Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

As the English, Spanish, and indigenous people vied for authority and territory in early eighteenth-century colonial America, West African slaves observed the [End Page 98] struggle and, when possible, calculated which alliances offered their best chances for freedom. Here Turner engages in careful, plausible speculation on the experiences of the Mandingo slave who would eventually be called Francisco Menendez, considering possible life paths that could have led him to join forces with the Yamasee Indians in battling the English. Re-enslaved by an Indian traitor and sold to the Spanish, Menendez was eventually freed and commissioned as leader of the new town (the first officially sanctioned free black town on U.S. ground) of Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose, or Fort Mose, near St. Augustine, Florida. In establishing Fort Mose as a buffer against English encroachment, the Spanish expected its newly freed black residents to support their interests. Menendez's personal fortunes waxed and waned among the battles and politicking of the English and Spanish, but the 1763 Treaty of Paris finally transferred Florida into English hands and sent the Fort Mose residents who had enjoyed Spanish protection into diaspora in Cuba. There are a great many twists and turns to the Menendez/Fort Mose story, and although the picture-book format (with its plethora of reproduced historical images) may beckon to a young audience, middle-schoolers will find that both content and delivery style are addressed to their academic level. Although Fort Mose has been discussed in Joyce Hansen's Freedom Roads (BCCB 9/03), Turner's focus is historical rather than archaeological and her book will therefore be a valuable addition to the colonial history collection. Glossary, notes, and bibliography, and index are included.