Review written by Brian Lowen and read live on the bookshow 8th May 2014
This rather
unusual book is written almost in diary form by the author who was the person
involved in the title. It is written in the language appertaining at that time
which was in the mid eighteen hundreds in America. It is still easy to follow
though.
The slave market
was very vibrant at this time in the southern states and only read this book if
you think you can stand the brutality of the white plantation owners to their
black slaves.
Soloman, although
coloured, was a free man and living in New York State
with his wife and three children. He worked on a variety of jobs and was a
skilful carpenter. He was also a good violinist and it was this talent that led
to his downfall.
He is enticed away
to play for a soiree in Washington but is drugged and shipped down south.
Although he keeps saying he is a free man, it is no use as his papers have been
stolen and he is soundly whipped with the threat of more to come if he keeps on
saying he is a free man.
another vicious
man with an equally nasty wife who treats all his slaves as animals or worse.
The only possession given to a slave is a blanket, everything else they want,
like utensils, crockery, clothing they have to earn by working overtime,
usually on a Sunday. They live in little cabins, with just a board to sleep on
and work from daybreak to dusk growing and picking the cotton in the fields.
They are given two meals per day of bacon and corn, and get regular whippings
for the slightest thing.
Soloman worked for
Epps for 10 years. One year when the caterpillars ate all the cotton they were
hired out to another plantation growing sugar cane where the conditions were
slightly better, but this only lasted for one summer.
He tries several
times to escape but is always unsuccessful. Finally he meets a white man who is
against slavery and he is able to have a private conversation with him at
midnight when he explains that he is a free man with a wife and family and he
gives him several names and addresses to contact.
Eventually his
cousin travels south, armed with the necessary papers to free him from slavery.
An interesting
book that makes you wince at the harsh treatment metered out to the slaves in
the southern states, and you wonder how they managed to survive all the
terrible beatings inflicted on them.
Not for the faint
hearted this book.
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