In 1904, when Harriet Tubman spoke at a Women’s Suffrage Convention, she was introduced by Susan B. Anthony. Here Grimes imagines that the two of them had tea prior to the event, and that they reminisced about their lives and shared stories from their pasts. This device allows the author to share a lot of biographical details and give a good account of each woman’s accomplishments. But what’s especially interesting is the many ways their lives intersected—they were fighting for each other’s causes, of course, but sometimes there was a direct connection, as when Susan B. Anthony’s younger brother Merritt provided shelter to John Brown and his followers, many of whom had been recruited by Harriet Tubman. Each double-page spread has a full-page illustration painted in a distinctive naive style. (Ages 8–14)

Nikki Grimes offers a glimpse into the inspiring lives of Susan B. Anthony and Harriet Tubman, with breathtaking illustrations by Michele Wood!

What if Harriet Tubman and Susan B. Anthony sat down over tea to reminisce about their extraordinary lives? What would they recall of their triumphs and struggles as they fought to achieve civil rights for African Americans and equal rights for women? And what other historical figures played parts in their stories? These questions led Coretta Scott King Award winner Nikki Grimes to create CHASING FREEDOM, an engaging work of historical fiction about two of the nineteenth century's most powerful, and inspiring, American women.With breathtaking illustrations by Coretta Scott King Award winner Michele Wood, CHASING FREEDOM richly imagines the experiences of Tubman and Anthony, set against the backdrop of the Underground Railroad, the Civil War, and the Women's Suffrage Movement.Additional back matter invites curious young readers to further explore this period in history--and the larger-than-life figures who lived it.