Freedom Lessons

by Eileen Harrison Sanchez

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 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.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction

258 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 12, 2019

Reviews

[Elyse Walters · Rating 5 out of 5]

Library, ebook, overdrive....

This is a wonderful debut book by Eileen Harrison Sanchez.
Eileen is a retired educator. She spent 40 years working in education…starting as a teacher and ending as a district administrator.

I felt the importance of this book deep in my bones!!!! (forgive my long chatty review- this book resonated with me personally & deeply).
I remember being caught up in worries that directly affected my family due to angst felt about trying to integrate our daughters in our public schools when things were messy and complicated.

Brown vs. Board of Education ....a landmark decision of the U. S. Supreme Court ruled that American state laws establishing racial segregation was unconstitutional in 1954.

This story takes place in 1969.....
.....illustrating the alarming difficulties to equality that still exists today.
I wanted to read this book the moment I learned of it. I remember the first year where forced busing began to integrate students into the public schools. ( fifteen years after the Integration Suit).
It would be almost another 15 years before the costly experimental busing rule in my area - integrating school age ethnic minorities into outer districts- busing children across town - proved to be unconstitutional.

The first year of mandated busing-forced segregation-in my city....
.....was the first year our first born daughter was to begin kindergarten. I remember thinking, “I didn’t want to put our four-year-old child on a school bus - across town - far away - to attend school”
It was a lottery system: parents had no choice in choosing their public school.
We had perfectly nice schools in our own neighborhood....but were not guaranteed a spot. And even if we did land a spot, the new forced segregation laws created a plateful of complicated problems.
‘Forced desegregation’ days were wrenching frustrating days in public education.
Teachers were trying teach the required curriculum in over-crowded classes - where many of the children didn’t speak English or Spanish.
Parents, teachers, students, were all complaining....
FOR YEARS IT WASN’T WORKING!!!
In theory most people I know who live near me here the Bay Area...all believe strongly in racial Integration...in democracy...but we also saw and felt the problems directly. White and black kids were separating themselves — and everyone was angry to be forced out of their neighborhood schools.
I ended up putting our daughter/s in private independent non-religious schools which were very expensive.
I still have many mixed feelings about our daughters private school education. I had and still have concerns about the elitist culture and those tuition costs....that come along with private education.
Our family felt the financial strain, (Kindergarten through high school), from those ‘yearly’ increased tuition fees. We took lower cost and fewer family vacations because of our choice to pull away from public education.
But Paul and I also had concern for our daughters safety and quality education. It was a real dilemma.
Our public school system is better today with no more forced segregation....everyone is happier.
But....our family and many families felt the horrible challenges from both private or public schooling for many years.
I remember like yesterday meeting with school principals of the public schools trying to understand how ‘forced segregation’ and removing kids from their neighborhood schools would benefit anyone.
Even without busing,...natural Integration was a real struggle. Prejudices didn’t immediately go away just because of a law change.

MY GREATER UNDERSTANDING- and a source of closure - comes from this wonderful new author:
*Eileen Harrison Sanchez*!!!!
I didn’t realize just how much, I needed to read this book!!!
So....many thanks to Eileen!

Eileen, as a white teacher, spent a year teaching in the south in 1969. She had direct experience with disorder, ugly, and tumultuous struggles of desegregation.
THIS STORY NEEDED TO BE TOLD....and I needed to read it.

I love that Eileen wrote it as fiction ....( historical fiction), rather than a memoir. Through the storytelling and the created characters....I was able to ‘feel’ the emotions stronger than from facts from Wikipedia.

About this book:
We are taken into the south - a rual Louisiana town in 1969. (inspired by Eileen Harrison Sanchez’s real-life experiences).

We meet the key characters:
.....Colleen Rodriguez, a young white army wife... recently married to Miguel, a Cuban immigrant), recently relocated to Louisiana - where Miguel is stationed.
Colleen, was the new & only white teacher at Kettle Creek Elementary school: West Hills Negro School.

.....Evelyn Grover is a veteran black teacher...who we slowly come to understand her fears.

.....Frank Woods is a gifted high school football player....who is denied - unfairly - a football career. His father’s suspicious death left him very worried for his family.

.....other characters we meet: Mr. Peterson, the school principal...
Jan and Rita ( with their vindictive actions)....
Other community folks: Annie Mae, Lulu, and Mavis.
We meet Colleen’s students: Jarod, Rachel, Cynthia, and Linkston.

