The Amazing Age of John Roy Lynch

The Amazing Age of John Roy Lynch is the story of a man who was proactive in acquiring his own freedom and building a successful life of service to his community. Lynch spent his early life enslaved in Mississippi.

When the Emancipation Proclamation was issued, Lynch took the opportunity to find work on a Union transport steamer on the Mississippi River. At the end of the Civil War, instead of leaving his native Mississippi, he decided to stay and work with other African-Americans to form a better future.

In the face of harsh laws enacted by whites to deny African-Americans their human rights, Lynch persevered by running his own business, going to night school, buying his own land, and eventually becoming a U.S. Congressperson.

Due to the graphic portrayal of violence, it is recommended that this book be used with mid- to upper-elementary students.

Credit: By Chris Barton. Illustrated by Don Tate. Published by Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 2015.