Review of
Black Comanche Boy,
by Alex Bontemps ISBN 0394020154
Five out of five stars
Accurate historical fiction
It is the fifth
and last year of the American Civil War and Union troops have marched into
Louisiana and are destroying plantations and taking all food that they can
find. When the Union troops entered the plantation where Jamie and his
grandfather lived as slaves, they took all the food and chased them away. Not
willing to trust the Union soldiers and terrified that the Confederates will
return and consider them runaway slaves, they are hiding in the swamp with no
shelter, little clothing and no food. The only thing they have is a fire to
warm them and keep the night away.
They manage to
survive and encounter a large group of blacks on the move. From them, they
learn that the Civil War is over, and the Union was victorious, making them
free. Jamie and his Grandpa join this group on the move to what they have heard
is forty acres of choice land and a mule to work it. When the night riders
attack, Jamie and his Grandpa are separated. Lost and afraid, Jamie flees
blindly, losing all contact with his Grandpa and fellow blacks.
In his terror-filled flight, Jamie runs all the way into
Texas where he encounters a small party of Comanches. He is taken into their
tribe and undergoes the tests that Comanche boys undertake. At the end, there
is a tragedy that solidifies Jamie as a member of the Comanche tribe.
The last days
of the American Civil War were tumultuous, and especially dangerous for the
newly freed blacks. Most of the white Southern men hated them and could not
accept that former slaves were now free to move about. When Union soldiers were
not present, the Southern men did not hesitate to act on their hatreds in the
most vicious of ways. While this book may not describe the life of a specific
person, it remains a true story.
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