At ‘Kettle Creek Elementary’ school, the community followed the ‘Freedom of Choice’ plan. Everyone could pick their school. But no black student chose to go to the white school. We ‘feel’ how difficult cultural change is.

When, Colleen arrived - sparkling white skin - in an all black school - she noticed that the buildings were repaired, but that the books were a disappointment. The books were outdated. The the bindings were repaired, glued, or reinforced. Books were segregated, separated between the black and white schools. Colleen wondered if you couldn’t even mix the books how did anyone expect to mix teachers and students of different color.

Colleen had a pure heart. She wanted to teach these kids...give them all the opportunities they deserved.....
but she also learned more from them than she ever could have imagined. As Colleen gained new perspectives during her year teaching in Louisiana, she also acquired new knowledge for her country and of herself ( and so did I).

Many things to think about and discuss in “Freedom Lessons”

GREAT DEBUT!!!

[Ceecee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m going to lay my cards on the table from the start. I’m white, English and grew up in a town with a large black population and thought nothing of it - it was normal. In fact, as a teenager I sneaked into clubs and it was black music I liked and us girls made a bee line for the black lads as they were cooler and way better dancers! I have occasionally witnessed racism and it breaks my heart. I have no experience of southern US states so have no clue what it’s like to live there other than what I’ve read. I was a history teacher so I know a lot about the civil rights movement which I’ve also taught, so I know about things like Jim Crow and desegregation. This absolutely fantastic book is set in 1969/70 Louisiana at a time of desegregation following landmark rulings, however, it is one thing for President Johnson to abolish the Jim Crow laws and another for it to be a reality as views have become so entrenched. This novel is part memoir as the author taught in Louisiana at this time and part fiction as the characters while they are based on real people, they are made up. The story is told from three perspectives - Colleen Rodriguez who is married to Miguel who fled Castro’s Cuba and is serving in the US army and is transferred to Fort Polk, Louisiana for a year. She is a teacher and goes to work in West Hill, a black school where she is the only one with a white face. The second perspective is Evelyn Glover who is an experienced black teacher at the same school and the third is Frank Woods who is also black and a talented football player and a high school student. This white/black mix gives an excellent insight into these turbulent times as it follows the forced integration of black students into white schools. It captures the dangers that are ever present for those who make a peaceful stand both from the police and the Klan.

I feel like I’ve been on an emotional roller coaster ride, except this one would probably have segregated cars and the white ones would be plusher than the black ones. The book makes you feel a whole gamut of emotions. There’s anger at one of the characters (Jan) who spouts racist filth and at the treatment of black teachers and students who at times are treated like they are nothing when they are relocated to Kettle Creek Elementary. The white teachers ostracise white Colleen because she is teaching black kids. There is sadness that the black students are denied opportunity which particularly effects Frank at the high school as not only is he denied a place in the football team but the black students are told they will not graduate that year. There is joy at the delightful students that Colleen teaches who she works her best to inspire. She tries to do some lovely things for them, such as take them to the local library but it becomes impossible as she is warned off by one particular police officer. Colleen learns that Jim Crow is a way of life - for example, rather than integrate the local park is closed down so that it can’t be shared. You despair at the mean spiritedness that believes that is acceptable. These are dangerous times as Frank knows only too well and as Colleen learns. I love that the high school students and parents made a stand against some decisions and won. Good on ‘em.

Overall, a fantastic book which had me gripped from start to finish. The characters are amazing, the story that it depicts is not an easy one but it is so worth reading and I won’t forget it in a hurry. Highly recommended.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Smith Publicity. The book has just been published in the UK.

[Moonkiszt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Freedom Lessons

I was immediately pulled into this author’s story. In my elementary days I grew up in an integrated school district and we were bussed across towns to accommodate the new laws. Then there would be more law changes and we’d go to yet another school in a different direction. Between family moves and integration, I went to 10 different schools in grades k – 6! I empathized with the students in the story, remembering the pain of constantly starting over. Compelling on a number of levels, one of the most satisfying story elements was the point of view shift. From Colleen, to Evelyn, to Frank, I appreciated the fair hand that was dealt. I did wonder why we didn’t hear from the husband or even the rogue cop – but that’s for another book.

There is a homemade feel to this story, for it feels more memoir than fiction. Once again, as I read I was very aware of my race. I remembered the tension in our neighborhood, the conflict between my parents who had to come to an agreement on the “race thing”, and quickly did as the three of us kids sat on the sidelines, wide-eyed. I appreciated the author’s not trying to fix society with fiction, and left loose ends aflutter because that is, after all, the actual reflection of real life.

