Cover of Fortune's Bones: The Manumission Requiem

Fortune's Bones: The Manumission Requiem

by Marilyn Nelson · 2004

+ Want to read

There is a skeleton in the Mattatuck Museum in Connecticut. It has been in the town for over 200 years. In 1996, community members decided to find out what they could about it. Historians discovered that the bones were those of a slave name 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. Merilyn Nelson wrote The Manumission Requiemto commemorate Fortune's life. Detailed notes and archival photographs enhance the reader's appreciation of the poem.

Subject
biographybiographyMore like thisLess of thishistoryhistoryMore like thisLess of this
Genre
historical fictionhistorical fictionMore like thisLess of this
Themes
diversitydiversityMore like thisLess of thisslaveryslaveryMore like thisLess of thisAfrican AmericanAfrican AmericanMore like thisLess of this
Setting
ConnecticutConnecticutMore like thisLess of this
Audience
young adultchildrenspicture books
Length
short · 40 pages
Form
poetrypoetryMore like thisLess of this

Click a tag to see books like this one that share it. Point at it (on a phone, tap it) for less of it instead.

Read it? Sign in to help tag it.

BuyAmazonGoogle Books

BorrowOpen LibraryA library near you

MoreCompare pricesHardcover

Liked Fortune's Bones: The Manumission Requiem? Here’s where I’d start.

These suit anyone who liked Fortune's Bones: The Manumission Requiem. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.

  1. The Pain Tree and Other Teenage Angst-Ridden Poems · 2000 Shares poetry, young adult, nonfiction
  2. What the Heart Knows: Chants, Charms, and Blessings Joyce Sidman · 2013 Shares poetry, young adult, nonfiction
  3. Poetry for Young People: Langston Hughes Langston Hughes · 2006 Shares poetry, multicultural, picture books
  4. Dizzy in Your Eyes: Poems about Love Pat Mora · 2010 Shares poetry, young adult, nonfiction
See more recommendations →

“People who read Fortune's Bones: The Manumission Requiem tend to reach for these next.”

  1. 19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East Naomi Shihab Nye · 1994
  2. Becoming Billie Holiday Carole Boston Weatherford · 2008
  3. In Daddy's Arms I Am Tall: African Americans Celebrating Fathers Javaka Steptoe · 1997
  4. A Strange Place to Call Home: The World's Most Dangerous Habitats & the Animals That Call Them Home Marilyn Singer · 2012

“If you want more of the same (biography about diversity), start with these.”

  1. Worlds Afire Paul B. Janeczko · 2004
  2. Neighborhood Odes Gary Soto · 1992
  3. The Prisoner of Chillon George Gordon Byron · 2010
  4. Poetry Speaks Who I Am with CD: Poems of Discovery, Inspiration, Independence, and Everything Else Elise Paschen, Dominique Raccah · 2010

“If it was the poetry that hooked you, try one of these.”

  1. Here in Harlem: Poems in Many Voices Walter Dean Myers · 2004
  2. Time You Let Me In: 25 Poets under 25 Naomi Shihab Nye · 2010
  3. Things I Have to Tell You: Poems and Writing by Teenage Girls · 2001
  4. Blushing: Expressions of Love in Poems and Letters Paul B. Janeczko · 2004

“These start from a similar idea, even if they go somewhere else with it.”

  1. Skeleton (DK Eyewitness Books) Steve Parker · 1960
  2. The Pregnant Amish Widow Samantha Price
  3. Digging Up Dinosaurs Aliki · 1981
  4. The Search For The Missing Bones Eva Moore · 2000

Report a problem