Book of Negroes Essay
What if you were captured as a slave how would you feel? Do you think you could survive? In the 1700’s life was very different than it is now. Back then if you were a Negro you would have to be extra careful or you could be sold as a slave. But imagine being sold after witnessing the death of your parents and being a child you would be traumatized. Now we do not have those kinds of worries; life was very different then than it is now. As a child, Aminata was taken away and captured as a slave, faced public humiliation, and lost her family, but in the end she overcame it all.
When you were a child if you could not find your parents in the grocery store that would have been traumatizing but imagine witnessing your parents death’s and then being taken away for good, that is really traumatizing. Aminata Diallo was captured as a slave at age 11 along with her parents. They tried to save her but were killed in the attempt. Living conditions were not pleasant, “We walked all day. No water. No food. No breaks to pee. If you had to go, you had to it and keep walking with the urine running down your sore legs and burning your broken skin” (116 The Book of Negroes) is what Aminata said of the experience. The slaves had to walk for months until they arrived at a boat to be shipped off to England. Being captured as a slave is bad enough but Aminata endured even more public humiliation.
Imagine walking through school stark naked in front of your peers, that would be extremely embarrassing; that is what Aminata had to endure, pure humiliation and embarrassment. Aminata was stripped of her freedom as well as her clothes. The captors did not care if men were around if you were a slave you did not deserve clothes. Therefore Aminata had to walk across Africa naked and against her will. Aminata walked for 2 months across Africa until finally she reached a slave boat. The surrounding area had an overwhelming stench; the slaves were lined up for inspection. As part of inspection
When you were a child if you could not find your parents in the grocery store that would have been traumatizing but imagine witnessing your parents death’s and then being taken away for good, that is really traumatizing. Aminata Diallo was captured as a slave at age 11 along with her parents. They tried to save her but were killed in the attempt. Living conditions were not pleasant, “We walked all day. No water. No food. No breaks to pee. If you had to go, you had to it and keep walking with the urine running down your sore legs and burning your broken skin” (116 The Book of Negroes) is what Aminata said of the experience. The slaves had to walk for months until they arrived at a boat to be shipped off to England. Being captured as a slave is bad enough but Aminata endured even more public humiliation.
Imagine walking through school stark naked in front of your peers, that would be extremely embarrassing; that is what Aminata had to endure, pure humiliation and embarrassment. Aminata was stripped of her freedom as well as her clothes. The captors did not care if men were around if you were a slave you did not deserve clothes. Therefore Aminata had to walk across Africa naked and against her will. Aminata walked for 2 months across Africa until finally she reached a slave boat. The surrounding area had an overwhelming stench; the slaves were lined up for inspection. As part of inspection
Cited: Hill, Lawrence. The Book of Negroes. Toronto: HarperCollins, 2007. Print.