Hang A Thousand Trees With Ribbons

''Hang a Thousand trees with Ribbons'' is a 1996

historical novel Historical fiction is a literary genre in which a fictional plot takes place in the setting of particular real historical events. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literature, it can also be applied to oth ...

by Ann Rinaldi. The story, told in first-person narration, follows the life of

Phillis Wheatley Phillis Wheatley Peters, also spelled Phyllis and Wheatly ( – December 5, 1784), was an American writer who is considered the first African-American author of a published book of poetry. Gates Jr., Henry Louis, ''Trials of Phillis Wheatley: ...

, the first African-American poet. The story recounts her capture by black slavers in Africa and the horrors of the

Middle Passage The Middle Passage was the stage of the Atlantic slave trade in which millions of Africans sold for enslavement were forcibly transported to the Americas as part of the triangular slave trade. Ships departed Europe for African markets with manu ...

as experienced by a woman of intelligence and artistic ability when society assumed Africans were not endowed with either. Ann Rinaldi's vivid portrayal of the first African American poet is set against the backdrop of the

American War of Independence The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

, so there is a double theme of search for liberty in the novel. 1996 American novels American historical novels Novels about American slavery Novels by Ann Rinaldi Novels set in the 18th century Fiction about the Atlantic slave trade Novels set during the American Revolutionary War {{1990s-hist-novel-stub