To Be A Slave

Submitted by Laurie. on January 18, 2011 - 1:03pm
in
To Be A Slave

While browsing the Central book stacks, I re-discovered Julius Lester's To Be A Slave.

An award winning writer and retired professor, Lester delved into the slave narratives collected during the Federal Writers' Project. He selected personal accounts about the experience of the auction block, plantation life, resistance, and emancipation. Published in 1968 and named a Newbery honor book in 1969, To Be A Slave was one of the first nonfiction books in children's literature to share the personal testimonies of slaves.

I don't often re-read books but I did this one. When I had finished, I found myself reciting one of my most favorite poems by Maya Angelou, Still I Rise...

  • Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
  • I rise
  • Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
  • I rise
  • Bringing the gifts my ancestors gave,
  • I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
  • I rise
  • I rise

    • I rise.

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