Told alternately, by Colleen, an idealistic young white teacher; Frank, a black high school football player; and Evelyn, an experienced black teacher, Freedom Lessons is the story of how the lives of these three very different people intersect in a rural Louisiana town in 1969.Colleen enters into the culture of the rural Louisiana town with little knowledge of the customs and practices. She is … knowledge of the customs and practices. She is compelled to take sides after the school is integrated—an overnight event for which the town’s residents are unprepared, and which leads to confusion and anxiety in the community—and her values are tested as she seeks to understand her black colleagues, particularly Evelyn. Why doesn’t she want to integrate the public schools? Frank, meanwhile, is determined to protect his mother and siblings after his father’s suspicious death—which means keeping a secret from everyone around him.
Based on the author’s experience teaching in Louisiana in the late sixties, this heartfelt, unflinching novel about the unexpected effects of school integration during that time takes on the issues our nation currently faces regarding race, unity, and identity.
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Thank you Iread Book Tours and Eileen Harrison Sanchez for a complimentary copy. I voluntarily reviewed this book. All opinions expressed are my own.
Freedom Lessons: A Novel
By: Eileen Harrison Sanchez
REVIEW
My school experience was a bit different. In the 90s, I attended a school that was 98% white. This was not due to segregation but the population of the area instead. Did this lack of racial diversity cause me to dislike black people later in life? No, it didn’t.
In Louisiana, 1969, forced integration was not the best option for comingling of black and white, yet it went forward anyway. The author experienced these events and offers personal insights that might otherwise go unnoticed. Imagine being a white woman newly teaching in a black school that, coincidentally, is a hotbed of racial issues. Naively wanting to change the world, but feeling the barbs of reality through and through. Sometimes, all you can do is all you can do.
In addition the perspective of a black teacher and a black student athlete are presented. Through them, injustice, mistreatment, unfounded judgment and general disdain are reflected back to the reader. While this novel is timely, informative and relevant, I wonder how much really has changed. I also wonder about racial bias on all sides. This issue is not confined. The etiquette of our society now is so fluid that we could all drown in it. I think, on all sides, oversensitivety is a problem, uneducated people shouting about an issue they don’t actually understand is a problem, and the belief that society owes anyone anything is a problem.
Freedom Lessons is an excellent jumping off point to self education about what happened and why during this time period. It’s the sort of thing everyone should read because, regardless of race, there is something to gain from this book. Pick up a copy for yourself today!
Eileen Sanchez’ book, Freedom Lessons, should be read by everyone at this time in our history. The book, though not a memoir, reads like one for most of its 53 chapters. We are thrust into the mind of a young teacher, Colleen, as she arrives in a Louisiana town in the late 1960s. She is hired to teach second grade in a segregated Black school. The young wife of a Cuban American from New Jersey struggles to understand the deeply held racial prejudices of her neighbors and the town’s Anglo residents. Through the voices of Evelyn, a fellow teacher, and Frank, a high school senior, we see the fear African Americans in the community have when speaking to community authority figures. When they have attempt to right injustices, their efforts were thwarted and their situations unimproved. When the school board devises a plan to integrate the Black students into the neighboring White schools, life becomes complicated and dangerous. The book draws a sensitive portrait of the difficult road to racial equality. I hope this book will become mandatory reading for students at an early age before their parents’ prejudices become hardened in them.
MY THOUGHTS ON THIS BOOK
Colleen, a white women from the north, had no idea what life would bring her in 1969 when she moves with her military husband to a small southern town and applies for a teaching position. Little does she know it is for the black school, and she is in for much knowledge about people and their unreasonable actions. This story is told through Colleen, Evelyn, An African American teacher at the school, and Frank, an African American student and football player at the school.
I am so glad I was able to read this book. I remember well when all of this was happening in our area. I remember the first black student in our small school. A girl, and she was up for the challenge because whenever people tried to harass her, she had a comeback. And slowly students started liking her. Her personality was hard not to like. I’ve often wondered what happened to her, I would love to see here again. But this didn’t happen to most students back then. People can be cruel, hurtful, do unbelievable things, and just not care how they treat people. And author Eileen Harrison Sanchez does a really great job of picking all this up in telling this story. It is a story that needs to be told and everyone would benefit from reading it. I know I have not only enjoyed this book but I appreciate this author for the detailed research and vivid scenes throughout this book that brought back bad as well as a lot of good memories for me. This is a great historical fiction to read. If you enjoy the 1960’s era, this would be book you need to check out! Freedom Lessons gets a 5 plus stars from me!
