Fortune's Bones: The Manumission Requiem

Powerful and spare poems written around the story of Fortune, a doctor's slave, who was rendered after his death into a skeleton used by the family and students for anatomy study. ( )

This book is a collection of poems with notes and archival photos written to commemorate the life, death, and post-death of a Connecticut slave from the late 1700s. The bones of Fortune, the slave, were preserved by his master and eventually made their way to the Mattatuck Museum in Connecticut.

A compelling presentation, and might be of interest to reluctant readers, since it’s only 31 pages with lots of pictures. However, there are a lot of complex issues raised about slavery, the fate of the bones, and of the museum exhibit. This would be useful as part of a unit on slavery, and a way to get people thinking about the difference between “slavery” the concept, and the lives and identities of individuals. ( )