Freedom Over Me (Paperback)

In 1850, Luke is a twelve year old Afro-Cherokee, with an African father and a Cherokee mother. Sold into slavery at the age of eight, whipped for learning to read, he is sold again to a slave speculator, and once more to a farmer with a twelve year old son, as a play mate for the farmer’s son Isaac. Treated kindly, the two boys grow up together, learning the ways of the farm and some of the ways of the Cherokee. After the start of the Civil War, now in their twenties, the two boys make their way up the Underground Railroad to freedom for Luke and to the Union forces for Isaac.

Dr. Neil Cabe came to fiction writing after a career as a clinical counselor, primarily with children. His background as a counselor and a child of southern parents, as well as his enduring encounters with the Cherokee Indians led him to this volume. In this book, he lives through the lives of a 12-year old Cherokee slave boy and a 12-year old son of a North Georgia farmer. The boys grow up together and learn about the farm and its culture, and about Cherokee legends and culture.Together, the two boys escape the South via the Underground Railroad, on routes that are still in existence today. Luke, the Cherokee, goes to Oberlin College in Ohio, which was the first college in the United States to accept children of color. Isaac, his companion, goes north to join with the Union forces to fight against the Confederacy.