Hammering for Freedom

by Rita Lorraine Hubbard, John Holyfield (Illustrator)

The true story of William Lewis.

Born into slavery in Tennessee, William Lewis learned the blacksmith trade as soon as he was old enough to grip a hammer. He proved to be an exceptional blacksmith and earned so much money fixing old tools and creating new ones that he was allowed to keep a little money for himself. With just a few coins in his pocket, Bill set a daring plan in motion: he was determined to free his family.

Genres: Picture Books, Biography, History, Nonfiction, Family, Childrens, African American

32 pages, Hardcover

Published September 25, 2018

About the author

Rita Lorraine Hubbard is the author of Hammering for Freedom: The Willism Lewis Story, which won the Lee & Low Books New Voices Award and was a Junior Library Guild selection. She also wrote a number of nonfiction books for adults, and she runs the children's book review site Picture Book Depot. She lives in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Reviews

[Becky B]

A picture book biography of Bill Lewis, a man born a slave, trained as a blacksmith, and built up such a great reputation for his work was able to save enough money to free not only himself but his entire family from slavery.

Wow, if you're looking for a story of a hardworking, money-smart, persevering man, snatch this one up. It is kind of unbelievable just how much money Lewis was able to make. He not only bought all his family members' freedom (mom, brothers, sisters, wife, and one son born before his wife was freed) but he also bought a very nice house in cash. For a man of African descent during the mid 1800s it is pretty jaw-dropping. There's a little more information in the back of the book. Highly recommended.

[Christina Carter]

When I think about the vast wealth of African American history I never learned in school as a child, I am all the more grateful for books like Hammering for Freedom by Rita Lorraine Hubbard. It tells the story of William Lewis, a Chattanooga, Tennesse man who was born into slavery (circa the first decade of the 1800s). William "Bill" Lewis became a Blacksmith and was so good that he started earning his own money. He set his mind to saving up the money he needed to free his family. He labored grueling hours for many years over liquid flames, but he worked his plan and saw it through to fruition until every last one of his family members was free.

Rita Lorraine Hubbard did an excellent job with this book, earning herself the well deserved Lee and Low New Voices Award. Her book provides a great introduction to a man who'd forged a "daring plan;" one that would forever change the lives of his family. I would recommend this book for 2nd through 5th grade. It would make a good read aloud any time of the year and is one that should be displayed prominently and shared widely beyond Black History Month.

Nonfiction picture book biographies are more than just informative, they are empowering because of their accessibility to a wide range of readers. In the K-12 setting, they have been the perfect platform by which to introduce students to unsung/hidden figures of history, making them hidden no more. I can proudly count Hammering for Freedom among some of my favorite nonfiction books that I've read so far this school year like, Dee Romito's Pies from Nowhere, Carole Boston Weatherford's The Roots of Rap, and Tami Charles's Fearless Mary. All three of these plus Hammering for Freedom have either been added or will soon be added to my K-5 library collection.

[Stephanie Bange]

This is a feel-good book with two solid themes: the love of family and the value of having a goal and putting in the hard work to attain it. It was awarded the 2018 New Voices Award by Lee & Low Books and is Hubbard's picture book debut.

William "Bill" Lewis grew up on a plantation in Tennessee, working hard at the job he was assigned -- blacksmith. He loved his family so much that it hurt to watch them work to exhaustion day after day. When he was able, he struck up a bargain with Colonel Lewis to rent his freedom in order to open up a blacksmith shop in nearby Chattanooga. It took many years, but he was able to save enough money to buy not only his own freedom, but that of his wife, son, mother, aunt, sisters, and brothers, plus a big house for all of them to live in Chattanooga.

Hubbard includes an afterward filled with details about what and why Bill did what he did and the importance of his acts. It also includes what happened to Bill and his children after the story ends.
A list of the author's research sources is also included. On the back cover is a photograph of Lewis with his wife and eight of his surviving adult children sitting on the porch of the family home.

Acrylic illustrations by John Holyfield are full of life and action, playing well with Hubbard's descriptive text. The art compositions are pleasing and filled with detail about blacksmithing -- with tools, equipment and projects -- and love and happiness on the faces of the former slaves once away from the colonel.

