Shades of Liberty “Josiah” Book 1
A story of the American Revolution, told from the viewpoint of soldiers in the field, chronicles the lives of two African Americans, brothers born in turmoil and shackled to the whims of slave merchants. They are separated as infants by a cruel society that is merciless in humanity and insensitive in heart. Both grow up confronting the horrors of slavery, only to have fate place a chance before them, to slip the bonds of tyranny. Young adults in the American Revolution, they will choose the direction each believes will grant the promise of freedom…true freedom.
Josiah will look to the rebels, fleeing his master to fight on the side that claims to cherish liberty as self evident. “We the people, all men equal in a land blessed by God and made sacred by those who risk their lives to cast aside the writ of oppression and breathe the sacred air of a new nation.”
Shades of Liberty “Josiah’s Mettle” Book 2
Titus disavows what he sees as the empty promises of cloaked rhetoric, later made official in a document of independence drawn by rich white landowners, many of whom are slaveholders. He runs from a brutal owner to accept the promise of freedom to all bondsmen who take up arms with the British.
One purpose, two paths. They will ultimately meet in a saga that brings both pride and disgrace to an infant nation, a nation that perceives itself enlightened in the grace of God. Yet in the end, as dictated by survival, it continues to wallow in the shortcomings of humanity, satiated by the corruption of greed and the delights of wealth.
Hope and despair thread the horrors of war in a story as old as the written word.