Freedom Ship (review)

In this fictionalized account, Rappaport follows the daring escape from slavery of pilot Robert Smalls of the Confederate supply ship Planter as he and a crew of runaways and their families sail boldly past the defenses in Charleston, South Carolina and surrender their ship to Union forces standing outside the harbor. Smalls' story is an integral entry in the canon of slave narratives, but here it is unnecessarily complicated by the addition of a fictional family who sailed with Smalls and, layered onto that, opening remarks by an equally fictional descendant of that family. This not only makes the story difficult to follow, it also diminishes the importance of Smalls himself, whose cunning and heroism are reported from an emotional distance. James' paintings help sort out the action with their literal interpretations of important scenes—the hoisting of a makeshift surrender flag, the looming mouths of cannon on the nearing Union ship. The author's concluding note and child-oriented reading list are probably even more useful, though, in satisfying listeners and independent readers interested in tales of slave resistance.