1857, it was a beautiful evening in the town of Boone, North Carolina. The birds were singing their beautiful songs to the harmony of the wind chimes. I had just finished picking the cotton fields. I was exhausted, sweat dripped down the side of my temple. My legs were aching; it felt as if they were going to give up and collapse. Unfortunately for me, there was another cotton field that I had to pick. If I decided not to pick it, I wouldn’t be given any food so, I found the slightest strand of strength and continued to the next field. By nightfall I was done picking the second field and in the distance I heard a shout-he was calling. “Get your ass here Zack”, shouted my master Jeremy Blanchard. If you don’t know by now, I was one of the thousands of black slaves in the state of North Carolina. On my bare feet, I sprinted towards the house that was half a …show more content…
The proclamation “declared that all persons held as slaves are and henceforward shall be free." That day marked not only the New Year but a new age in which people of African ethnicity were free and considered human beings. Little did the others and I know that this proclamation would make no difference. Black slaves were not officially freed until December 1865 as the, then Secretary of State William Seward verified the ratification of the 13th amendment. January 16th, 1866 I found the love of my life, her eyes resembled the richness of a brown oak tree trunk. She was beautiful and I loved her. I proposed to her and she said yes. We were Mr. and Mrs. Banks in less than two weeks. We had two kids, Maybelle, our daughter who was a year older than Taylor, our son. They are the best kids you could ever meet. But one day they had broken a window and I couldn’t help myself but to beat them. From that day on I would abuse them repeatedly every time they did something bad. I don’t know why I abused them; it was just a part of