Synopsis
The 5 book episodic Way Makers series Overground, Underground, On the Water: a Journey to Freedom tells the story of three 21st century African American siblings: Eleven-year old Rheena Mackey, who is recognized by her tenacity and her thick mane of dark curly locks, and her little brother Zachary, who needs medication to help him focus his energy, and their willful older brother, 17-year-old Hoban Cruz, who has a Puerto Rican father. The three siblings are being raised by their single mom and have lived and played in Brooklyn, NY all their young lives. That is, until they are uprooted from their familiar urban life and moved by their mother, to the relatively safer rural Upstate NY Catskills Mountain home of their grandfather.
Papa, as they have come to call this proud old Black man, loves his African American heritage. He alternately entertains, then bores his young family when he shares his accumulation of knowledge and his vast collection old photographs, crinkled newspaper clippings, small carvings, African drum and other artifacts, buttons, beads, stones and the like that clutter his bedroom. Among his treasures is ewe, the talking drum. Papa tells outlandish tales about Africa, of the Middle Passage, American slavery, the Underground Railroad and America’s Black people’s struggle for freedom and civil rights, insisting in his singsong Gullah accent: “It be a magical ting!” and “It be for troot!’
At one point, Hoban, who has fair skin (because he’s part Puerto Rican and part Black,) teases his little sister when he notices that some of the individuals in Papa’s collection of photographs of dirt-poor Blacks bear an uncanny resemblance to her and her their little brother.
I came to this story because as a teacher in the inner city I have noticed it is often difficult for 21st Century African American children, or mixed-race children to appreciate what our ancestors have endured for us to exist in the relative comfort of modernity.
One Saturday morning, in Over Ground, Underground, On the Water: a Journey to Freedom, during what seems like a typical Catskill Mountain storm …. there is rain, thunder, and lightning
• Rheena and Zachary are home by themselves,
• Papa has passed away,
• Mom has gone to work,
• Hoban has spent his Friday evening with new friends, and regrettably has not yet come home,
the two MacKey children toy with ewe, the talking drum and are abruptly transported back in time and space to 1847 American, deep into life on a rice Plantation in swampy South Carolina. Not long after they arrive, their older brother Hoban follows them.
The Way Makers series is historical fiction; therefore, we are introduced to actual places, events and people who indeed are America’s history. For example, we discover it is Civil War photographer, Matthew Brady who took the photograph that Hoban teased his sister about. We learn of The Pearl, a schooner that secreted runaway slaves from DC to Baltimore, and of the vibrant community of Black Horsemen and women of Philadelphia that still exists to this day.
In this past, the trio discover firsthand the harsh realities of plantation life. They learn of the cruel humiliation of slavery and the auction block. The children become separated,
• sold off the plantation,
• reunited,
• they escape from dangers seen and unseen.
• they learn what to eat, what not to eat.
• They have unexpected friendships and betrayals that follow runaways on the Underground Railroad.
• They meet Native Americans and Quakers who become allies.
• They discover the salvation of maps in the form of hand-sewn quilts hidden in plain sight.
• They walk, travel by sea, pass through tunnels dug under houses, cellars and church basements in Maryland, Ohio, and New York.
• They meet the Black cowboys of Philadelphia and attend a Pinksters celebration.
• They live in free Black communities in Brooklyn and what is now Central Park in NYC....
About the Author
My name is Kishasha Faronii-Butler, aka Tasa R. Faronii, and I am a Brooklyn born New Yorker. I write as TR Faronii. An interest in music, writing, voice, diction, and communication fueled an early career on stage, screen, and television. As a young musician, I was a founding member of New York Youth Symphony Orchestra and the Cosmopolitan Young People's Orchestra As a young actor, I created the role of Billie Jean in the original Off-Broadway production of the play Black Girl, played Ifada in Wole Soyinka's play The Strong Breed, and originated the character L'il Bo in the film The Cross & the Switchblade.I directed a regional production of Eve Ensler's Vagina Monologues and have written several plays. Dixie Peach made its regional debut at the Seelig Theatre, and original play Wolf Reads: The Musical, based on Becky Bloom's children's book The Wolf! was performed by a cast of middle school students at the Liberty Partnerships Program in Newburgh, NY. As an independent bookseller I owned and operated The Oracle Bookstore, formerly a brick-and-mortar store and now online as Liberty Oracle Online.The same interests in communication lead me into the classroom as a special education teacher and into the study of American Sign Language for the Deaf. I am a certified auditory integration specialist and English teacher for speakers of other languages. I created several arts-in-education programs for individuals who are identified as disabled. These individuals I prefers to refer to as differently abled or with learning differences. Among those programs have been Periwinkle Production, Inc.'s Arts for Special Population and Orange County AHRC's music-based skills development curriculum for pre-school and grades K-12. Currently, I teach violin, viola and piano to students who are reluctant learners, adult beginners, and gifted young players. I assisted in the development of the Zylofone Studios project, a performing arts program for individuals with special needs.I hold a master's degree in Health Arts and Sciences from Goddard College in VT and an earned Doctorate in Educational Leadership & Change from Fielding Graduate University in CA. As an adjunct professor in the English Department at SUNY Orange Community College Middletown and Newburgh campus, in addition to teaching first year students, I have developed curriculum for students in need of remediation in college level reading and writing skills development. I work as instructor/mentor with the Liberty Partnerships Program middle school students in Newburgh, NY.Currently, I am a member of the Community Advisory Board and former member of the Board of Trustees of Radio Catskill public broadcasting station WJFF 90.5, as well as a tutor with the Literacy Volunteers of American. I am also a mediator with the NYS Dispute Resolution Center.I love storytelling, sharing events that I know of, or ideas that I believe in thrills me to no end. Through writing, I can communicate these notions and save them on the page to be revisited from time to time, perhaps, even to parcel out for others to enjoy along with me.
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