Ben and the Emancipation Proclamation

A young slave teaches himself to read, eventually reading Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation to fellow slaves imprisoned during the Civil War.

Ben, a young slave, uses every chance he gets to teach himself to read, practicing with the words he sees on street signs and in shop windows and even in cast-off newspapers he finds in the gutter.

But after the Civil War breaks out, his master leaves town and Ben finds himself in a slave prison. One night, the prisoners bribe a guard to get their hands on a newspaper, and to the applause of his fellow slaves, Ben reads aloud the momentous news of Mr. Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation — surely one of the most remarkable readings of that document ever.

Author Pat Sherman’s stirring text, based on the true story of Benjamin C. Holmes, pairs with memorable illustrations from Coretta Scott King medalist Floyd Cooper to honor the power of freedom and the written word. Awarded the Once Upon a World Children’s Picture Book Award from the Simon Wiesenthal Center / Museum of Tolerance, Ben and the Emancipation Proclamation is part of Eerdmans’ Incredible Lives for Young Readers series.