I give a 5-star cheer for all those heroes who choose to teach all of our nation's children. For all those who, like some of the folks in my family, found the courage to change their minds and grow up and out of the justification-nurture, tradition-called-history with which they were carefully taught, I give a second 5-star echo. And, because I felt my race so uncomfortably while reading and remembering, it’s clear the battle is not yet done.

A sincere thanks to Eileen Harrison Sanchez for sharing her story and talents, to She Writes Press and NetGalley for providing me an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

I, myself, am a product of the Louisiana school system (though well after the 60s), so I found this historical fiction account of desegregation in the Jim Crow South quite interesting on a personal level. But for those who don’t have an intimate connection with this complicated time and place, you’re sure to find Eileen Harrison Sanchez’s Freedom Lessons just as compelling.

There’s a lot of confusion about integration — including what Separate but Equal meant during this period — and whether or not both groups actually wanted it this way. Even today, uncertainties still remain, but Freedom Lessons takes a hard look at this time in history and how it affected the students, faculty and communities of those going through the forced integration after separate schools had been placating both sides for a while.

Sanchez draws on her own personal experiences as a young, white (but married to a Cuban) Northerner working in the South in the 60s, and she peppers in perspectives from a black female teaching counterpart and a young black high school student as well. She is actually quite attune to her audience, using these three distinct personalities to help to round out the narrative, including the incorrect assumptions each has about one another. Because the bias doesn’t run just one way.

Reading Freedom Lessons because it's a story about desegregation and prejudice likely won’t sound so enticing, but this talented debut author creates characters that the reader cares about so much they will really wish they could continue following to see what happens in their future… Along the way, the audience can’t help but discover something new about what life and community relationships were really like in the late-60s South.

[B · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a quick enjoyable read and is a fictionalized account of the author’s experiences. Although there are some powerful messages in this book, I thought the characters’ voices lacked the emotion the reader would expect. *3.5 stars*

[Jypsy · Rating 4 out of 5]

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!

[Caitie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Truthfully I ended up skimming a lot this book. I liked the idea of the book, discussion of school integration in the south, but I couldn’t completely enjoy it for some reason. I felt as though it was too simple, the plot didn’t delve deeper into important subjects. (I know I’m in the minority opinion.) I wanted a book that really discusses the issues that integration brought. I didn’t really care about Colleen or Evelyn because we only got a surface level understanding of them.

[Elaine Stock · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an amazing read and I highly recommend it. I listened to the audiobook to and from work and the characters were so real, the plot gripping, and with the tense atmosphere, I'd arrive at work with regrets that my drive wasn't longer because I wanted to listen more to the story. Kudos to the author for making Freedom Lessons come alive!

[Cover Lover Book Review · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Susan Ballard (subakkabookstuff) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Colleen Rodriguez and her husband Miguel move from New Jersey to Louisiana. Miguel is a drill sergeant at a base nearby. As Colleen looks for a teaching position, she is surprised that the schools here are still segregated in 1969, especially after the 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education ruling. But she, a white woman, takes a job teaching second grade at West Point, the all-Black school.

This is only partly Colleen’s story. 𝗙𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗼𝗺 𝗟𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗻𝘀 takes on the discrimination and double standards that segregation and the eventual de-segregation caused. We hear from Evelyn, a Black teacher who Colleen considers a mentor, and Frank, a young Black football player who suffers at the hand of racism and must deal with his father’s death.

Listening to this audiobook, I could feel that the author had walked this path, that she had poured her own life experiences into this novel. The Author’s Notes are once again some of my favorite parts as she points out she is by no means trying to write a “white savior story." Heart-felt and detailed, this is a story that can teach us all a few lessons.

Thank you to @suzyapprovedbooktours @shewritespress and @eileensanchezwriter for an invite to the tour and a gifted audiobook.

[Amy Fessler · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a random book I chose at the library. Nobody recommended it nor did I see any reviews. It was just a book I happen to put my finger on and I took it. I really, really enjoyed this book. Very easy read but with such good meaning and really makes you wonder how it was then.

[LInda L · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a wonderful, heartbreaking, enlightening book. I learned a lot from it -- mostly that it took 10 years for Brown vs Board of Education to be enforced, and then only with such reluctance in the South. What is wrong with people? Does "all people are created equal" mean nothing to them? I guess I just missed integration -- I graduated from High School in 1954, and there was no mention of segregation in a Catholic nursing school. This young teacher cried a lot, but always went to work the next day -- and was lucky to have a supportive husband. Bless their little non-prejudiced hearts and their friends and families. Great job, Eileen.

