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The Begining
Even though, slavery was reported to begin in 1619, this book took place in the mid. 1700's. Europeans in the colonies used indentured survents less and started to use Africans. Since indentured servants had to be given things in the end, and Africans didn't, this was thought to be better for the colonists from Europe. They could keep their land, and by buying at least two slaves (one male, one female) they could reproduce and thus, making a new slaves and not costing the master a penny. -
Period: to
Timespan
This isn't the exact date. It wasn't stated in the book. But it started in the 1700's and they arrived at Fort Mose in 1738. -
They Start Moving
This day, Amari and 24 other young, healthy villagers were shackled together, some with injuries. They all were forced to walk each day in ridiculous conditions eating little food, only once a day. About 9 of the 25 died over the long days. They were tossed to the side of the road.This made each chained coffle lighter, but did not easing the pain of their untreated wounds, or the loss of their people. New captives were added over time. -
Strangers
We meet Amari , her village, her family, and her love -Besa.Then the strangers come to the village. The unknowing villagers prepare for a celbration.The exact date isn't stated, but it says it was "the summer of her fifteenth year". The same day, the strangers destroyed the village. Killing Amari's people but "sparing" the strong teenagers like herself and Besa. The surviving will be the ones to become slaves in the North American colonies. -
Cape Coast - A Slave Castle
She and the other captives finally arrived to a place called Cape Coast. They came to a large white building made of bricks and stone. The men and women were seperated, shackles were removed, and they were all shoved into a dark, jail-like cell. Here she meets a companion, Afi who has been through alot including a master who raped her frequently. -
Branding
Afi had taught Amari many things and had even saved her from being raped every time the men came around. After some men had physically "checked" Amari's body, Amari and the others were taken out of Cape Coast, and branded. They all were then put in pens. At night, they were all fed generiously. Afi tells Amari about what they will encounter and Amari slips away to sleep. -
Slave Ship
After awakening, they were all fed very well again, and loaded onto a small rowboat. The rowboat carried them to the side of the huge slave ship. They were then loaded onto the bottom of the ship. Hours later, some men came down to get the women and bring them upon the deck of the ship. There, they fed them, exercised them (made them dance, which amused them). The women were tied to the sides of the deck once they were exercised. The men were then exercised, put back, and night fell. -
Night Fall
Once night fell, each white man on the ship grabbed a woman for the night. This meaning they would be raped. Amari was grabbed by a large redheaded white man. He was watching her while she was exercising. The treated Amari nicely, teaching her how to pronounce words in English. -
Painful Days
The next night, a dark-haired sailor used her for the night. The night after that, two sailors used her. The morning after that, she saw Besa on deck, he was in very bad conditions. -
Saved.
Sometimes the man came and got her and sometimes he didn't. But when he did, he taught Amari more of the English language and told her about him and his life back home. -
Terrible Storm
One night, a storm hit making many sea sick. Out of the 90 women left, 16 had died during that storm, and 10 children had died as well. The bodies were tossed overboard. -
Middle Passage
The middle passage was the stage of the triangular trade in which millions of people from Africa were taken to the colonies as part of slave trade. Amari took part in this while she was on the ship. Slaves were called cargo on the ships and treated as Amari was. This was said to take at least 2 months. I am guessing for Amari it took the months of April and May. -
Reaching Land
Once they reached land, they were at a place called Sullivan's Island. -
Custom House
The surviving slaves were dressed in appropriate clothes and they sayed on the island for ten days to be checked for disease. Besa talked to Amari one night and the next morning, they were all taken to the customhouse for a day. -
Polly Pritchard
On this day, we meet the 15 year old indentured servant Polly E. Pritchard. Both of her parents are dead, and she has to pay off both of their debts. Meaning being Percival Derby, owner of Derbyshire Farms' indentured servant for 14 years total. Polly hopes that on the farm, they will treat her special and give her a special place because she is white. But she is simply in charge of Amari. -
Slave Auction
After being in the customhouse, Amari was sold to P. Derby in Charles Town, South Carolina at a slave auction. Taken away from Afi, she was meant to be Mr. Derby's son's sixteenth birthday "present". -
