OUT FROM THIS PLACE

by Joyce Hansen ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 26, 1988

The story begun in Which Way Freedom? (a Coretta Scott King Honor Book, 1986) continues with Easter's experiences while Obi is away fighting with the Union Army. In a fictional dramatization of events, Easter (14) returns in 1862 to the Phillips plantation to find little Jason, the boy she had raised. With a group of other recently emancipated blacks, they escape to the Union-held Sea Islands off South Carolina. The Union Army pays them to work a plantation there, and promises that they will also receive title to the land after the war. But President Johnson, reneging on this promise, returned confiscated land to its white owners in 1865; in Easter's community, an armed rebellion results in a compromise, and the blacks do finally become landowners--after tragic bloodshed. Hansen fleshes out the historical record with well-drawn characters and authentic incident. The new and old resident blacks successfully organize their community: choosing leaders; designating paid workers for child-care and cooking; building a school. Easter never gives up looking for Obi; at the book's end, she has made a reluctant decision to go the North to become a better teacher for her people, and there's a hint that Obi will find her--but that will probably be another story. A fine historical novel, with an attractive jacket portrait of the engagingly bright, compassionate and self-reliant Easter by Pat Cummings.

Pub Date: Sept. 26, 1988

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 135

Publisher: Walker

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1988

Categories: CHILDREN'S