A special thanks to the author/ publisher for a copy of this book. I am not required to write a positive review, the opinions here are mine alone. I am disclosing this with my review in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
Freedom Lessons is the debut novel by the greatly talented Eileen Harrison Sanchez. I found it interesting that she used her background as a teacher in the during the nineteen sixties in the rural south. She tells the story of three different people who are living in a rural area of 1969 Louisiana. Colleen is a white teacher from the North, who is trying her best to understand the people of the area. Frank, an African American high school football player. Evelyn, an African American respected educator within her community. I love how the reader is gets to see the point of view of these three main characters. I found it important to see the different perspectives of the situation and how it affected them all. I could not imagine how it was for Frank and Evelyn to live during those times.
Freedom Lessons is getting a very well deserved five plus stars from me. I highly recommend it for readers who enjoy historical fiction, especially those diving in past race relations. It is most definitely not one to be missed. I believe it is one of the most important and one of my favorite reads I have read all year. I hope Eileen Harrison Sanchez will be releasing another novel in the near future. I would love to see if she once again uses her past experiences to write a fabulous book.
I received Freedom Lessons from the publisher. This review is one hundred percent my own honest opinion.
Eileen Sanchez did a remarkable job of telling the story of school integration in a southern town during 1969/70. She provides prospectives that will doubtfully be told in history books. This novel based on a true story gives the reader insight on the outcomes of poorly executed law. Told through the experiences of three people, Freedom Lessons reveals how an administration and a biased white community turn a civil liberties law into a crisis for black students, their families and teachers.
The author did an amazing job of writing this emotional book. I am glad that it is being recognized with awards so it might get the attention of other people who will choose to read it. I generally choose to read Women’s Fiction books. I use reading to escape real-life. Sometimes I pick up a book that is historical fiction, which is very much out of my normal realm of reading, but they usually enlighten me even though they may be emotionally difficult for me to read. This was one of those books and I am glad I read it. I recommend this book highly and hope that other people that normally do not read historical fiction will read it also.
Set during the 1969-70 school year in fictional Kettle Creek Parish, Louisiana, Freedom Lessons depicts a town’s racial tensions and disparities as its public schools are finally desegregated. Colleen Rodriguez, a newly arrived white teacher from New Jersey, is hired without so much as an interview to teach second grade in the black school. Suddenly, the school is closed, and she and her class are moved to a small trailer outside the white school. Colleen’s story alternates with those of Frank Woods, a black football player, and Evelyn Glover, a black teacher who becomes Colleen’s friend. Having grown up in the segregated South, I found the novel to be a realistic portrayal. It ends on a hopeful note, even though, fifty years later, this country still has a long way to go.
One of the things I liked about this book is the author didn’t try to make her main character into a hero. Colleen just tried to do a good job without any grand aspirations of changing the world. The book also left me with the feeling that equity and fairness should trump ‘sameness’. We are NOT all the same. But that doesn’t mean anyone should be treated unfairly.
The first thing to capture my attention to this story was the cover. I grew up in this time era, so the depiction of the old-style school room brought me back to my youth. Secondly, I love reading historical fiction and non-fiction—both recent and distant, and I equally love learning from the lessons of the past.
What I liked:
The story itself was the next thing to draw me in. The characters were diverse in far more than just race and culture. I was intrigued by Colleen, a naïve white teacher from the North, delving into the segregated South. I learned to appreciate Evelyn, the black teacher who wore a hard shell and was difficult to read. And it was easy to connect and empathize with Frank, the high school football player. The author showed the changes in the nation through these varying points of view, revealing the mean and vindictive reluctance to change through their individual and diverse contexts.
What I feel was lacking:
Our upbringings can birth either prejudice or acceptance—this story makes that clear. But I wanted more from this book. I expected to get a better understanding of the hearts and minds of both those who longed for change and those who bitterly fought it. And in some ways, I did. But I still wanted more. I longed to dig deeper, to peel back more layers and unearth cavernous emotions, but the writing style felt more like reporting than storytelling.
Overall:
Freedom Lessons depicts the intolerances and injustices of the civil rights era. I feel this is a wonderful book to introduce middle grade readers to this pivotal time in history, but as an adult I expected the story to penetrate deeper.
I received a complimentary copy of this book.
Freedom Lessons is an interesting book to read at this time, as it depicts a group of teachers, parents, students, and community members trying to adjust at the dawn of school desegregation in rural Louisiana. I truly enjoyed it.
Freedom Lessons (She Writes Press) by Eileen Harrison Sanchez is a lesson for us all.
Through her experience as a teacher in the South in the late 1960s during desegregation, especially of the schools, as well as her in-depth research, Ms. Sanchez places us squarely in the shoes of a white teacher, a black teacher, and a black high school student. When a black school abruptly closes and merges with a white school, things don’t go quite the way the white administration planned. It takes the courage of the black students, their teachers, and brave citizens to stand up for what they believe is best for their community.
Those of us who viewed integration from afar mainly through reports on television or newspapers were blind to the reality of the unjust and indignant treatment of our American brothers and sisters. Ms. Sanchez opens our eyes and tells it like it was.
