1. Read another biography of a slave, such as Ann Perry's Harriet Tubman. How does this biographer's approach differ from Yates's? How is it similar? Compare and contrast the authors' attitudes toward slavery.

2. Amos is first purchased by Caleb Copeland, a Quaker. The Quakers were active in the abolitionist movement from its beginnings. Using library reference sources, explain methods Quakers used to oppose slavery or describe the efforts of one particular Quaker in the abolitionist movement.

3. Slavery in eighteenth-century New England differed from slavery in the nineteenth-century South. Consult accounts by a former slave, such as Frederick Douglass (Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, 1845) or Booker T. Washington (Up from Slavery, 1901), and compare his attitudes and experiences with those of Amos Fortune.

4. Amos becomes a tanner. Today that process is much more mechanized. Using library reference sources, describe how leather is tanned today. How does that process differ from the techniques Amos used?

5. Amos regrets that he is too old to fight when the Revolutionary War begins, but many of his black friends do fight. Research and report on black soldiers who fought in the American Revolution.