 First edition | |
| Author | Ann Rinaldi |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Great Episodes |
| Genre | Historical novel |
| Publisher | Scholastic |
Publication date | 1996 |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| Pages | 352 pp |
| ISBN | 0-15-200876-4 |
| OCLC | 34150871 |
| LC Class | PZ7.R459 Han 1996 |
| Preceded by | Keep Smiling Through |
| Followed by | An Acquaintance with Darkness |
Hang a Thousand trees with Ribbons is a 1996 historical novel by Ann Rinaldi. The story, told in first-person narration, follows the life of Phillis Wheatley, the first African-American poet. The story recounts her capture by black slavers in Africa and the horrors of the Middle Passage as experienced by a woman of intelligence and artistic ability when society assumed Africans were not endowed with either. Ann Rinaldi's vivid portrayal of the first African American poet is set against the backdrop of the American War of Independence, so there is a double theme of search for liberty in the novel.
Ann Rinaldi is an American young adult fiction author. She is best known for her historical fiction, including In My Father's House, The Last Silk Dress, An Acquaintance with Darkness, A Break with Charity, Numbering All The Bones and Hang a Thousand Trees with Ribbons. She has written a total of more than forty novels, eight of which were listed as notable by the ALA. In 2000, Wolf by the Ears was listed as one of the best novels of the preceding twenty-five years, and later of the last one hundred years. She also writes for the Dear America series.
Phillis Wheatley, also spelled Phyllis and Wheatly was the first African-American woman to publish a book of poetry. Born in West Africa, she was sold into slavery at the age of seven or eight and transported to North America. She was purchased by the Wheatley family of Boston, who taught her to read and write and encouraged her poetry when they saw her talent.
The Middle Passage was the stage of the triangular trade in which millions of Africans were forcibly transported to the New World as part of the Atlantic slave trade. Ships departed Europe for African markets with manufactured goods, which were traded for purchased or kidnapped Africans, who were transported across the Atlantic as slaves; the slaves were then sold or traded for raw materials, which would be transported back to Europe to complete the voyage. The First Passage was the transportation of captives (slaves) to the African ports, such as Elmina, where they would be loaded onto ships. The Final Passage was the journey from the port of disembarkation, such as Charleston, to the plantation or other destination where they would be put to work. The Middle Passage across the Atlantic joined these two. Voyages on the Middle Passage were large financial undertakings, generally organized by companies or groups of investors rather than individuals.
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