The Book Of Negroes Chapter Summary

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The Novel The Book of Negroes by Laurence Hill is a work of historical fiction inspired by a book with the same title written during the American Revolutionary War that was a list of Black Loyalists who fled New York for Canada. The Book of Negroes begins with the main character Aminata as an old woman who has been brought to London, England, in 1802, by abolitionists trying to put an end to slavery. During her time in England waiting for an audience with King George she occupies her time by putting her incredible life to paper. Her story begins with her as an 11 year old girl living in a small village in Bayo, Africa, before the slave traders came, killed her two parents and took her, a man named Fomba and a woman named Fanta away and marched them and a number of other captives in a chain gang to a slave ship. …show more content…

On the slave ship Aminata witnessed horrors and suffered through unspeakable conditions but against all odds, survived the trip across the Atlantic Ocean. Upon arriving in South Carolina Aminata is sold off to an indigo plantation with Fomba from her village who had lost his senses during the trip and is separated from Chekura who she had developed a relationship with. At the plantation Aminata learns to speak “Bukra” with the help of Georgia, an American borne slave and is also taught proper English by Mamed, the overseer of the plantation. Life at the plantation is hard for Aminata, who has to constantly be weary of disease and her master’s eye, and all the while looking for a way out. Aminata eventually becomes pregnant after one of Chekuras visits and gives birth to a baby boy named Mamadu. Master Appleby takes her child away from her at the age of 10 months and sells him, at the same tome Chekura also stops visiting. This causes Aminata to fall into a deep depression and she begins to refuse to work on the