This is a wonderful family story that might just inspire others to see out their own family's story.

[Heather Montgomery]

Author Rita Hubbard skillfully brings us into this story of a man on a quest. Like myself, you probably have never heard of William "Bill Lewis," a man enslaved and determined to free his family. Like myself, you will root for this man who hammers from "bluish-purple sunrises" to "burnt-orange sunsets" year after year after year to buy the freedom family members one by one by one. True story. True lessons. True celebration of love.

[Jillian]

Fascinating story about a man who worked (and worked and worked and worked and worked) to buy his and his family's freedom.

When the backmatter revealed that Lewis had to free everyone from his biological father, for thousands of dollars, I just wanted to throw things.

[Thumbnail That]

This was truly a heart-wrenching autobiographical story of determination, will, and long term planning. I absolutely loved reading Bill’s story. His ironclad will drove his hammer into every horseshoe, nail, and ax with commanding purpose. It is disheartening that Bill’s story and others like his have been omitted from the telling of African American history. There is strength, dignity, and perseverance in every word of this text and Hubbard captures it all effortlessly.

Holyfield’s illustrations were melancholy but reflective of the time period and subject matter. With his wit and determination, Bill reshaped his life and the lives of his family. To me that is priceless and reveals the essence of his character. His story is not a sinular one, there are many stories lost through the ages that prove that slaves had the ability, knowledge, and will to be much more than servants. We have to do better–but this is a start. I’m definitely adding this to my top 10 list. William “Bill” Lewis is a name I won’t soon forget and neither should you.

[Cindy Mitchell *Kiss the Book*]

Hammering for Freedom by Rita Lorraine Hubbard, illustrated by John Holyfield. PICTURE BOOK/NON-FICTION. Lee & Low Books, 2018. $18. 9781600609695

BUYING ADVISORY: EL (K-3), EL - ESSENTIAL

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE

Bill was a slave who desired and was given the skills to buy the freedom of himself and other slaves. This was not easy though. Bill took his skills as a blacksmith and worked to the limits of his strength to earn enough money to first rent his freedom, then buy a shop, then buy his freedom, then free his family, and finally buy a nice house.

I thought my kids would get bored at the longer narrative of this book when they were expecting a short picture book, but they were enthralled through the entire story. This is a story that reveals the horrors of slavery, but layers it with the virtues of hard work and community. These lessons are complicated though and worthy or a discussion after the reading of the book.

Jen Wecker, HS English Teacher
https://kissthebookjr.blogspot.com/20...

[Nick]

This is an interesting book that teaches perhaps more than it started out to. For example, this book contains a reason WHY an enslaved man might buy the freedom of his wife before his own, something I had not previously seen in a children's book.
The idea that a man might spend decades of his life making sure that his whole family was free was interesting enough, but the historical snippets were great. The author, who had already written historical material for adults, did a great job in digging up and telling this story. The artwork, by John Holyfield, was also very good...although either the cover art got flipped before printing, or the artist was showing him there as being left-handed, the opposite of the other illustrations in the book. That caught my eye as being odd.
In any case, this is a very quick read, one giving an unusual view of slavery in the pre-Civil War period of Tennessee.

[Kris]

This is an incredible story, told well. I had never heard of Bill Lewis, but what he was able to accomplish, earning the money to purchase freedom, first for his wife, then for himself, and then for the rest of his entire extended family, was an astounding tale that manages to both anger and inspire. It introduces ideas that I had never considered, like the fact that he purchased freedom for his wife before himself because by gaining her freedom, he ensured that all of their future children would be born free. And the fact that in the end notes, you find out that the jagweed who enslaved them, white dude Colonel Lewis, WAS BILL'S BIOLOGICAL FATHER. This lays out a story that is enraging and handles it well, managing to be both truthful and and stirring, without making the mistake of whitewashing, what is, in fact, a story that would not have had to exist without the systemic oppression of an entire race.

