Ann-Elizabeth Barnes has been a story-teller since she was a child. Her favorite thing to do is to make complicated subjects uncomplicated. She likes to put history in context so that it is simple to remember. So this is what she seeks to do for children. Make history interesting, simplify it, and keep it manageable! Out of this desire came the now 10 year old “Mumbet in the Schools” program for which she has received numerous Massachusetts Cultural Council grants and lots of help from the teachers and children in Berkshire County schools. While participating in a NEH “We the People” grant: “The Shaping Role of Place in African American Biography” Ann-Elizabeth Barnes was inspired to write books on each of the five featured African American historic figures who played a role in the making of America, particularly in Berkshire County. The first book, about Mumbet, she co-wrote with Jana Laiz and the second, “The Rev. Samuel Harrison, Abolitionist, Activist, and Chaplain of the Massachusetts 54th, the first black regiment raised in the north to fight in the Civil War” is for young adults. She is working on the third about Agrippa Hull, a Revolutionary War hero.Ann-Elizabeth lives in Berkshire County, Massachusetts with her husband and little dog, Lily.
