Press Release: General information for Freedom Lessons
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Emma Boyer
856-489-8654 x305
Freedom Lessons: A Novel
By Eileen Harrison Sanchez
AN ENGROSSING HISTORICAL FICTION DEBUT ABOUT SCHOOL DESEGREGATION
IN THE 1960S AMERICAN SOUTH
“[A] potent illustration of the formidable obstacles to equality that
remained—and persist—post-Brown v. Board of Education.”
~Kirkus Reviews
“Debut novelist Sanchez has crafted a moving and timely story, based on her own experiences, about school integration in the South in 1969 and the issues that still linger today. This powerful tale offers a beacon of hope that individuals can inspire change.”
~Library Journal
School desegregation is something we all learn about in history class; perhaps we even remember the striking image of Ruby Bridges being escorted to and from school by the U.S. Marshals. But for most of us in 2019, that’s near the extent of what we understand about that tumultuous time. Eileen Sanchez, the debut novelist behind Freedom Lessons (She Writes Press, November 12, 2019), draws on her own remarkable experience as a young, white teacher in the Jim Crow South during desegregation, to write her immersive work of fiction inspired by those events. The result is an unusually authentic exploration of a snapshot in history through the eyes of characters that are relatable and unmistakably human—living lives and navigating relationships against the backdrop of extreme societal upheaval. Sanchez has woven a beautiful story not just about desegregation as an abstract concept, but about the people who lived it—and asks us to question our assumptions about that time, and the issues it has left in its 50-year wake.
Freedom Lessons begins in Louisiana 1969 as Colleen, a white northern teacher, enters into the unfamiliar culture of a small Southern town and its unwritten rules as the town surrenders to mandated school integration. She meets Frank, a black high school football player, who is protecting his family with a secret. And Evelyn, an experienced teacher and prominent member of the local black community, who must decide whether she’s willing to place trust in her new white colleague. Told alternately by Colleen, Frank, and Evelyn, Freedom Lessons is the story of how the lives of these three purportedly different people intersect in a time when our nation faced, as it does today, a crisis of race, unity, and identity.
The novel does not try to be an #ownvoices story, and Sanchez is self-aware and sensitive about not presenting a white savior narrative. Rather, the novel is a story of discovery and exploration for both Colleen, the narrator, and the reader, as we move through the story and start to understand the often-incorrect assumptions and prejudices the characters have about one another, which serve as the foundation for unjustified decisions and unfair situations. The same assumptions and prejudices we have yet to move past in 2019.
“I hope readers will understand from Freedom Lessons that we need to consider others’ assumptions about us, and challenge our assumptions about others,” says Sanchez. “We all need some self-reflection for our actions and to not shy away from hard conversations. Can we learn from our past? I hope so.”
Fans of thoughtful, authentic historical fiction like that by Susan Follett and Tara Conklin will love this captivating debut novel.
About the Author:
Eileen Harrison Sanchez is now retired after a forty-year career in education. She started as a teacher and ended as a district administrator. She has been writing part time for seven years with a writers group in Summit, NJ (www.writerscircleworkshops.com). Eileen is a member of the Historical Writers of America, Historical Novel Society, Philadelphia Stories Writers Community, Goodreads American Historical Novels Group, and several online writers’ groups on LinkedIn and Facebook. A reader, a writer, and a perennial—a person with a no-age mindset—she considers family and friends to be the most important parts of her life, followed by traveling and bird watching from her gazebo.
Learn more at www.eileensanchez.com and connect with Eileen on Facebook @eileensanchezwriter, Twitter @EileenHSanchez, and Instagram @eileensanchezwriter.
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Freedom Lessons Eileen Harrison Sanchez
Price: U.S. $16.95
Pub Date: November 12, 2019
Publicity Contact: Emma Boyer
Publicist phone number: 856-489-8654 x 305
Publicist email address: emma.boyer@smithpublicity.com
256 pages
Print ISBN: 978-1-63152-610-7| $16.95
E-ISBN: 978-1-63152-611-41 | $9.95
Distributed by Simon & Shuster
SHE WRITES PRESS
Visit us at www.shewritespress.com
Louisiana, 1969. Colleen, a white northern teacher, enters into the unfamiliar culture of a small southern town and its unwritten rules as the town surrenders to mandated school integration. Frank, a black high school football player, protects his family with a secret. And Evelyn, an experienced teacher and prominent member of the local black community, must decide whether she’s willing to place trust in her new white colleague.
Told alternately, by Colleen, Frank, and Evelyn, Freedom Lessons is the story of how the lives of these three purportedly different people intersect in a time when our nation faced, as it does today, a crisis of race, unity, and identity.
Based on the author’s experience teaching in Louisiana, this heartfelt, unflinching novel about the unexpected effects of school integration during that time takes the reader back to the Deep South in the 1960’s era of marches and protests.
Eileen Harrison Sanchez is now retired after a forty-year career in education. She started as a teacher and ended as a district administrator. A reader, a writer, and a perennial―a person with a no-age mindset―Sanchez considers family and friends to be the most important parts of her life, followed by traveling and bird watching from her gazebo. Freedom Lessons is her first published novel.
"Inspired by the author’s real-life experiences, Freedom Lessons is a candid and nuanced novel about a young Northern woman who spends a year teaching in the 1960s Jim Crow South. In the process, she learns more about herself and her country than she ever expected. Freedom Lessons is illuminating and gripping, and a worthy addition to the literature of the civil rights era."
~Amy Hill Hearth, New York Times and Washington Post best-selling author of Having Our Say and recipient of two American Library Association Notable Book citations.
Readers interested in social justice will recognize the unfairness of prejudice. This is the small story of the lives of three purportedly different people. It tells the bigger story of a time when our nation faced, as it does today, a crisis of race, unity and identity. It is a fictionalized version of events that others and I experienced in 1969 during a period of overnight mandated school integration.
I am proud to be published by She Writes Press, the 2019 Indi Publisher of the Year and to be nationally distributed by Ingram Publishing Services. Freedom Lessons is available through Barnes & Noble, IndiBound, Amazon, Baker & Taylor and wherever books are sold online, bookstores and libraries.
My life’s work has been as an advocate for free, appropriate and respectful educational opportunities for all students. I have served in segregated and integrated public schools. I am retired after a forty-year career that started as a classroom teacher and ended as a district administrator.
I hope that you will consider coverage of my book. Don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions at eileenwrites@comcast.net