[Rita Dragonette · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Deny everyone so you don’t have to share”

“He breathed in the fresh air of freedom as he exhaled the secret”

This was an easy, yet engaging, read regarding the desegregation of public schools in Southern United States in the late 60s. We hear the story from 3 POVs - Colleen, a young white “Yankee” teacher, naive of the deep prejudices of the South who accepts a teaching position at the Black elementary school
Evelyn- a Black teacher with years of experience, assigned as Colleens mentor, a task she reluctantly accepts
Frank- a Black high school senior, forced to attend a White high school, and unfairly placed on the 2nd string football team destroying his hopes of a scholarship.

I identified most with Colleen, not only because I am white but because of her naivety. I grew up in an area rich of immigrants where my skin colour made me a minority - but the thing was I didn’t even notice, not until much later. It’s about the kids, who shouldn’t have to bare the knowledge that something as ridiculous as the colour of their skin somehow makes them inferior to another child. But what I didn’t realize and what Colleen learns is that as a white person you cannot ever imagine the suffering of race subjected to the years and years of inhuman treatment. As much as Colleen imagines she is helping, without the knowledge of a culture that has been made to feel inferior for years causing them to be cautious in every step they take, her actions prove to put her students, as well as herself, in danger.

It is through Frank and Evelyn that we experience the full on unfairness of the treatment of Black people and the many, many injustices that they endure. Both mange to walk the line, hold their head up high, and try to protect themselves and their families from the ever-present white hand ready to choke them. When the novel hits its breaking point these two characters both participate in measures intelligently - without radical and violent actions- in order to retain some semblance of human rights. Their fear is evident throughout the novel and it made me as a reader feel very sad.

I really liked that the author was able to convey this tumultuous time through her own experiences without the extensive use of violence. While the KKK and it’s dangers are present they are on the outskirts of the novel and not used as a blatant villain.

Thank you to Net Galley for the free copy. I really enjoyed it!

[Michelle Cox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eileen Sanchez offers a rare look at a tumultuous period in our nation’s history—the desegregation of the schools. Freedom Lessons beautifully portrays the angst felt by a young, white woman when she is transferred to teach at a newly integrated school, a young black football player betrayed by the system, and a young black teacher who is fighting her own set of demons. Sanchez is able to deftly jump between perspectives, fully immersing the reader in a different time and place. Heart-wrenching at times, Freedom Lessons will leave you inspired and wanting more. Sanchez gives us much to think about that is relevant even today. A captivating new voice!

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a free e-ARC of this book from netgalley.

This book shows several different POVs during a town's school desegregation in the south. One main character is a white teacher newly-married to a Hispanic man. Another main character is a black teacher at the same school and the other main character is a black male about to graduate high school. How these characters interact and deal with racism in this time period really kept my attention.

[Jule · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was a little disappointed in this book about the end of segregation in schools until I read the author comments in the back. For a novel, it is pretty weak. There are often incomprehensible choices of which moments to capture on the page and which to skip over, so the timing felt off. That also causes some character decisions and development to seemingly come out of nowhere. Also, while the content was strong and suspenseful enough, the style was somehow muted and subdued. There were little emotions from the characters, and all the voices - white, black, young and old - sounded the same. To redeem this book: it is explained in the end that this is a fictionalized account of real life events experienced by the author. This instantly made so much sense for me: Ms. Sanchez can write and convey the message that segregation was deeply ingrained and could not be ended over night. But maybe she is just not a good fiction writer. If this is essentially a memoir with some added povs, it makes sense that there are few side plots and the other characters seem not really fleshed out. It is more of a reportage that a novel. Informative and interesting, in parts gut-wrenching, just not very well written fiction.

~ I received a free copy of this book from the publisher. I voluntarily read and reviewed this book and all opinions expressed above are my own.

[Valerie Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

For aspiring authors struggling with a memoir, perhaps turning your story into a novel may be the way to go. That, in fact, is what Ms. Sanchez did in Freedom Lessons. Through her experience as a teacher in the South in the late 1960s during desegregation, especially of the schools, as well as in-depth research, Ms. Sanchez puts we, the readers, in the shoes of a white teacher, a black teacher, and a black high school student. The result is a powerful and moving story. I found myself realizing, shamefully, I had only seen integration from one perspective all these years. After reading how it impacted the black students, especially, 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. Freedom Lessons is an important lesson for us all.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember reading about Brown vs Board of education in school and looking at the photos of white women screaming at black students walking into school. Yet I didn't look around my own very classroom and wonder why it was so white.