[June]

A story of a man, born into slavery, who not only bought his wife's, his own, his son's, his mother', his aunt's, his two brothers' and his sister's freedom.

As awesome as the story was the backmatter was even more intense. The reader is told that William's biological father was the man he bought his family's freedom from. William's eldest daughter graduated from Oberlin College and her husband became the dean of Howard University Law School. His youngerst daught was a teacher in DC. William and his wife were invited to Booker T. Washington's wedding.

[Melle]

Tennessee, if you're looking for a Civil War-era hero to make a statue of, look no further than the subject of this wonderful children's biography -- Mr. William "Uncle Bill" Lewis -- a clever, persistent, dedicated, faithful person who worked hard, mastered his craft, and earned a fortune to free his family. This book is a solid four-and-a-half stars (the blocks of text might get heavy for some young readers), but the subject matter, the thoughtful telling, and the beautiful illustrations bump up the rating to a five here.

[Sheri]

I read this non-fiction book as recommended by a study of NF picture books. I have read other works -in-progress by this author and I liked this one. It is informative and a colorful book by another illustrator. It speaks of the life story of William Lewis who was a slave who worked to get himself his own house and buy his family out of slavery by blacksmithing that he learned as a slave. This is a story of one hard working man and colorful and interesting topic to read to a class in school or at home situation.

[Lisa]

William Lewis was born enslaved in Tennessee in 1810. He was a hard worker who learned to be a blacksmith - a good one. His master shared some of the profit from Bill's work, and eventually Bill was able to rent himself from his master. Saving every penny he could, Bill purchased his wife's freedom, his son's, his own and eventually his mother, brothers and sisters freedom too.

John Holyfield's illustrations are a marvelous complement to this amazing story. Includes a photograph on the back cover of William and his family, an afterword with a more thorough biography and sources.

[Roxanne Troup]

Great story.

[Megan]

Beautiful illustrations and a story of a man determined to do everything he could to set his family free.

[Jill]

This book tells the true story of William “Bill” Lewis, born into slavery around 1810. His biological father was Colonel James Lewis, a slaveholder who owned a plantation in Winchester, Tennessee.

Colonel Lewis decided Bill should train to be a blacksmith, and Bill got so good at it that local people began to pay for his services. Colonel Lewis let Bill keep a little of the money for himself:

“Each coin he saved brought him closer to purchasing his freedom. Once he was free, he could spend his money on whatever he wanted. And what he wanted was to free his family.”

Bill saved for years. Eventually he married a woman named Jane, and they began to have children. Thus he needed even more money, and he asked Colonel Lewis to let him rent himself out. The Colonel agreed on the condition that Bill pay him $350 a year as “rent” for his freedom, and then he could keep the rest. Bill, then age 27, agreed.

Bill must have been very good indeed. He earned enough money to open his own blacksmith shop in Chattanooga. There, in 1837, he made history as the first African American blacksmith in the city. He worked day and night so he could buy Jane’s freedom. As the author explains, “Once Jane was free, any future children she and Bill had would also be free.” He paid $1,000 for her freedom. [Note: $1,000 in 1837 is equivalent in purchasing power to $25,533.33 in 2017.]

He continued to work hard, buying his own freedom for $1,000 next. He still had his son Eldridge’s freedom to purchase, and finally was able to do so for $400. In 1851, he paid the colonel $300, the total asking price for his elderly mother and aunt. Yet, his siblings still remained in bondage. So he worked even harder. Finally he was able to return to Winchester with the $2,000 for his two brothers.

At age 50, Bill was able to buy a big house with $2,000 cash for his ten children and extended family. The author concludes:

“Twenty-six years after Bill’s arrival in Chattanooga, his plan was complete. He had worked, sweated, and prayed. Now he finally had his loving family around him, just like when he was a boy. Only now they were all free.”

In an Afterword, the author also tells about Bill’s brave exploits during the Civil War. Nevertheless, Union soldiers seized Bill’s blacksmith shop during the war, and most of his fortune disappeared. He and Jane were forced to file for a government pension.

