fathered four children, and had been baptized later in life. His bones suggest that after a life of arduous labor, he died in 1798 at about the age of 60. The Manumission Requiem is Marilyn Nelson’s poetic commemoration of Fortune’s life. Detailed notes and archival photographs enhance the reader’s appreciation of the poem.
language: English
title: Fortune's Bones: The Manumission Requiem
titlecomplete: Fortune's Bones: The Manumission Requiem
genres: Historical, History, Cultural, Teen, Picture Books, American History, African American, Biography, Poetry, Nonfiction
ratings_count: 226
awards: awardedAt: 1104566400000
name: Coretta Scott King Book Award
category: Author Honor
publisher: Wordsong