Amos Fortune, Free Man

Fortune and Violet spend their first summer in Jaffrey building their new house. Celyndia helps with small, manageable tasks. While they are so busy building, Violet longs to have time to use the loom that Fortune made for her. When Celyndia isn’t helping, she explores the outdoors and plays with the children in town. The children gather berries, which Celyndia brings home sometimes for the family to eat. Celyndia is still hesitant about exploring freely, but Fortune reminds that she is also free to go wherever the other kids go. Fortune continues with his tanning work, and Violet helps him with this work, too. While Fortune is proud to have his own place for his family, he misses the advanced equipment he had back in Woburn. To complete his tannery, he constructs a yard to dry his pelts. By the time his tannery is ready, he already has customers coming for his services. The customers, who sometimes hang around the cabin, affectionately call Fortune “Old Amos.” When his white customers see his joy, they feel envious of how happy Black people are.   

Fortune’s business thrives during the first year, and the tanning equipment starts to take up most of the room in their cabin.