A Picture of Freedom

"A Picture of Freedom" is a children's historical novel written by Patricia C. McKissack and published by Scholastic in 1997 as part of their Dear America series.

The book is written in the form of a diary kept by Clotee, a young slave girl on a Virginia plantation in 1859. Clotee secretly taught herself to read and write while fanning William, her owner's young son, during his lessons with his tutor. Clotee is discovered by the tutor, who it turns out is an abolitionist working to help slaves escape on the Underground Railroad. When Clotee is given the opportunity to escape, she must decide whether to run away to freedom or stay behind to help other slaves escape. Her friend is a very strong girl named Rose, but called Spicy. Her master "Massa Henley" is a cruel man. However, he never once in this story whip Clotee And rarly talks to her. When they do speak to each other he is gentle and nice. Her mistress Lilly is a friend of her asumed dead mother, a rider came to Bellmont and Henley tells his slave's are dead if they escape and aren't caught. She merely slaps Clotee if she is lazy or obnoxious. Lilly often tries to make Clotee her friend due to the fact her mother was a very good friend of hers, Clotee always declines and Lilly soon gave up. Clotee eventually leaves and becomes a teacher in the epiloge. She dies at 86, the book ends with the quote from her gravestone. "FREEDOM IS MORE THAN A WORD" it says

In 1997, the book was adapted for television by HBO for their Dear America miniseries. The episode starred Shadia Simmons as Clotee.