To this day, Olaudah Equiano’s autobiography, “The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano,” stands alongside Frederick Douglass’ autobiography as a primary source of consequence for anti-slavery historians.
Even so, many younger readers haven’t been able to appreciate the essence of Equiano’s message, due to the complex syntax and diction of the time period.
That’s why teachers Monica Edinger and Lesley Younge released “Nearer My Freedom: The Interesting Life of Olaudah Equiano by Himself.” In this rendition of the original autobiography, Edinger and Younge convey Equiano’s thoughts via “found poetry.”
To make “found poetry” the author duo pulled out and fashioned the essential parts of the text into stanzas.
“There was nothing for children in the middle to encounter the original language [so] we kept all the gems,” Younge told The Informer.
Since co-authoring “Nearer My Freedom” last year, Younge, a Hurston/Wright fellow and middle school English and Language Arts teacher at Maret School in Northwest, has conducted “found poetry” workshops with young people across the District.
The most recent of those workshops took place at Kramer Middle School in Southeast.
The nearly 30 middle schoolers who visited Kramer Middle School’s library throughout much of Oct. 25 read and annotated portions of the original Equiano biography before remixing the words and phrases they highlighted to create poetry about any topic of their choice.
In the early 19th century, the British Parliament began the arduous task of banning slavery throughout its empire, thanks in part to Equiano, a formerly enslaved African who led the Sons of Africa abolitionist movement decades prior.
On Oct. 25, during three 40-minute workshops, nearly 30 middle schoolers who visited Kramer Middle School’s library learned about how slavery continues to persist in parts of the world.
Younge delved into the circumstances of mid-18th century United Kingdom that inspired Equiano’s use of rhetorical appeals. As Young explained, students also learned about other historical and contemporary figures who’ve been able to effect change in a similar manner.
The workshop, she said, made Equiano’s anti-slavery work more relevant to young people tackling problems of their own.
“It’s clear that Olaudah Equiano is a genius, and also an ordinary sailor and merchant who noticed things happening around him and decided to take action,” Young told The Informer, making note of other people she mentioned in her presentation.
“Great change is made by ordinary people [like Pakistani education activist] Malala Yousafzai and [climate activist] Greta Thunberg who…took action where they were. They found collaborators and didn’t give up.”
Eighth Grade Students Reflect on Their “Found Poem” Workshop Experience
Younge, one of several Children’s Africana Book Awards recipients, visited Kramer Middle School as part of a Mayor’s Office on African Affairs-funded collaboration between An Open Book Foundation, Africa Access and Howard University’s (HU) Outreach Council of the African Studies Association.
These visits took place just as Younge and other awardees were gearing up to accept their honors at a ceremony that took place at HU’s Louis Stokes Health Sciences Library in Northwest.
Other authors who toured District schools on Oct. 24 and Oct. 25 included Aminata Jalloh, author of “The Taste of Home,” Elizabeth-Irene Baitie, author of “Flying Up the Mountain,” Zeena Plisky, author of “Egyptian Lullaby,” and Dipesh Pabari, co-author of “Flipflopi: How a Boat Made from Flips Flops is Helping to Save the Ocean.”
At Kramer Middle School, students not only received signed copies of “Nearer My Freedom,” but some clarity about their lives and how writing can better help them become changemakers.
Cornelius Moore, an eighth grader who expressed interest in attending Ron Brown College Preparatory High School next year, used Equiano’s original words to create a poem about luxurious living.
He told The Informer that he wants his peers to use their imagination and see beyond their current situation.
“My goal is to help children understand their power to change,” Cornelius said. “Even though you might be poor or middle class, you have some kind of luxury in life. It felt like I should be doing this with my skills and knowledge about poetry. When I have a voice, I can change my city and the world.”
Endiah Butler, another eighth grader, said Younge’s workshop served as an ideal opportunity for a young writer. Though she’s used to writing much longer passages, Endiah spent much of the workshop chipping away at the Equiano text find what she needed for her poem.
The final product: a poem about enslaved people escaping bondage and making money.
“It’s not really hard to let my feelings out but it’s easier writing them down,” said Endiah, who aspires to attend Eastern High School or Duke Ellington School of the Arts (DESA). “Ms. Younge explained how to write a poem well. I would recommend this for anyone who likes writing or has a hard time letting their feelings out. It was fun doing something like this in school.”
Eighth grader Carmelo Freeman also expressed his appreciation for Younge, telling The Informer that the words he found in Equiano’s autobiography allowed him to tell his classmates about his love for cooking. He called Younge’s workshop the perfect preparation for high school and beyond.
“You don’t have to be an author to read, but if you like writing you have to read,” said Carmelo, who aspires to attend Ron Brown or DESA. “With Ms. Younge showing me that, I took in some knowledge.”
The Importance of Representation
Younge’s collaboration with Edinger, her mentor, took shape several years after the duo executed “found poetry” instruction at The Dalton School in New York City. For several weeks, they directed fourth graders in reading and annotating Ann Cameron’s “The Kidnapped Prince: The Life of Olaudah Equiano.”
In the same vein as Kramer Middle School students, the fourth graders at the Dalton School compiled the words and phrases they identified in Cameron’s book to create a literary work about any topic of their choice.
Before releasing “Nearer My Freedom,” Younge won a contest and published “A-Train Allen,” a picture book about a young boy who’s known as the fastest runner among his peers. Upcoming projects – a young adult biography and anthology of nonviolent writings – focus on the Rev. James M. Lawson, a mentor of Younge’s and a late civil rights minister who trained activists in nonviolent resistance.
Robyn Iné, Kramer’s school librarian of three years, told The Informer that the students who participated in the workshops could connect that work to their English and Language Arts lessons. She said they did so all while delving deeper into their knowledge of self.
“I wanted my students to connect with outside experiences to learn about their history,” Iné said. “Ms. Younge is a teacher who’s familiar with our city. It’s good to see someone who looks like us. I enjoyed how she engaged the students in writing their own poetry. Not only were they writing, but critically thinking.”
