SATA
ENTRY TYPE:
WORK TITLE: A MAN CALLED HORSE
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE:
CITY:
STATE:
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY: American
LAST VOLUME: SATA 306
http://www.scbwi-illinois.org/Turner.html
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born November 23, 1933, in Raleigh, NC; daughter of John Lee (a theologian, college president, and civil-rights leader) and Phyllis Geraldine (a nursery-school teacher and parent educator) Tilley; married Albert W. Turner (a postal administrator), April 1, 1956; children: Albert, Cyril.
EDUCATION:Lake Forest College, B.A., 1955; Goddard College, M.A. (history and children’s literature), 1979.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Educator, author, and historian. Charles A. Stevens & Co., Chicago, IL, advertising copywriter, 1955-56; primary teacher at public schools in Chicago and suburbs, 1962-88; Ginn & Co., Boston, MA, staff writer, 1969-70; National Louis University, Evanston, IL, teacher of minority education classes and student-teacher supervisor, beginning 1988. Member of Northern Illinois University Children’s Literature Conference; member of board of directors, Graue Mill, DuPage Historical Society; member of Wheaton Media Commission; member of National Park Service’s Underground Railroad Advisory Committee. Former advisor to Illinois Commission on Fiftieth Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education; consultant to Naper Settlement, Graue Mill, Wheaton History Center, National Park Service, and CCURE. Participant in Near South planning board and Open Book authors-in-the-schools literacy programs. Conducts Underground Railroad tours for Newberry Library.
MEMBER:American Society of Journalists and Authors, Authors Guild, Midland Authors, Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, Afro-American Historical & Genealogical Society, American Historical Association, Organization of American Historians, Black Caucus of the American Library Association, Afro-American Genealogical & Historical Society of Chicago, Association for the Study of Afro-American Life & History, Patricia Liddell Researchers, Phi Beta Kappa.
AWARDS:Outstanding Woman Educator, West Suburban YWCA, 1984; Studs Terkel Humanities Award; Margaret Landon Award; Alice Browning Award, International Black Writers Conference; Illinois Humanities Council scholar; Irma Kinsley Johnson Award, Friends of Amistad; International Literary Hall of Fame for Writers of African Descent induction, Gwendolyn Brooks Center at Chicago State University; Citizen of the Year, Wheaton Kiwanis Club, 2006; Lifetime Achievement Award, Operation Uplift, 2011; William F. Siebert Award, National Park Service/National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom, 2012; Medgar Evers Award, DuPage County chapter of National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, 2014.
POLITICS: “Independent.” RELIGION: Unitarian-Universalist.WRITINGS
Work represented in anthologies and textbooks. Author of features “Tips for Parents,” in Black Child Journal, and “Take a Walk in Their Shoes,” in Ebony, Jr.
SIDELIGHTS
Glennette Tilley Turner is an award-winning educator, author, and historian who focuses much of her writing on the underground railroad and the history of African Americans living in her native Midwest. In addition to nonfiction works such as The Underground Railroad in Illinois and Fort Mose and the Story of the Man Who Built the First Free Black Settlement in Colonial America, Turner crafts stories that bring history alive for younger readers, among them An Apple for Harriet Tubman and Running for Our Lives . As the author once commented, “Research and writing have given me a greater appreciation of how interconnected all aspects of life and learning are. I hope I can convey to children their sense of relatedness and wonder.”
Focusing on a younger audience, Turner’s picture book An Apple for Harriet Tubman is based on a tale related by Tubman’s great-niece. The story focuses on the life of a well-known conductor on the Underground Railroad, and follows Tubman’s life from a young slave to her life as a free adult and property owner in upstate New York. As a slave, Tubman’s favorite job had been picking apples from the plantation’s orchard, although if she ate any she was punished; as an adult, she planted an orchard and allowed neighbors to freely harvest its fruit for many years. “The simplicity of Turner’s telling does not take away from the power of the underlying issues of slavery, danger and … freedom,” noted a Kirkus Reviews writer, the critic praising the “richly colored” illustrations by Susan Keeter that accompany the text. Calling An Apple for Harriet Tubman an “excellent introduction to a complex topic,” School Library Journal reviewer Mary Hazelton added that Turner’s story here helps children develop “a personal connection with a girl whose life was very different from their own.”
