Carole Boston Weatherford. (2017). Freedom in Congo Square. little bee books.

Carole Boston Weatherford. 2017. Freedom in Congo Square. little bee books.

Carole Boston Weatherford, Freedom in Congo Square. little bee books, 2017.

Carole Boston Weatherford. Freedom in Congo Square. little bee books, 2017.

OverDrive Product Record

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Freedom in Congo Square

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• role: Author
• name: Carole Boston Weatherford

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02923c2a-0e2c-4647-99d1-74655416093c

title

Freedom in Congo Square

starRating

3.3

dateAdded

2017-02-02T17:13:00-05:00

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keywords

1. • value: Juneteenth
2. • value: Decolonization
3. • value: countdown
4. • value: dancing
5. • value: Freedom of religion
6. • value: Louisiana
7. • value: critical race theory
8. • value: naacp image award
9. • value: Caldecott Honor author
10. • value: unspeakable
11. • value: african american history in new orleans
12. • value: black joy and excellence
13. • value: celebration of music
14. • value: coretta scott king award winning
15. • value: new york times bestselling author and illustrator
16. • value: nonfiction story about slavery and freedom
17. • value: singing and poetry
18. • value: standing in the need of prayer
19. • value: voice of freedom fannie lou hamer

creators

1. • role: Author
   • fileAs: Weatherford, Carole Boston
   • name: Carole Boston Weatherford
2. • role: Illustrator
   • fileAs: Christie, R. Gregory
   • name: R. Gregory Christie

publishDate

2017-01-17T00:00:00-05:00

isOwnedByCollections

True

title

Freedom in Congo Square

fullDescription

Winner of a Caldecott Honor and a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor
A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2016
A School Library Journal Best Book of 2016: Nonfiction
Starred reviews from School Library Journal, Booklist, Kirkus Reviews, and The Horn Book Magazine
A Junior Library Guild Selection

This poetic, nonfiction story about a little-known piece of African American history captures a human's capacity to find hope and joy in difficult circumstances and demonstrates how New Orleans' Congo Square was truly freedom's heart.
Mondays, there were hogs to slop,

mules to train, and logs to chop.

Slavery was no ways fair.

Six more days to Congo Square.
As slaves relentlessly toiled in an unjust system in 19th century Louisiana, they all counted down the days until Sunday, when at least for half a day they were briefly able to congregate in Congo Square in New Orleans. Here they were free to set up an open market, sing, dance, and play music. They were free to forget their cares, their struggles, and their oppression. This story chronicles slaves' duties each day, from chopping logs on Mondays to baking bread on Wednesdays to plucking hens on Saturday, and builds to the freedom of Sundays and the special experience of an afternoon spent in Congo Square. This book includes a forward from Freddi Williams Evans (freddievans.com), a historian and Congo Square expert, as well as a glossary of terms with pronunciations and definitions.

gradeLevels

1. • value: Grade 2
2. • value: Grade 3
3. • value: Grade 4

reviews

1. • premium: True
   • source:
   • content:

     October 5, 2015
     Located in what is now the Treme neighborhood, Congo Square was the one place where the slaves and free blacks of New Orleans were allowed to gather on Sundays, a legally mandated day of rest. There they could reconnect with the dance and music of their West and Central African heritages and feel, at least for a few hours, that they were in “a world apart,” where “freedom’s heart” prevailed. Weatherford hits a few flat notes with her rhyming (“Slaves had off one afternoon,/ when the law allowed them to commune”), but she succeeds in evoking a world where prospect of Sunday becomes a way to withstand relentless toil and oppression: “Wednesday, there were beds to make/ silver to shine, and bread to bake./ The dreaded lash, too much to bear./ Four more days to Congo Square.” Christie, who worked with Weatherford to illuminate another historic neighborhood in Sugar Hill (2014), takes readers on a visual journey, moving from searing naïf scenes of plantation life to exuberantly expressionistic and abstract images filled with joyous, soaring curvilinear figures. An introduction and afterword provide further historic detail. Ages 4–8.

2. • premium: True
   • source:
   • content:

     Starred review from November 1, 2015
     Count down the days until Sunday, a day for slaves in New Orleans to gather together and remember their African heritage. In rhyming couplets, Weatherford vividly describes each day of nonstop work under a "dreaded lash" until Sunday, when slaves and free blacks could assemble in Congo Square, now a part of New Orleans' Louis Armstrong Park and on the National Register of Historic Places. Musicians "drummed ancestral roots alive" on different traditional instruments, and men and women danced. They also exchanged information and sold wares. The poetry is powerful and evocative, providing a strong and emotional window into the world of the slave. Christie's full-bleed paintings are a moving accompaniment. His elongated figures toil in fields and in houses with bent backs under the watchful eyes of overseers with whips. Then on Sunday, they greet one another and dance with expressively charged spirits. One brilliant double-page spread portrays African masks and instruments with swirling lines of text; it is followed by another with four dancers moving beautifully--almost ethereally--on a vibrant yellow collage background. As the author notes, jazz would soon follow from the music played in Congo Square. Weatherford and Christie dazzlingly salute African-Americans' drive to preserve their dignity and pride. (foreword, glossary, author's note) (Picture book. 5-9)

     COPYRIGHT(2015) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

3. • premium: True
   • source:
   • content:

     Starred review from October 1, 2015
     

     Gr 1-3-This vibrant picture book examines Congo Square in New Orleans. A foreword and author's note explain how, historically, slaves in Louisiana were allowed Sunday afternoons off. This custom continued after the territory joined the United States, although in time, New Orleans established one location for all slaves to gather: an area that became known as Congo Square. This unique practice helped enslaved and free Africans maintain cultural traditions. The impact was felt far beyond New Orleans as musicians, dancers, and singers developed, explored, and shared rhythms that eventually grew into jazz music. The text is realistic but child appropriate. Couplets count down the days to Sunday in a conversational tone ("Slavery was no ways fair./Six more days to Congo Square."). The writing is accompanied by folk art-style illustrations, with paint applied in thick layers. Some images, such as faces, are more detailed, while others are presented as silhouettes. Collage with painted elements is incorporated on occasion. The architecture portrayed evokes the New Orleans setting. Bright colors suggest the exuberance displayed at Congo Square. Spreads where the slaves are finally able to sing, dance, and express emotion contrast effectively with the forced restraint of those depicting the work week. VERDICT Unique in its subject and artistic expression, this beautiful book belongs in most collections.-Lucinda Snyder Whitehurst, St. Christopher's School, Richmond, VA

     Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

4. • premium: True
   • source:
   • content:

     Starred review from November 15, 2015
     Grades 1-3 *Starred Review* Coretta Scott King Honorees Weatherford and Christie have created a gorgeously artistic and poetic homage to the birthplace of jazz and a people whose legacy is too often ignored. For one day a week, the slaves of New Orleans were allowed by law to gather on one public space: Congo Square. Through sparse, deliberate language, Weatherford tangibly captures the anticipation of those Sundays, listing the physical and emotional work that slaves endured without respite. They tend to animals and crops, cater to their masters, endure losses and lashings, all the while counting the hours until they can revel in the freedom of Congo Square. Holding on to that joyful experience feels like a form of silent resistance as the slaves bear the harshness of the week. The blunt words are richly supplemented by illustrations reminiscent of Jacob Lawrence's work. Christie elegantly renders people's gestures in chalk, capturing their energy or lack of, depending on the context. Blocks of color stamped with texture bring to life the landscape and movement in a place where they rejoiced as if they had no cares; / half day, half free in Congo Square. Subtle and layered, this is an important story, beautifully told.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)

5. • premium: True
   • source:
   • content:

     Starred review from May 1, 2016
     In historic Louisiana, enslaved Africans were provided a half-day of rest each Sunday, and in New Orleans their official and legal gathering place was Congo Square. With two spare couplets for each day of the week, Weatherford tells readers what slavery looks like. The verses count down to Sunday: "Mondays, there were hogs to slop, / mules to train, and logs to chop. / Slavery was no ways fair. Six more days to Congo Square." A slow, steady rhythm builds as the many labors and horrors ("the dreaded lash, too much to bear") of enslaved people are described. Weatherford sugarcoats nothing, but because of the poetic form, the text is not mired in sadness or pain; Weatherford just respectfully and soberly acknowledges it throughout. Christie's illustrations, whose colors and components recall the work of Jacob Lawrence, add even more emotional depth. Though most of the faces are featureless, Christie's use of sharp angles in the slaves' bodies as he depicts their back-breaking work evinces their ever-present emotional and physical suffering. When they reach Congo Square, though, the figures elongate and have softer curves and angles, allowing them to relax and to dance; they leap as high as Weatherford's joyful verse. A foreword provides historical context for the real place the book describes. sarah hannah gomez

     (Copyright 2016 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

6. • premium: True
   • source:
   • content:

     July 1, 2016
     In Louisiana, enslaved Africans were provided a half-day of rest each Sunday; in New Orleans, they gathered in Congo Square. Spare couplets, describing the labors and horrors of slavery, count down to Sunday. Weatherford sugarcoats nothing, but the text isn't mired in sadness or pain. Christie's illustrations, which recall Jacob Lawrence's work, add even more emotional depth. A foreword provides historical context.

     (Copyright 2016 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

7. • premium: True
   • source:
   • content:

     December 1, 2016
     

     Gr 1-3-Couplets count down the days of the week and detail the daily labor duties of those who were enslaved in New Orleans-all leading up to Sunday, the day of rest and an afternoon in Congo Square. Acknowledging and contrasting the brutal toll of slavery with the exuberance and collective power of their one half-afternoon of free expression, Weatherford has created a masterly and multifaceted work. Christie's illustrations, so loaded with color and movement, are the perfect accompaniment to this must-have book.

     Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

popularity

387

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starRating

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languages

1. • code: en
   • name: English

subjects

1. • value: History
2. • value: Juvenile Nonfiction

publishDateText

01/17/2017

otherFormatIdentifiers

1. • type: ISBN
   • value: 9781499801033

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shortDescription

Winner of a Caldecott Honor and a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor
A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2016
A School Library Journal Best Book of 2016: Nonfiction
Starred reviews from School Library Journal, Booklist, Kirkus Reviews, and The Horn Book Magazine
A Junior Library Guild Selection

This poetic, nonfiction story about a little-known piece of African American history captures a human's capacity to find hope and joy in difficult circumstances and demonstrates how New Orleans' Congo Square was truly freedom's heart.
Mondays, there were hogs to slop,

mules to train, and logs to chop.

Slavery was no ways fair.

Six more days to Congo Square.
As slaves relentlessly toiled in an unjust system in 19th century Louisiana, they all counted down the days until Sunday, when at least for half a day...

sortTitle

Freedom in Congo Square

lexileScore

600

crossRefId

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awards

1. • source: American Library Association
   • value: Coretta Scott King Award Honor Book
2. • source: Association for Library Service to Children
   • value: Caldecott Honor Book

publisher

little bee books

atos

5.4

bisacCodes

1. • code: JNF018010
   • description: JUVENILE NONFICTION / African American & Black
2. • code: JNF025200
   • description: Juvenile Nonfiction / History / United States / 19th Century
3. • code: JNF053140
   • description: Juvenile Nonfiction / Social Topics / Prejudice & Racism