An African Princess...

This time of year I am given to flights of fancy - where ever they lead me... Must admit I was smitten by the story of Sarah Forbes Bonetta... captured in a book for young readers called:

"  At Her Majesty's Request: An African Princess in Victorian England"    

by Walter Dean Meyers

Once there was a little girl--an orphaned African princess--who narrowly escaped death by human sacrifice in a West African village in 1850. A British sea captain named Frederick E. Forbes saved her life by talking King Gezo of Dahomey into giving the girl to Queen Victoria of England as a gift: "She would be a present from the King of the blacks to the Queen of the Whites." As impossible as this tale sounds, it is a true one. Award-winning author Walter Dean Myers--piecing together her story from letters he found in a rare book and ephemera shop in London--paints a hauntingly detached portrait of the small African princess whom the heroic captain named Sarah Forbes Bonetta...

Click the link to see what some parents and children said about their experience reading this book. As for me, my love for old ephemera and little known historical facts has only increased...  been busy searching out old documents every since... It's especially nice as I am teaching a African American folk art / history course. Learning about the African Diaspora is enriching. You can visit my new blog about this subject " African American Folklife"   by clicking here.

Happy Holiday season...