Bill died on September 2, 1896, at around the age of 86. The author reports that his obituary said he left behind “a host of friends, both white and colored, and always bore an excellent record for thrift, honesty and sobriety.”

Today, there is a historical marker in Chattanooga that was erected in his honor.

Illustrator John Holyfield uses full-color acrylic illustrations that richly capture the emotions of the characters in the story with an overall emphasis on positive and uplifting depictions of African-American lives, even in slavery.

Evaluation: It’s hard not to be awe-struck and inspired by the story of Bill Lewis. My only criticism would be that the author did not stress how unusual Bill's situation was, because of being allowed to develop his outstanding talent; being allowed to profit from it; and being allowed to purchase the freedom of himself and his family. The author also doesn’t explain the reason why Bill needed to buy Jane’s freedom before his own. (The status of children, whether slave or free, was determined by the status of the mother, not the father.)

Nevertheless, this uplifting story is both instructive and inspirational. It has a strong emotional core that will pull in readers and help them learn important history at the same time, offering a strong counter-narrative to the common canard that slaves were “lazy.” It will no doubt also start questions and conversations about social and cultural justice.

[Tasha]

Born into slavery in 1810, Bill Lewis grew up on a plantation in Tennessee. There, he was taught to be a blacksmith and soon earned so much money that his owner, Colonel Lewis, allowed him to keep some money for himself. Bill worked for years saving his coins, determined to purchase freedom for himself and his family. Eventually he asked Colonel Lewis if he could rent himself out. The Colonel agreed and charged Bill $350 a year for his limited freedom. Bill purchased a blacksmith shop in Chattanooga and became the first African-American blacksmith in the city. He worked long hours and eventually paid for his wife’s freedom, ensuring that all future children would be born free. He then purchased his own freedom and that of his one son born into slavery. But Bill Lewis was not done yet and keep on working hard until he freed every member of his family, including his siblings and mother.

The determination and tenacity of Bill Lewis is indescribable. In a society designed to hold him down, he managed to find a way forward to freedom. Hubbard makes sure that readers understand how unusual this arrangement was and how gifted Lewis was as a blacksmith. The text keeps the story of Lewis’ life focused and well paced. It is a very readable biography.

The illustrations are rich and luminous. The sharing of emotions and holding emotions back play visibly on the page, demonstrating how much had to be hidden and not disclosed in order to purchase freedom. It also shows in a very clear way how limited that freedom was.

A great addition to nonfiction picture book shelves. Appropriate for ages 6-9.

[Barbara]

When I first saw the cover and title, I was sure I had another version of the John Henry story on my hands, but that was not the case. Instead, I found myself in for a very different type of treat and reading experience. I've never read a story for children quite like this one, attesting as it does to one man's resilience and determination to use his skills to free his family. William Lewis was a slave in Winchester, Tennessee before the Civil War. His master decided to have the boy learn the blacksmithing trade, allowing him to keep some of his earnings for himself. Eventually, he amassed enough money to free himself and his enslaved family members one by one. This is an inspiring story, one that I had never heard about before even though I grew up about an hour away from Chattanooga where Lewis set up the blacksmith shop that became so lucrative. A photograph on the back cover shows the Lewis family on their porch, all free at last. The acrylic illustrations and engaging text make this story of one man's love for family and single-mindedness come alive. This picture book is an excellent addition to any classroom collection featuring individuals who made a difference in the world around them as well as providing another example of how actions made an unlikely dream come true. Who would ever have thought that Lewis could have purchased the freedom of so many of his kin?

[Melanie Dulaney]

Rita Hubbard writes the inspiring story of Tennessee slave William Lewis and his determination to free not only himself, his wife and son, but his whole family. Using the blacksmithing trade forced upon him by his owner/ father, Lewis saves every penny and strategically executes a plan to set up his own blacksmithing business and buy the freedom of each of his family members. The story is told using great figurative and sensory language and provides a plethora of applications as a mentor text in an ELA classroom. Perhaps the best feature of this excellent picture book, though, are the gorgeous acrylic paintings done by illustrator John Holyfield. His use of color partners so well with Hubbard’s frequent use of color words to convey meaning. Already awarded one book award, I expect that this one will garner additional accolades in the future. Highly recommended for grade 3-5 readers and libraries and writing teachers of students in higher grades. Thanks for the dARC, Edelweiss.

