Henson Plantation

Category: Residence

Put yourselves in the mind of a slave. Narrate how you would feel being sold.

A white man came into our camp today. It was Sunday and we were all visiting with friends and washing our clothes. He made us all line up in a row and then started pulling husbands from wives and children from mothers. Then I realized that he was a slave trader and some of us were being sold. As he neared me and my dad I gripped my daddy's hand tighter and tighter. Then he appeared right in front of me. He felt my arm and leg muscles and asked me to show him my teeth. I was so scared but I wouldn't let him see that. Then the worst thing happened. He started pulling me away from my dad. When I wouldn't let go he picked up a stick off of the ground and started hitting my arms as hard as he could. I felt no pain as my heart was already breaking but eventually my grip faltered and he pulled me away and pushed me into a wagon with boarded sides. I ran to the side of the wagon and looked out at my daddy through a slit between two boards and as the wagon began to pull away I cried, realizing I would never see my daddy again.