I, Dred Scott: A Fictional Slave Narrative Based on the Life and Legal Precedent of Dred Scott

by Shelia P. Moses

Book Overview

Born into slavery in Virginia in the late 1700s, Dred Scott had little to look forward to in life. But he was fortunate in two ways: His first owner was fairly kind to him, and he grew up with his owner's children, forming friendships that he would come to depend on years later. For on April 6, 1846, Dred Scott and his wife, Harriett -- their ownership having changed hands several times during adulthood -- took the dangerous and courageous step to...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0689859759
• ISBN13: 9780689859755
• Release Date: January 2005
• Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
• Length: 96 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.5" x 7.8"
• Age Range: 10 to 14 years
• Grade Range: Grades 5 to 9

Customer Reviews

I Hope Other Teachers Will Use this book -- We need more like it!

This book is prefaced with a touching forward by a great-grandson [John Madison Jr.] of Dred Scott. He sets up the reader beautifully for Shelia Moses' attempt to humanize the man behind the landmark Supreme Court case of the 1850s which denied Scot's humanity and that of all blacks. I agreed with Mr. Madison's opening concern "How would Shelia Moses write about [Scott, his wife and children] and tell their story? It occurred to me later that how she did it was not as important as simply telling his story..." This story is simply told, and short--eighty pages of fairly large type--and yet rich with detail and information. Those who aren't familiar with him will learn that Scott was a slave who was taken to several free-states by his master, an army doctor, in the 1840s. In the 1850s, sympathic lawyers argued in countless cases, leading all the way up to the Supreme Court, that Scott should be a free man. When Justice Taney and the Supreme Court ruled against Scott, the nation, already embroiled in the slavery debate, was further polarized as it raced toward war. Although told through the first-person voice, I found Dred Scott remained distant and unknown in this book. That's not exactly a criticism. Perhaps Ms. Moses trusts her readers enough to leave us some of the hard work of trying to understand another human being and make meaning of their life for ourselves. I deeply appreciated that she does not project herself into Scott or shackle him with modern sensibilities and agendas as so many writers of adolescent historical fiction do. Through Moses' pen the reader really does feel that are listening to Scott himself-who I imagine was an unassuming man not prone to deep, emotional disclosure. As a middle school history teacher I am always searching for (and, sadly, rarely finding) quality material which will bring history alive for my students and help them get into someone else's head. I plan to use this book as an anchor for our study of slavery. I think Julius Lester's sledge-hammer compilation of true slaves rememberances, To Be A Slave, would compliment this work nicely. Frederick Douglass autobiography would also be appropriate. I know Douglass should trump I Dred Scott but I'm going with this because of it's readability. On the cover of this book is a painting in which Dred Scott peers out at us with a somewhat vacant but dignified gaze. His eyes seem to be inviting us to pause and look back and try to glimpse into his soul. The book, like the painting, does that for me. John Madison Jr's preface ends with the appeal, "I hope that people all over the world will read and love the characters to which Shelia Moses has given so much love. I hope you will finish this book knowing that Dred Scott was different from the court ruling that said he was only one-fourth of a man. He was my great-grandfather-and the start of our legacy." **I'll add student's reactions to this review after I try it with them.

Interesting...

This is a great book if you hate reading dry history. It's the type of fictional narrative that will make someone like me actually read the REAL history on the case to get a more in-depth understanding. I thought the author did a great job of telling the story of a black man who after working continuously as a slave did not realize he spent much of his life in free territory. The numerous trials of free/not-free make for interesting reading and show just how tedious and nerve-racking freedom was.