The division of the land into smaller units under private ownership in America became known as the plantation system. Crops grown on these plantations such as tobacco, rice, sugar and cotton were labour intensive. Plantation owners discovered it was cheaper to buy slaves that to pay wages to workers.
Slaves were in the fields from sunrise to sunset and at harvest time they did an eighteen hour day. Women worked the same hours as the men and pregnant women were expected to continue until their child was born.
The year is 1780. In this year European traders will take thousands of Africans into slavery. This book follows four of those people.
Okechukwu page 2
Kofi page 7
Oyeladun page 15
Kwame page 23
Okechukwu
Life before capture
My name is Okechukwu. I am of the Igbo tribe. I don't know where I am. I don't know why I'm here. This isn't right. Can I tell you my story?
My life was good before I was bought here. I miss it so much: the fields, the trees, the sunshine, my people - the Igbo.
Most of all I miss my mother and father. I dream about my mother. She is in a long blue dress she wove herself. She is cooking with the herbs and spices our neighbours have grown. Father is outside, chewing tobacco as he works at his fire.
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