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Gr 1-5 Like Virginia Hamilton's "The People Could Fly" (Knopf, 2004), this folktale tells the story of slaves who magically slip off the bonds of oppression by simply soaring "way up and over everything." As related by a slave named Jane's great-great granddaughter, it is the tale of five dignified and taciturn new slaves who are taken to a Georgia cotton plantation in 1842. The Africans are given "American" names, but one young man whispers to Jane, "Edet, Edet" as th...Log In or Sign Up to Read More

Calling it "The People Could Fly," Virginia Hamilton used this well-known story as the title for her landmark collection of African American folktales. Storyteller McGill's variant comes from her great-grandmother (b. 1857), who told it as if observed by her own "mama," Jane. While McGill is less specific than Hamilton concerning the cruelties of slavery, she too conveys the powerful consolation of imagined freedom. Jane, an enslaved sixteen-year-old on Ol' Man ...Log In or Sign Up to Read More

McGill conveys the powerful consolation of imagined freedom. Jane, a slave, witnesses the arrival of five newly purchased Afri...Log In or Sign Up to Read More