This picture was taken from  archives on slavery.  It was placed in this fiction story written by me….I thought a real picture would help the reader to understand the harsh treatment of slaves.  It was a course that I took that enlightened me to the terrible experience of the MIDDLE PASSAGE and what it did to the many tribes that had been taken hostage by the  SLAVE TRADERS. 

 That is why I had written an earlier post regarding PAT BUCHANNON’S shallow view on the slavery of African Americans and how he, (((PAT BUCHANNON))) thought that black people should be thanking “God” for slavery.  

 I will be writing  short stories based loosely on the readings and  course work I took for my education.  I am not an expert….but being African American and having lived in circumstances as an Afrcian American for 48 years may give me a little insight to attempt to “channel” some of my ancestors and their struggles through fictional dipictions of  slave experiences.

  I hope I do them justice.

At the bottom of this you will find a discussion I raised and copied regarding the emancipation of the  slaves due to Lincoln.

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********************  Middle Passage and the Loss of my Village and Family—-Slave Memories…#2

OUR VILLAGE WAS CLOSE BY THE SEA.  MY MOTHER HAD A GARDEN AND MY FATHER  HUNTED FOR OUR FOOD WITH THE OTHER MEN FROM THE TRIBE.  There was a rival tribe that had stolen some of my mothers, and other women’s vegetables from their gardens. 

 Everyone was angry and running around.  I was 8 years old.  My brothers were 12 years old, and 15 years old  and a  7months old.  My parents talked and then my father and my older brothers  ran with their  spears to meet the other tribes men.  They had put on body paint,  and war feathers. 

The tribesmen gather in the center of the village and began to chant and sing and jump up and down until the air was filled with their voices and the dust rose up making swirling clouds around our heads.

  My father and the tribesmen ran from the village in anger and excitement chanting with raised spears.  My mother took me back to our hut and began to prepare the midday meal.  The war was on!  I did not know if my father would be back.

  My mother cooked yam and potatoe and meat.  She seasoned it and then we ate.  Suddenly there was a noise at the far end of the village.  Women were screaming and running in our direction.  My mother dropped her bowl and looked to the center of the village. 

She screamed and then grabbed me and my baby brother.  She pushed us into the jungle and ran, and pushed me and ran some more.  When we came to the beach we saw big things on the water floating. 

 I had never seen anything like that before.  It was brown on the bottom, and had cloth on the top floating in the wind.  Suddenly my mother screamed and I looked up as saw my mother being dragged away from me with my baby brother in her arms. She looked back at me and screamed again and I was picked up and carried away too.

  I began to scream and cry for my mother, and my father.  I remember being in a small boat that carried us to the big brown boat with the floating clothes.  My mother was forced to climb the boat, and I was forced too.  When we got on the boat we were chained together and then put down in a black place that smelled so strong that I gagged and threw up. 

 I was hit from behind and forced to lay down next to my mother and baby brother.  My baby brother had not stopped crying since this all began.  My mother held my hand and I was sobbing. 

 I heard a language I did not understand.  I could only see legs, and arms of people I had never seen before.  They looked angry and they shouted at us.  There were many people from our village, some old men, and some sickly men who had not gone to war with our rival tribe.

  Young boys, girls, and women from our village were on this big boat too.  Everyone was throwing up from the smell.  Everyone was crying and scared of this new tribe that was attacking us in our tribesmen absence. 

What would happen to us?  Where were we being taken?  Why did these tribesmen look so different from us?  Why did they seem so angry at us?  What law of their tribe had we broken?

  Some of my tribesmen and women I heard talking amongst themselves thought that these were evil spirits from our rival tribe that had been sent by their witch doctor to destroy us! 

 What a powerful witch doctor they had…some of the people said.  What will my father think when he comes back from war?  Our tribe was the stronger of the two….we had more people, and our tribe was tall and the rival tribe were not so tall. 

 So our wars with them were usually quick.  Our men would fight and battle for several hours, and injure some of their tribe and then fall back to our village until the next conflict…showing our dominence over them.  But now, who would cook for my father and brothers? 

 Who would cook for all of the tribesmen.  How could they fight this new foe who had taken the whole village captive?  I began to feel sick, and I had to relieve myself.  I was laying down on my back and my legs were aching.  My baby brother was wimpering now. 

