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    The Day-Breakers
    The Day-Breakers
    The Day-Breakers
    Ebook90 pages31 minutes

    The Day-Breakers

    By Michael Fraser

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    About this ebook

    Longlisted for the 2023 OCM Bocas Prize • Longlisted for the 2023 Raymond Souster Poetry Prize • A CBC Best Poetry Book of 2022 • Nominated for the 2023 ReLit Award for Poetry

    Saturated with locutions lifted from the late 19th century, The Day-Breakers deeply conceives of what African Canadian soldiers experienced before, during, and in the immediate aftermath of the American Civil War.

    "It is not wise to waste the life / Against a stubborn will. / Yet would we die as some have done. / Beating a way for the rising sun wrote Arna Bontemps. In The Day-Breakers, poet Michael Fraser imagines the selflessness of Black soldiers who fought for the Union during the American Civil War, of whom hundreds were African-Canadian, fighting for the freedom of their brethren and the dawning of a new day. Brilliantly capturing the rhythms of their voices and the era in which they lived and fought, Fraser’s The Day-Breakers is an homage to their sacrifice and an unforgettable act of reclamation: the restoration of a language, and a powerful new perspective on Black history and experience.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBiblioasis
    Release dateApr 5, 2022
    ISBN9781771964845
    Author

    Michael Fraser

    Michael Fraser is a 30-year-old father of two from the UK. He has been writing since he could hold a pen, from poems to short stories and finally novels. The Heartstone Chronicles: Windchaser is his first novel, and took almost seven years to complete. He is currently working on the sequel, Enchantersmith, which he hopes will be a little quicker. By day he works for the playground industry, and by night as a freelance videogame journalist. Occasionally he finds time to write a bit.

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      Book preview

      The Day-Breakers - Michael Fraser

      Contents

      The Day-Breakers

      Comes the Word

      Proclamation

      Henry Williams, 14 Years Old

      John Woods

      Soldier’s Camp

      Frances Jane Scroggins Brown

      Thomas Arthur Brown

      Outside Chatham

      Readville

      Cornelius King

      Goshen

      Waiting

      Buckle Down

      Chaplain

      Puckerbrush Run

      Camp Ward

      Clattering

      African Canadian in Union Blue

      The Crater

      No Quarter

      Water Rippet

      Fort Pillow Massacre

      Grand Junction

      New York Draft Riots

      Latching Blackbirds

      Blockade

      Intruder in the Dust

      Captured

      Hamilton Evening News

      French Leave

      The Foragers

      Richmond

      Taking Charleston

      Fort Wagner

      Into the Boneyard

      Andersonville Prison

      Field Camp

      William Fields

      Mary Fields

      And There She Ministers

      Banner

      The Black Union Dead

      Aftermath

      Go Down Moses

      George M. Lucas

      Burial Duty

      Consumption

      Breakfast

      James Jones

      Theatre

      Glossary

      Acknowledgements

      The Day-Breakers

      Michael Fraser

      Biblioasis

      Windsor, Ontario

      Copyright © Michael Fraser, 2022

      All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher or a license from The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright). For an Access Copyright license visit www.accesscopyright.ca or call toll free to 1-800-893-5777.

      10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

      Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

      Title: The day-breakers / Michael Fraser.

      Names: Fraser, Michael, 1969– author.

      Description: Poems.

      Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20210314532 | Canadiana (ebook) 20210314540 |

      ISBN

      9781771964838 (softcover)

      ISBN

      9781771964845 (ebook)

      Subjects:

      LCSH

      : United States—History—Civil War, 1861-1865—Participation, African American—Poetry. |

      LCSH

      : African American soldiers—History—19th century—Poetry. |

      CSH

      : Black Canadian soldiers—United States—History—19th century—Poetry.

      Classification:

      LCC PS

      8561.

      R

      2978

      D

      39 2022 |

      DDC C

      811/.6—dc23

      Edited by Luke Hathaway

      Copyedited by John Sweet

      Text and cover designed by Ingrid Paulson

      Cover image: City Point, Virginia. Negro soldier guarding 12-pdr. Napoleon. Model ?. United States, 1865. Photograph.

      Canada Council for the Arts and Ontario Arts Council logos

      Ontario Creates Logo

      Published with the generous assistance of the Canada Council for

      the Arts, which last year invested $153 million to bring the arts to Canadians throughout the country, and the financial support of the Government of Canada. Biblioasis also acknowledges the support

      of the Ontario Arts Council (

      OAC

      ), an agency of the Government of Ontario, which last year funded 1,709 individual artists and 1,078 organizations in 204 communities across Ontario, for a total of $52.1 million, and the contribution of the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Book Publishing Tax Credit and Ontario Creates.

      Dedicated to all the African-Canadians who

      fought and died for the ultimate cause, freedom.

      The Day-Breakers

      We are not come

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