PRABE Week 8

     Meena's life with Solomon Lindo and his wife is so much different than the plantation. She is not beaten or mistreated and she is given food, clothing and shelter. Mr. Lindo can see the potential in Meena and he teaches her how to keep his books and his wife teaches her proper penmanship. Considering she is still enslaved, she has better circumstances than most. All of that changes with several deaths that leave her alone with Mr. Lindo. He is lost in his grief and rarely acknowledges her.
     Chekura finds Meena in Charles Town and informs her that Mr. Lindo is the one that arranged the sale of their son. Shortly after, Meena and Mr. Lindo pack up for a trip to New York. Meena discovers new possibilities and with the war between the British and rebel forces closing the harbor, she is able escape Mr. Lindo before he departs from New York. As time passes, Meena makes a name and a home for herself. She works in a tavern, catches babies, and teaches others to read and write. She also has a home in canvas town with others that are "free".
     The British employ Meena to help track all free slaves that have served the British, in one way or another. These free slaves, along with those still owned and those indentured, would be transported to Nova Scotia, the supposed Promised Land. During this lengthy process, Chekura once again finds her. He too is now free and they plan a fresh life together beginning with another baby. As they are about to set sail, Meena is pulled from the ship because someone has made a claim against her. She persuades Chekura to go ahead of her and promises they will find each other again in Nova Scotia.

PRABE Week 7

     This week in Someone Knows my Name, the story really begins to evolve. Aminata begins her story in Africa where she lived free with her parents. She tells of her parents' chance meeting and the love they shared as a family. She also shares the night that her life was forever changed when both of her parents were killed and she, along with countless others, was kidnapped. They endured a long journey to the coast. Those that survived were forced onto a slave vessel waiting to carry them across the ocean. On the journey, Aminata made friends, old and new, became a woman and most importantly, she survived. Since she was able "catch" babies and able to speak two different languages she became useful to the toubab (white man) and known by the "homelanders" on the ship. On their trip across the ocean the homelanders revolted, killed several toubab, lost plenty of their own but were overpowered and were once again bound in metal shakles. Those that were dead, injured or too weak to be of any use were tossed into the ocean.
     Upon arriving in the toubab's land, the homelanders were separated and sold off.  Aminata was taken to the plantation of Robinson Appleby along with Fomba, a native of her village that was lost in his mind. She was nursed back to health by Georgia who reached out to the fishnet for her friend Chekura. He was a boy about her age that guarded them along the journey but then was also taken captive and loaded onto the ship. He was owned by the master of a nearby plantation. Their love grew in secret but Appleby found out and made sure she knew he belonged to him completely. Despite her terrible ordeal, Aminata and Chekura fell in love, conceived a child and got married. For this she was stripped down of all her clothes and possessions, shaved bald and made an example of by Appleby.
     Aminata delivered a baby boy that she named after her father. She loved her son so much and accepted her conditions because of him. Chekura came to visit when he could sneak away. She continued to nurse her son until he was sold by Appleby and taken from her in the middle of the night at 10 months old. Believing the loss of their son was her fault, Aminata gave up all will to live. She refused to work or eat despite threats and beatings. She was hoping to die. Appleby hoped to get something out of her before it was too late, so he sold her Solomon Lindo, a Jewish Indigo inspector that had previously inspected the Appleby plantation and had offered to buy Aminata.

PRABE Week 6

This week I began a new book that was suggested by a friend. It is Someone Knows My Name  by Lawrence Hill. I'm prepared for a brutally honest read into the life of a girl kidnapped from Africa as a child and enslaved in the colonies. The story begins with Aminata Diallo, also called Meena Dee, as an old woman in London 1802. Right now, Aminata begins to talk about her past and how her life used to be. Now that she's old she just wants her parents or her own children to care for her, but she has neither. She is now in the care of abolitionists who brought her to England so she could "help change the course of history". They feed and clothe her and she signs petitions, does public speaking and continues to tell her story to anyone that asks or is willing to listen in the hopes of ending the slave trade.

PRABE Week 5

I finished The Help this week. The ladies finished writing their book and Skeeter sent it off to New York. They patiently waited to hear from the Ms. Stein and were surprised, relieved and scared that it was going to be published. After the books release, rumors slowly begin to spread about the city and maids in the book. Although no one confirms the identities of anyone mentioned in the book everyone has their suspicions and some maids lose their jobs while others are offered jobs for a lifetime. Skeeter receives a job offer from New York and although reluctant to leave her friends and family, she accepts the job offer. Before she leaves, she tells Aiblileen that more books will be published and more money will be coming. She also sets her up with her Miss Myrna column. She is fired from her postition and takes it as a sign of new beginnings. Minny finally gains the courage to leave her abusive husband and will continue to work for the Foote's. Overall, I thought it was a daring story of courage and friendship in a troubling time in our country's history and although I would have preferred more in the ending, the ladies leave me with hope for their lives and the future of Jackson.