Ex-library hardback; Coretta Scott King award winner.

In March of 1859, over 400 slaves were put on the auction block to satisfy the gambling debts of their master, Pierce Butler. It is said that the rain came down in torrents during the two days of the auction, which came to be known as "the Weeping Time". This book is a fictional look at that time through the words of the people involved: slaves, buyers, and sellers.

This book is a brutal reminder that no slave, no matter how well-treated and highly-valued, could fully rely on her master's promise not to sell her in time of need - after all, slaves were assets that could be turned into cold, hard, cash. If that meant splitting up families and sending children off to uncertain futures with strangers, well, they were only slaves, and many people thought of slaves as inferior beings, not as smart or sensitive as "civilized" white people.

It's difficult for me to understand this viewpoint: even if it was part of the culture you grew up in, it seems to me that the evidence of your own experience would tell you differently, unless you were being purposely oblivious. There's a difference between uneducated and being unteachable, and it's even less fair to judge people for their ignorance while at the same time making it illegal for them to learn to read or write.

As a society, we definitely still have a way to go, but at least we've progressed beyond the circumstances that allowed this wrenching disruption of so many lives just because one man was a bad card player. The fact that Butler felt bad about it afterwards doesn't change the fact that he was willing and able to sell all of those people.

Here's another copy on my BookCrossing shelf.

Wild released for Secretariat's 2016 Never Judge a Book By Its Cover Challenge (week 3: Africans and African Americans) and AlterEgoZoe's Leap into the Wild Challenge.

(Larger photo here - after following link, click on image to zoom.)

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If you've ever wondered where your books go after they leave your hands, join BookCrossing and you may find out: you'll be able to follow the further adventures of your books as new readers make journal entries - sometimes from surprisingly far-flung locations.

(Think of it like Where's George for books...or a little like geocaching - you can follow the book's journey every time someone makes a new entry. Some BookCrossers even leave books *in* geocaches!)

BookCrossing: making the whole world a library!