Fortune's Bones

The Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury, Connecticut displays a 200-year-old skeleton of a local doctor's slave named Fortune. The museum commissioned Marilyn Nelson to write a poem about Fortune, despite the fact that very little is known about him except that he had a wife and four children and was about 60 years old when he died. His owner, Dr. Porter, rendered his bones and preserved them for study. Nelson's funeral mass for Fortune moves the point of view from the doctor to the slave to his wife as she cleans his bones. A prose narrative of the slave's life appears on pages opposite those featuring the verses. Archival material, photographs, and illustrations accompany the text. A 2005 Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book. Copyright (C) Muze Inc. 2005. For personal use only. All rights reserved.