Henry's Freedom Box

Title: Henry's Freedom Box
Author: Ellen Levine

Summary: This book tells the true story of a young enslaved boy that has been separated from his family. He misses his wife and children, and goes to a man who is known for helping slaves through the Underground Railroad. Henry has the idea to get into a big box and be shipped to Philadelphia in order to become free. Henry's Freedom Box has beautiful pictures and can be used in a variety of ways in the classroom.

Possible Units: This could be used in a unit on Slavery, the Underground Railroad, Civil Rights/Freedom, and even a geographic study on where slavery was popular and reasons why. I think I would use this book to spark a debate on whether Henry was right to break the law and be sent somewhere else since slavery was wrong. This would be interesting to have the students delve into the deeper issues behind slavery and segregation.

Stages of Social Justice Education: Henry's Freedom Box covers #2: Respect for others; #3: Exploring the issues of Social Justice through racism, classism and oppression; and #4: Social movements and change through discussing the Underground Railroad and fighting for rights.

Resources/Links to find the book:
To buy the book, http://www.kadirnelson.com/Books.html
To research the book, http://content.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=8097
To find more lessons on the Underground Railroad, http://www.nku.edu/~undergroundrr/lessonplans/