As the author notes, she wrote this book for white readers. I think this is a great book for a white parent to read along with a middle grade reader as they start having conversations about race and inequality in our country.

[Kathryn Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eileen Sanchez has written an important story about a difficult time in our history. She reminds us to take notice that inequality still exists and we cannot let our guard down against social injustice.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to the author for this book which I won on a FB book group.

What a fast, enjoyable and easy read. I practically finished it in one day. I don't think I've ever read a book like this before which was set in 1969 in Louisiana. during segregation/desegregation. Times have changed. I was 10 at that time and didn’t have to go to a separate school.

Desegregation was just starting to develop in this small town. Colleen was a white teacher in a black grade school. She loved her students and they loved her. The other teachers didn't accept her because because she was white obviously. The book also focused on Frank, who was one of the black football players. Also Evelyn was another character, who was a teacher at Colleen's school.

It wasn't just about people but about the town, the segregation/desegregation of schools and the anger of everything happening. I loved those kids as much as Colleen did I think.

[Linda Zagon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This audio version of “Freedom Lessons” by Eileen Harrison Sanchez, was mesmerizing, captivating, and intriguing. This Historical Fiction and Fiction book reminds us how discriminating and tragic the times of “Segregation” were. The timeline for this novel is 1969, in Louisiana. The feel of the novel was authentic, and often more like a memoir or biography rather than a Historical Fiction Book. The author uses three different narrators to express their points of view. One is a white teacher, from New Jersey, who is married to a Hispanic soldier, one is a black High School senior who feels his way out of this town is a football scholarship, and the third is a black teacher.

The author vividly describes each narrator’s point of view and is so relatable. I could feel the frustration, hopelessness, and anger of the characters. This is an important and timely reminder of how important equality, freedom, and self-worth are. I would highly recommend this book to other readers

[Kari · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Review of
FREEDOM LESSONS
By Eileen Sanchez
Published by SheWritesPress
On Tour with iReadBookTours
******
A fantastic story on what is was like in the school systems after desegregation in 1969/ 1970. The story told from 3 POV’s gives insight from different angles how teachers and students handled no longer having the right to choose but conform to the laws. Black children and white children mixing together and school narrowing down their schools to accommodate both the white and black teachers. You see how unjust and judgmental the biased white people still were despite black people being as equal as them. It makes a civil liberty given to the black race more of a nightmare that they instead had to add to their plate of problems. This is such a clear look at racism and how unfortunate it lingers no matter how hard the fight.

[Judy Christiana · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Miss W Book Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

I listened to the audio version of Freedom Lessons by Eileen Harrison Sanchez.
This debut novel was a different take on the memoir. This was NOT a memoir but the events were based on the experiences of the author.

Personally, I went to high school in the 1990's in Connecticut and we had 1 black student in a class of 170 students.

This story was captivating, but also tragic. This was a wonderful historical fiction set in 1969 in Louisiana. Though not a memoir, I felt as if I was reading a memoir.

The story was told in three different points of view, all of which added to the richness of the story.

Such a telling reminder of the inequality so many have suffered for so long.

[Jennie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I grew up in Georgia during this time and was very interested in how this book would tell the story of integration. I will admit that I was a very sheltered child, but in my town we did not have any of the problems that this book talked about. Perhaps we handled it better, but the book was very disturbing and one that I will remember for quite awhile.

[Mary Sheriff · Rating 5 out of 5]

An important book for understanding the historical context of segregation and integration in the South. This is the story of a white school teacher who gets a job teaching in a black school that is subsequently integrated. This is also the story of the black teacher who mentors her. And it's the story of the black football star and the effects this transition had on his life. It's powerful.

[Kim Bakos · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was especially interesting to me as I went to school in both NJ and LA, the two states where the main character in this book taught.
I love how it was written in the voices of three of the characters - a white teacher, a black teacher, and a black student. You get the insights from each character that the others wouldn't have.
As a teacher myself, I can't imagine teaching in this time of upheaval.

[Marlene Brotman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished reading Freedom Lessons. Was really fantastic ! A great thought provoking read. Thank you for a great book Marlene Brotman

[Fanaticmama · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everyone should read this book! It is easy to read, engaging and interesting. I think even teens should read it! Such a good book!