Derbyshire Farm
Clay, the son of Master Derby is 16 years old and is very cruel. Amari is now his slave and is named Myna by him because she is his. Mr. Derby gives Amari and Polly a small shack, and they meet Teenie the cook, and her son Tidbit. They show them much kindness. The 2 girls are to work with Teenie for a while. -
Clay's Birthday Present
In the middle of the night, Tibit comes to the little shack to get Amari (Myna) for Clay. Tibit says "Massa Clay say he want his birthday present now. I'm to take her there." Amari knows what this means but aftering a second of refusal, she follows Tibit into the dark night. -
Plantation Life
For 3 months Polly and Amari have to get used to working on the rice plantation. But they work in the kitchen and do things for Teenie, and are not in the rice field. Alot of things happen on this plantation. -
Clay's Bedroom
At least twice a week Clay would have Tidbit fetch Amari to come to his bedroom at night. Amari mostly hated it when he wanted to talk. One night, Clay asked Amari if he liked her, scared that he would get angry if she said no, she said yes. She noticed that she seemed relieved after she answered. -
Teenie and Mrs. Derby
One afternoon, Teenie told Amari about how she has a small piece of woven kente cloth that she ripped from her mother's head wrap. She ripped if off when she was younger when they snatched her away from her mother. It is very important to her and will one day give it to Tidbit.She also tells them that the first Ms. Derby put her in charge of the kitchen before she died. She died giving birth to Clay. -
Isabelle Derby
Isabelle Derby was Mr. Derby's current, pregnant, wife. Clay didn't like her much. She was very kind to the slaves and even brought her own slave to the farm when she married Mr. Derby. Noah, the driver. But she was very unhappy. She was only 18, and didn't like it much on the farm. -
Cato
Cato is the oldest slave on the farm. To the other slaves, he is the wisest and everyone looks up to him. He's very up-beat and as happy as a slave could be. He set a "record" on the farm of his 18 years working on the rice feild. He tells Polly and Amari about Tidbit and Amari's future. Working in the fields all day just like most of the other slaves. -
Painful, Kitchen Work
Hildy's daughter goes out to see her mother. So Teenie send Amari and Polly into the house to work in her place. Unfortuneatly, at dinner, Amari trips and drops a platter of left over pie. Mr. Derby is highly upset that it is on his priceless rug and thrases her 12 times with his whip. He says that she will be sent to work in the rice fields to replace Hildy once she is better. The maid uniform is now ripped to shreds and stained with blood. -
Sickness & Snakes
When seeing Cato, he also tells him the dangers of working in the fields. People catching dieseases, pregnant women having stilbirths and their children dieng young, but snakes are a problem too. A woman named Hildy gets bit by a copperhead snake. Its possible she can die. But that doesn't mean that the others can stop working. -
Awake
This is the first morning that Amari actually came out of her long sleep after being whipped. She and Polly talk for a few minutes, but she eventually goes drifts back into her sleep. That night, Mrs. Derby visited her and apologized on behalf of her husband. -
Amari Awakens
After two weeks of healing, Amari is still not completely healed. But she can stay awake for several hours, sit up, eat and drink. But she does explain that she is still in an immense amount of pain. -
Gator Bait
Clay came into the kitchen one day and used Tidbit as alligator bait. He dropped him into the water, knowing of Tidbit's inability to swim. His movements to kkeep him from drowning made alligators come. Clay and his friends shot 4 alligators. Tidbit survived. -
Punished
The same night, Mr. Derby tells them that Polly's indenture will be sold to a whorehouse in New Orleans, Amari will be sold, and Tidbit will be sold. They are then locked in the smokehouse for the rest of the night. Cato them not to run North, but to run South, to spanish territory. There they everyone is free. There is a place called Fort Mose. In the morning they are to be sent into town with the doctor and Clay but Cato sneaks seeds into Clay's wine which makes him ill. -
Mrs. Derby's Baby
Two weeks later, early one morning, Mrs. Derby was about to give birth. When she did, Amari and Polly found out that the baby was black. Meaning that it was Noah's baby girl. The girls and Teenie hid the child. They sent her to Sara Jane who had recently had a child. They all lied to the Doctor and to Mr. Derby. When Mr. Derby found out, he was very upset. He shot and killed Noah and the baby in front of Mrs. Derby, Teenie, Polly, Tidbit, and Amari. -
The Beginning