 My mother was chanting and squeezing my hand.  The angry strange looking tribesman  started  pulling some of the villagers out of the areas that we were chained to. 

 My mother and baby brother were taken away from me and all I remember was my mother wailing and screaming my name, my baby brother’s name and then her voice cut short and then other villages started to wail and scream to our ancestors.

  Their was alot of noise coming from above my head in the blackness.  I could see specks of light….something dripped on my head and it smell bad.  I threw up again, and then I passed out. 

I woke up again seeing that my mother was gone and so was my baby brother I began to cry.  One of my captors hit the bottoms of my feet with something very hard.  I cried more and then they left me alone.  I had relieved myself on myself.  I smelled it and I threw up again. 

 Next to me was an old man from the village.  He had been quiet for a long time.  I called out to him but he did not answer.  He never answered me.  I knew he was dead.  I screamed for the ancestors to take me away from this black hole and torment. 

 I prayed as my mother had taught me to.  I asked forgiveness of my ancestors for any thing I might have done.  I felt a tug and a yank on my feet and I felt myself pulled to my feet.  The old man came out dead on the floor next to me. 

 My captors separated the chains and then reconnected them to a living  villager man.  They took the old man away and moved me down to the next villager.  They took us out into the open air.

  Something stuck into my foot as I walked.  I stumbled and one of my captors hit me in the back again.  I began to wimper.  I know what wailing would cause to happen so I wimpered to myself and prayed to my ancestors again.

  The sky was clear, blue and few clouds were around.  The big boat rocked from side to side.  I began to feel sick again.  They thrust a liquid in my mouth.  I began to throw  up again. I was hit again from behind and they yelled something at me.  I heard screaming and I saw a woman from the village being chased.

  She ran around the boat while the captors chased her.  They were laughing this time.  She finally was caught and they did  something in a crowd and encircled around her while she screamed out the name of her husband and ancestors. 

 I saw blood come  crawling from beneath the crowd of captors and the woman stoped yelling. 

 There was silence again.  Suddenly one of the captors tossed her dead body over the side of the boat.  Many of us who saw that gasped, and moaned and sung the song of sorrow for the dead. We called as one voice for the ancestors to come to carry her away to our ancestral home.

  We were taken back down to the hole and left until the captors took us out again.  Some men and women and children were beat, until they bled.  Some men were beat until you could see pieces of meat from their backs fly off in different directions.  Then we were taken back into the black hole. 

 Day turned into night and night into day.  One day the big boat stopped and we who had survived were taken from the boat and washed brutally, and greased. 

 New chains were placed on our hands and feet and we were taken into what appeared to be a village with more of the tribes people who looked and dressed differently then us. 

 They looked angry and laughed at the same time.  I passed out.  I awoke on a wood floor.  There was a large animal that looked like something I had never seen before. 

 One of the captors had been sitting and looking away from me.  I looked around and saw some of the villager men who had survived the trip.  I sat up and then I saw a big white hut.  There were other tribes in this new land.  I did not recognize any of them. 

 When the big animal stopped we were all yanked off the wood floor and put on the ground.  I was very weak, and sick.  I began to throw up again.  I was hit again.

  I was yanked to follow my fellow villagers to  a small white hut.  When we arrived more of the strange looking tribesman and some tribes men from my mother land were there.  We were handed bowls of food and we ate.

  This was strange food but it tasted better than the food on the large boat.  I began to feel better.  I looked around and saw animals I had never seen before.  Some were funny….a white bird with a red wobbly skin on its head and neck.  It made funny noises. 

I began to miss my mother and I cried again.  I was hit again. I began to wimper to myself and pray to my ancestors.  I wondered what ever happened to my father and the other tribesman and if they knew what had happened to us. 

I was given a hut to share with other tribesman, and clothes.  I was given work to do in a very, very large garden.  I never forgot my mother, baby brother, and my father and kinsman. 

 I worked until I died from a severe beating. 

~~~~~riveroflifelisajoy

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This is a document regarding the emancipation of the slaves……

COPYWRITE 2003-2008  SON OF THE SOUTH
WWW.SONOFTHESOUTH.NET

paul@sonofthesouth.