After reading this important, powerful, and moving story, I can’t help but wonder if there was something else we could have done if we’d tried for even one day to sit in their classrooms?
A small piece of advice for aspiring authors struggling with a memoir, perhaps turning your story into a novel may be the way to go. That is, in fact, what Ms. Sanchez achieved in Freedom Lessons. I’ll give her an A+.
This novel by Eileen Harrison Sanchez is based upon her personal experiences as a northern white teacher who takes a job in a small town in the south in the midst of forced school desegregation. Colleen, the white teacher in the story shares her growing awareness and feelings of despair as she witnesses the affects of racism on the black families and their children that she teaches while she works against the restrictions in her classroom. Through the authors research and interviews with POC from that area, she crafts a story that includes the point of view of two black characters to show the impact on their lives. The author finishes with an Author’s Note where she discusses the issues around her choices as she wrote this book, and the help she sought out to get it right.
I found this book to be moving and frequently heartbreaking. The affects of that time are still with us today. This book is worth the read to gain a deeper understanding of that time period and sadly our country now.
Growing up in the south in the sixties, segregation and forced integration were part of the fabric of my childhood and this book took me back to those tumultuous times and the feelings of outrage and sadness at the injustice that I have carried with me throughout my life. I appreciated the three different POVs – a white teacher, black teacher and black high school student – and was pulled quickly into all of their stories. I couldn’t put the book down and read it in two evenings.
This story will infuriate you at times. The reason, that awful word, “racism”; a word that should be erased from the vocabulary. It is a distressing story that will open your eyes to what transpired during the 1960s when desegregation takes a front seat in the public school system. Set in Louisiana, the novel, “Freedom Lessons” will give a disquieting feeling as you get a better understanding of the hardships and pain in that troubled time.
Colleen, a white school teacher from the north, heads south to a predominately black school and community. She is concerned not only for herself, but the care of her students and her fellow teachers as the school succumbs to an integration ordinance.
Eileen Sanchez tells a delicate story; giving readers a sense of what life was like for black students and black teachers during the Civil Rights movement. What is surprising, is this story was inspired by Eileen’s own experience during 1969-1970, when she, as a white woman, was an educator during this time. I’m so grateful she researched and wrote this story, as it is a part of history that needs to be shared. I highly recommend this novel!
~This novel was given to me by the author through a giveaway in exchange for a fair and honest review.~
This is a book I “won” through a Facebook group, Prose and the Pandemic. Ms. Sanchez is one of the founding authors.
There is such an important story held within the pages of this book. This story takes place back in 1969 to 1970 (I was only two years old!) when desegregation in schools was beginning to happen. Frank is a young black man who wants to gain a scholarship to go on to college to further his football career. Evelyn is a black teacher at the school who is leery of white people. And Colleen is a newly graduated white teacher who takes her first teaching job at the black high school. These are the three people who tell this tale. Colleen wants to see changes implemented immediately. While that doesn’t happen overnight, she is able to make her mark. Evelyn is quite skeptical of Colleen and her intentions, but she learns that Colleen is the “real deal.” She is, sadly, afraid to be seen talking to Colleen. There is so much to this story.
While reading this story, I was mad and sad all at the same time. Mad because this happened and in some parts of the world still does, and sad because this happened and in some parts of the world still does. The inscription Ms. Sanchez included in her book has so much more meaning knowing what this book is about. That inscription says: Be the change you want to see.
Moving,emotional story set in 1969/70 in rural Louisiana. Told from 3 viewpoints the main one a young,white female teacher from New Jersey, a black teacher from the south and a teenaged black boy also from the south. Well written and eye opening. Great addition to both civil rights novels and history books. Thank you Eileen Sanchez for writing this honest, informative and heartfelt story. A great overview but also a good reference of the times.
Based on the real-life experiences of author Eileen Harris Sanchez, Freedom Lessons holds a magnifying glass to the desegregation of Louisiana public schools during the 1969-70 academic year. Unfolding in three, alternating points of view—that of a young white teacher from the north, a black high school football player, and a dedicated black teacher—this engaging novel provides a wide-angle view of racism and the evils of social injustice.
A moving and important novel about the mandated integration of schools in 1969 Louisiana, as seen from three very different perspectives: a black high school student, an experienced black teacher, and a white teacher, newly arrived from the north. As a former high school teacher in Los Angeles, I would have made this required reading in my American Literature class. In fact, Freedom Lessons should be on high school reading lists throughout the US.
Sanchez has turned the personal memoir into an intriguing history lesson. Freedom Lessons is a poignant snapshot of the real-life impact of integration in the American south during a single school year in 1969, when one step forward was usually accompanied by another, often worse, step back. A reminder that genuine cultural change requires so much more than the right intentions and a good heart. A novel that will resonate with audiences across the spectrum, from young adults to the teachers who fight for them, from history buffs to those who lived through the times.