Before leaving, Teenie gives Tidbit the piece of kente cloth before they leave. Since Clay is ill, only the doctor takes the 3 into town. But since the doctor doesn't believe in slavery, he frees them when they get away from the farm. Amari takes lead and leads them south. Tidbit's dog - Hushpuppy is even with them. -
Rest
The next day, they find a place to rest. Tidbit wants to go home but they keep him walking. Telling him he has to protect Hushpuppy. -
Hunger
Five days passed. Amari was a little ill. She suffered mild bouts of dizziness occasionally. Hunger made them all weak. She finds food for them. Herbs and roots. Tidbit, still hungry, had to be carried alot by the girls. Amari, Polly, and Tidbit keep walking. But the food they had ate before made them sick. They suffer vomitting and bouts of diarrhea. -
Fishing
That night, Amari goes to the stream and catches 3 large catfish. The three have no choice. They eat the fish raw. The heads and tails were tossed to Hushpuppy. After that, they kept moving. -
Insects and Hushpuppy
Amari was nauseous, dizzy, exhausted, and tired. They had no luck finding more food. They had to eat insects, worms, and grubs. They had lost track of Hushpuppy. -
The Cave
The same day, the three came along a cave. In there, they built a fire and soon Huspuppy returned! With him, he carried a very large, fat rabbit. They cooked it, and ate the best meal they had in a while. -
Walking Again
The next evening, they began to walk again. The cool mud they stepped in soothed their feet. They walked for four more days with "no problems". -
Clay Derby
They kept walking and they saw shadows and silhouettes and suddenly a hand grabbed Amari on her arm. It was Clay Derby. He had been searching for them. Polly and Tidbit hid. Clay told her that his father died and was about to "make up for lost time", but Polly shot at him with the gun that the Doctor gave them. It grazed his head, he was unconscious. When he gained conciousness, he swore to get them, but they ran off, leaving a snake next to him. -
Nathan
One evening, the three came across a young man named Nathan. They trusted him. He gave them food and hid them in his father's barn. Nathan told them that Fort Mose was indeed real. They slept in the barn that night. -
Nathan's Father
The next morning Nathan's father found them. Polly had to prtend to be taking the other two as slaves back home for reward money. His father walked away for a moment. Nathan came up with a plan for the other to hit him and they would run. Amari hit him, they ran far into the woods and into a swamp, they waited there for the rest of the day. -
Fiona O'Reilly and Besa
They started moving at night. They sleep in a small old hunter's shelter by day time. Soon a woman found them. She gives them food and puts them in the barn and will have someone harness a wagon. The person who does is Besa. He is limping, missing an eye, and has many scars. He has lost everything including his spirit. Fiona lets them take the wagon and they keep moving. Pretending that Polly is their master. Amari rids her thoughts of Besa. -
Friendship
One night, Polly and Amari talk and officially discover that the two are friends. -
Almost There
Several hours later, the girls run into a kind spanish soldier. He says his name is Domingo Salvador from Madrid. Polly acts again as if Tidbit and Amari are her slaves. She says she is going home to her father and that he is a very important man. The soldier tells them that they are two days away from the river and that Fort Mose is 2 miles from the river. He says that it is a small town with few family but they are free. They continue on there way. -
St. Marys River
The next morning, find food. They eat and by evening, they have reached the St. Marys River. The sit on the house - Old Brownie, and he swims across. Getting all three of them and Hushpuppy to the otherside safely. (Hushpuppy swimming on his own.) When on the otherside, they have to escape and alligator, but that didn't take long. -
Fort Mose
They finally arrive at Fort Moses and meet a woman named Inez. She feeds them and tells them about the place. While talking, Tidbit annouces that his real name is Timothy. He is Amari's son now. Inez tells Polly that a boy came looking for her a few days before, this has to be Nathan. They meet Captain Menendez and he gives them all jobs. Amari a maker of cloth and clothes and Polly the new teacher, and Tidbit is to be an apprentice of the carpenter. -
New Home
Inez takes Amari to a cottage which will belong to her, Polly, and Tidbit. Inez lnez also tells her why she has been feeling sick. Amari is pregnant with Clay Derby's child. She decides that if its a boy his name will be Freeman, but if a girl it will be Afi.Amari is upset about this but gains strength when Inez tells her that she had a child that belonged to her master and his wife mad her sell the child. -
Finally Free
This is the day that Amari, Polly, and Tidbit were to recieve their papers. This day, they will officially be free. -
Slavery
Slavery was said to end in the late 1800's.
