In this book, Julius Lester creates a story based on an actual event in Southern history. Due to an outrageous amount of gambling debt, Pierce Butler must sell off most of his slaves from the plantation that his grandfather built. On March 2 and 3, 1859 the auction takes place, selling slaves to people from all over the South. Slave families are broken apart never to be seen by one another again. On both days of the auction rain falls harder than anyone can ever remember falling before. Characters in the story believe that God, himself, disapproved of that sad day so badly that his tears drenched the Earth. This story is told through first person dialogue. There are several flash-forwards and flashbacks as the characters talk not only about that day, but also the effects it had for years to come.
The main character in the story is Emma, a twelve-year-old house slave who takes care of Butler's two young daughters. Sarah is the oldest daughter and shares the views of her divorced mother that slavery is wrong. Frances, the youngest, strives to be like her father and shares his view that slaves are nothing more than property. Emma is ordered on the last day of the auction to bring the two girls and sit with them and tend to them. She watches as almost everyone she knows is brought to the auction block and empathizes with how it must feel to be sold away and know you'd never see your family again. However, at the end of the auction a woman approaches Butler with an offer to buy Emma as well. She needs a nanny for her young child and pays dearly for Emma. Butler agrees to the sell and Emma is torn from Frances and Sarah. Sarah never forgives her father for selling Emma. Emma leaves knowing she'll never see her own father and mother again.
This book gives personal insight into how the slaves felt from intolerably cruel treatment. It also shows the reasoning the white people had when they did these horrible acts. They believed that black people had no more feelings than a donkey or a mule. In one part of the book Pierce Butler analyzes how he would feel and react if anyone tried to tear one of his children away from him. He pacifies his actions by telling himself by saying that it's a good thing that slaves don't have feelings like a white man. This book shows the ignorance of the times, the suffering of slaves, and the effects years later that slavery had on America.
I liked that this book was show through multiple points of view. Not only does the reader see inside the minds of the slaves and the plantation owner, but also sees inside the minds of people like the auctioneer, workers in the underground railroad, and inside the minds of slaves that supported slavery. Some slaves felt secure with knowing that if they did a good job, they would always have shelter and food. Most slaves didn't share this view, most were not treated as well as the slaves had been on the Butler plantation. Until the day of the auction, other slaves envied the ones on the Butler plantation because they were treated well and never beaten. I liked being able to see the viewpoints of so many characters. I also liked the flash-forwards and flashbacks. It sounds like this would make the novel confusing, but it added depth to the story.
Lester has written several novels depicting the suffering of African Americans. The Guardian is a book that depicts guilt felt by a young white boy who takes part in a lynching. To Be a Slave shares the stories of and insights of ex-slaves. Other books he has written include John Henry, From Slave Ship to Freedom Road, and The Tales of Uncle Remus: the adventures of Brer Rabbit.
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