Elijah of Buxton

Elijah of Buxton as a historical fiction novel tells the story of an African-American born during the time when few of them gained their freedom and most during this era were still slaves. Elijah was special, his mother referred to him as “fra-gile.” Elijah was born as the first free person in Buxton which is a settlement in Canada specifically for runaway slaves who had escaped from the United States. A story that circulated was that Elijah vomited on the head of Frederick Douglas when he tossed Elijah in the air. The story grew and changed throughout time and this was a part of Elijah’s notoriety in addition to being the first free person born of that generation. Elijah’s other talent and accomplishment was the ability to kill fish by hitting them in the head with a rock, usually with one blow. Another issue with Elijah is that he scared easily. Elijah has friends that ranged from a not so religious preacher and his best friend Cooter who leads an adventurous life still of danger.