In Fort Mose and the Story of the Man Who Built the First Free Black Settlement in Colonial America Turner recounts the remarkable tale of Francisco Menendez, an African-born freedom fighter who escaped bondage in early eighteenth-century South Carolina. Menendez had tenuous legal status when he arrived in Spanish-controlled Florida, but he secured his freedom through service to the Spanish crown. As a member of an all-black militia, he participated in incursions against the English in the Carolina colonies. Menendez was granted permission to organize a small community of freed blacks near St. Augustine in 1738. Named Fort Mose, this community was the first legally recognized settlement for emancipated Africans on U.S. soil.
Acknowledging the sparseness of information about men and women like Menendez, Booklist contributor Carolyn Phelan wrote of Fort Mose and the Story of the Man Who Built the First Free Black Settlement in Colonial America that “Turner’s graceful account clearly distinguishes between fact and supposition.” A writer for Kirkus Reviews echoed Phelan’s remarks, stating that, while Turner “must speculate on what Menendez’s life was like,” “she does so responsibly.” In School Library Journal Mary Landrum deemed the unique history “a useful addition to libraries with strong African-American history collections” and lauded its author for “her careful choice of words and images.”
[open new]Another of Turner’s historic titles for youths, A Man Called Horse: John Horse and the Black Seminole Underground Railroad, looks at a lesser-known spur of the famous slaves’ escape route in the American Southeast. John Horse, also known as Juan Cavallo, was born in 1812 to a Seminole father and a mother who was part black and part Native. The Seminole Nation itself became a destination for runaway slaves, as they offered sanctuary from white slave hunters by claiming the runaways as their own, while permitting them to live freely among the tribe. After providing background about the First Seminole War and the Indian Removal Act, Turner details how John Horse’s lifetime overlapped with the Second Seminole War and a forced migration away from the Seminoles’ homeland. An interpreter and guide who became a skilled negotiator and leader of his people, John Horse helped attain fuller rights and better circumstances for Black Seminoles as well as the Seminole nation as a whole. The book’s visual materials include photographs, paintings, engravings, and illustrations, while the back matter covers battles, voyages, safe areas, and more.
A Kirkus Reviews writer appreciated that the book is “written in an easy-to-digest manner” and makes an “excellent introduction” to Seminole history. The writer deemed A Man Called Horse “a worthy celebration of a life too little known.” Affirming that Turner strikes just the right balance between narrative and detail, Amanda MacGregor in School Library Journal called the book “well laid-out and engaging” and a “fascinating look at the complex life of … a warrior, diplomat, and champion for his people.”[close new]
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, June 1, 1994, Hazel Rochman, review of Running for Our Lives, p. 1823; February 15, 2001, Carolyn Phelan, review of The Underground Railroad in Illinois, p. 1150; February 1, 2008, Candace Smith, review of An Apple for Harriet Tubman, p. 68; October 15, 2010, Carolyn Phelan, review of Fort Mose and the Story of the Man Who Built the First Free Black Settlement in Colonial America, p. 50.
Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, July, 1991, review of Lewis Howard Latimer, p. 278; June, 1994, review of Running for Our Lives, p. 337; October, 2010, Elizabeth Bush, review of Fort Mose and the Story of the Man Who Built the First Free Black Settlement in Colonial America, p. 98.
Kirkus Reviews, September 1, 2006, review of An Apple for Harriet Tubman, p. 913; August 15, 2010, review of Fort Mose and the Story of the Man Who Built the First Free Black Settlement in Colonial America; August 1, 2021, review of A Man Called Horse: John Horse and the Black Seminole Underground Railroad.
Publishers Weekly, December 14, 1992, review of Take a Walk in Their Shoes, p. 58; March 21, 1994, review of Running for Our Lives, p. 73.
School Library Journal, November, 1989, Sylvia V. Meisner, review of Take a Walk in Their Shoes, p. 124; October, 2006, Mary Hazelton, review of An Apple for Harriet Tubman, p. 143; October, 2010, Mary Landrum, review of Fort Mose and the Story of the Man Who Built the First Free Black Settlement in Colonial America, p. 134; November, 2021, Amanda MacGregor, review of A Man Called Horse, p. 94.
Voice of Youth Advocates, February, 1990, review of Take a Walk in Their Shoes, p. 367; October, 1991, review of Lewis Howard Latimer, p. 218.
ONLINE
Center for the Book—Illinois website, http://illinoisauthor.org/ (May 13, 2016), “Glennette Tilley Turner.”
Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators—Illinois Chapter website, http://www.scbwi-illinois.org/ (October 27, 2007), “Glennette Tilley Turner.”
Glennette Tilley Turner has written nine children’s books, including Fort Mose, An Apple for Harriet Tubman, and Running for Our Lives. She has also written collections of biographies of notable African Americans for adults, and she serves as an advisor to the National Park Service, where she helps plan programs for the national historic Underground Railroad trail. Turner has a master’s degree in history and children’s literature; has spoken at ALA, NCTE, BCALA, and the Library of Congress; has presented at Illinois library, historical, and reading organizations; and taught in the Chicago Public School system for many years. She has received numerous awards and accolades for her writing and was inducted into International Literary Hall of Fame for Writers’ of African Descent at the Gwendolyn Brooks Center of Chicago State University. She lives in Wheaton, Illinois.
Turner, Glennette Tilley A MAN CALLED HORSE Abrams (Children's None) $16.99 9, 21 ISBN: 978-1-4197-4933-9
Discover the life of Juan Cavallo, also known as John Horse.
John Horse was a Black Seminole born in 1812. His father was Seminole, and his mother was of Native American and African descent. This book follows the forced nomadic movements of the group as, led by John Horse, they made their way from the Southeastern U.S. to Mexico. Each chapter follows their journey to a new, hopefully safer land only for them to be disappointed again. One of the best-known facts about the Seminole Nation is how they helped with the Underground Railroad and saw themselves as protectors for runaway slaves, confronting the former White enslavers and claiming to be the runaways’ new masters. Aided by archival illustrations, Turner’s straightforward account contextualizes that and other facts, informing readers that the Black Seminole lived as free people, apart from paying a share of their harvest for protection against these incidents. The book is written in an easy-to-digest manner; although it does not go into great detail, it is an excellent introduction to the history of the Seminole, who went from prisoners and slaves in the U.S. to being seen as valuable for their skills at the U.S.–Mexico border. Turner traces the ebbs and flows of politics, from Gen. Thomas Sidney Jesup’s policy of containment that ended the Second Seminole War to U.S. Attorney General John Y. Mason’s cancellation of that scant protection.
A worthy celebration of a life too little known. (timeline, author’s note, source notes, bibliography) (Nonfiction. 10-14)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2021 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
"Turner, Glennette Tilley: A MAN CALLED HORSE." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Aug. 2021, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A669986526/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=a852048d. Accessed 20 Dec. 2021.
TURNER, Glennette Tilley. A Man Called Horse: John Horse and the Black Seminole Underground Railroad. 112p. Abrams. Sept. 2021. Tr $16.99. ISBN 9781419749339.
Gr 6-9--This fascinating look at the complex life of Black Seminole leader John Horse, a warrior, diplomat, and champion for his people, follows his tireless search for freedom, safety, and home. Foundational background is given about Seminole Indians and Black Seminoles (descendants of Seminoles and free Blacks and escaped slaves) as well as the First Seminole War, the Indian Removal Act, and the Second Seminole War. It was during the Second Seminole War that John Horse, a skilled negotiator, interpreter, guide, and advisor, began to rise to leadership. Horses's life and travels are detailed as he sought peace and security for his people through the southern United States, and eventually Mexico. Escapes, deportations, challenges, promises, possibilities, and perilous situations marked Horse's quest. He worked determinedly to find a new home for Black Seminoles, who had unresolved and changing statuses during this time of the mid-to-late 1800s. Horse was constantly negotiating to encourage protection, treaties, land grants, and autonomy for his people. Engravings, photographs, illustrations, and painting adorn most of the full-color pages, with chapters providing just enough information to feel thorough without feeling overwhelming. Well laid-out and engaging, this biography shows the significant impact John Horse had on the rights, recognition, freedom, and protection of Black Seminoles, who were considered slaves by Americans and Seminoles. The volume wraps up with additional information on battles, places of refuge, rescues, and expeditions. A time line, author's note, chapter notes, bibliography, and index round out the book. VERDICT An important examination of a historical figure who hasn't been featured that often in books for young readers.--Amanda MacGregor, Parkview Elem. Sch., Rosemount, MN
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2021 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
MacGregor, Amanda. "TURNER, Glennette Tilley. A Man Called Horse: John Horse and the Black Seminole Underground Railroad." School Library Journal, vol. 67, no. 11, Nov. 2021, pp. 94+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A683721558/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=06c01717. Accessed 20 Dec. 2021.