Henry's Freedom Box- Non Fiction

Henry's Freedom Box
A True Story from the Underground Railroad
By: Ellen Levine

Henry Brown is an African American Slave in the United States during mid- 1800's. When he was a little boy, he was separated from his mother, and sold to a new master. His new master is mean, and beats him whenever he makes a mistake. When Henry gets older and marries, he worries that his wife and children will be taken from him, just like he was from his own mother. When this nightmare becomes a reality, Henry decides that he must escape this life of torment and he ships himself, in a wooden box, to a world of freedom in Philadelphia. Once he arrives safe, he is given a middle name- Henry "Box" Brown.

There are many ways that I could incorporate this story in the classroom. One way that I could do this, is to tie it into Social Studies. Students study the history of North Carolina in fourth grade, which can lead to a discussion on slaves in North Carolina and in other Southern States. I could incorporate the book in this unit by tying in the Underground Railroad. I would discuss with the students that the Underground Railroad was not actually a road, but it was all of the ways that slaves escaped slavery and made their way to the North. We could discuss Harriet Jacobs, a slave from Edenton, North Carolina who escaped slavery and moved to Philadelphia. We could read her autobiography, or excerpts from it, called  Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. We could then read Henry's Freedom Box and compare and contrast their escapes and lives. This would allow the class to get a more comprehensive understanding of what the Underground Railroad actually was.