[Viviane Elbee]

This is a historical non-fiction book about William “Bill” Lewis, who was born a slave in Tennessee in the early 1800’s but who managed to save up enough money to buy freedom for himself and his family.

This book can be used in discussions about American history & slavery - but it could also be used to discuss saving money. I found it incredible how Bill was able to take a few pennies here and there and build up enough savings to pay for his own blacksmith shop, freedom and a home. (This took him decades, but, still, saving that much is an incredible feat.)

The book is best suited for elementary students and up. Kids found it interesting and were intrigued enough to listen to me read the back-matter also.

[Mr. T.J.]

Commitment to family and a long-term vision for their freedom = is what strongly comes across Bill Lewis's story, written by Rita Lorraine Hubbard and illustrated by John Holyfield.

Bill worked as a slave, with blacksmith skills, to rent his freedom, and then buy his wife's freedom, then their son's, and then he worked for years to buy other family members' freedom.

His hard work and years of commitment shame my generation's work ethic.

Thank you Rita and John for bringing Bill Lewis's story to life, and thank you to the publisher!

I so enjoy reading remarkable stories of amazing and real-life heroes. And historical picture books are a wonderful medium for these stories.

[Sarah]

This is an amazing true story and beautifully illustrated. William Lewis was a slave trained in blacksmithing. He made an arrangement with his slave owner to buy his freedom. After purchasing his own freedom he continued to work as a blacksmith until he was able to buy the freedom of his wife and children, mother and siblings. He then bought a house for all of them to live in Chattanooga, TN.

A hopeful story in desperate times. I hope his family fared well throughout the Civil war and the Civil rights movement.

A good story about determination, but should also be used to talk about human rights and slavery.

[Alecia]

Well done children's story about the true story of William Lewis, a slave who rented his own freedom and used that time to work hard to earn enough money to buy his freedom and the freedom of his family. Lends itself to discussion with children about slavery, hard work and family. As an adult, the afterword was very interesting (sad and enraging to find out in the afterword that his slave owner was also his biological father), and I loved the old black and white photo of the real William Lewis and his family on the back cover.

[Diane]

The story of William Lewis, the first African American blacksmith in Chattanooga, TN. Bill started life as a slave. When he was old enough, Colonol Lewis, the plantation owner, decided Bill should be a blacksmith. Because he was so good at it, Colonel Lewis allowed him to keep some of the money he brought in for his services. That started him on the path to making enough money to free himself. It took 26 years, but Bill bought freedom for himself and his entire family.

[Lucy Branam]

This book tells an amazing true story of one man’s quest to free himself and his family. It shows that hard work and resilience are vital things in one’s life, but perhaps not as important as using them to better the lives of those you love.

The acrylic illustrations are rendered using a mostly brown, yellow, pink, green, and blue palette. This helps create consistency between the pages.

[Beverly]

Reviewed for the Mock Caldecott Awards. The story of William "Bill" Lewis who worked as a blacksmith for 25 years to buy the freedom of his wife, son, mother, aunt, brothers and sister. I loved the illustrations in this book, which are very realistic.

[Tracy Holland]

William Lewis, once a slave, works tirelessly to buy the freedom of all of his family members. He becomes an expert blacksmith in Chattanooga as he makes money to buy his family members, and build a home for them during slavery.

[Angie Quantrell]

Beautifully written and illustrated story of a real life hero. Sensitively told, this tale allows readers to glimpses of life as a slave and what it meant to be owned by someone else. The rewards of hard work is highlighted throughout the book. Great read!

[Nancy]

The story of an enslaved man who bought freedom for himself and his entire family. it took many years but he kept making things as a blacksmith and saving the money and freeing another member of his family. Inspiring!

[pati]

Beautifully illustrated, touching story if a man who valued his family so much he literally worked night and day to pay for their freedom. Incredible man!