As thick black smoke swirls heavily over a young light-skinned slave girl, she squats in a smoldering, charred canebrake giving birth to a child she never wanted to conceive. And, with no eyes upon her, other than those of an unjust God and the night creatures that have stopped to watch the nativity, mother and child become separate beings.
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I was born in a canebrake in the Bayous of Southern Louisiana during a pre-harvest burn; it was the fall of 1814. My mother was a Quadroon slave named Anastasia, my father, the wealthy plantation owner who owned her. He knew nothing of my birth at first.
On the night I was born, another child died. Born the same instant, she took one small breath and then she was gone. I came out kicking and screaming …show more content…
However, I was born with it, the name fused with my body at birth. Chosen by my birth mother, christened by the parish priest with my white father and mother in attendance, they were already looking ahead to the gala they would throw to celebrate my sixteenth birthday and introduce me to society.
Anastasia, my birth mother, and Angelique, my white mother, exchanged knowing glances. If my birth had gone as intended, I might have been auctioned off to the highest bidder upon reaching my sixteenth birthday. Little did they know that Anastasia had given birth to the future bride of Louis Philippe de Lafontaine, seventh generation descendant of Louis XIII of France, in the male line, and heir to the largest sugarcane plantation, west of La Nouvelle-Orléans.
Anastasia give me that fancy name in hopes that I would one day have a better life than she had. Too bad, she could not see into the future as Madame Laveau of the French Quarter did. If so, she might have choked the life from me the moment I tore through the membrane that separated her body from mine. It would have saved her a world of suffering and …show more content…
When she said that, I completely quit associating with her. I told my mother, Angelique, that I no longer wished to have Anastasia for my servant. Angelique smiled lovingly, kissed me on the cheek, and then whispered, ‘que vous souhaitez ma chère’, ‘as you wish my dear.’
She never asked why I no longer wanted Anastasia as my personal servant; she just seemed relieved that I had given her up. After that, I rarely saw my birth mother; she was sent back into the fields to work alongside the other slaves.
Anastasia had other children, why did she have to mess with my life. Poor Angelique had never bore any more children. I had been content with my existence until Anastasia told me the truth. Once I knew the truth, there was no unknowing it. Once it was spoken aloud, there was no unsaying it either… for a while, I felt in limbo…
When my father was around, Angelique would smile lovingly at me, but when he was not there, she mostly ignored me.
Several times, I heard my father ask her why she had not been able to bear him any other children. She replied that it was not God’s will and that he should be thankful that she had at least given him one beautiful daughter. He said ‘but of course, my dear, it was just that I wished to have a
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I was born in a canebrake in the Bayous of Southern Louisiana during a pre-harvest burn; it was the fall of 1814. My mother was a Quadroon slave named Anastasia, my father, the wealthy plantation owner who owned her. He knew nothing of my birth at first.
On the night I was born, another child died. Born the same instant, she took one small breath and then she was gone. I came out kicking and screaming …show more content…
However, I was born with it, the name fused with my body at birth. Chosen by my birth mother, christened by the parish priest with my white father and mother in attendance, they were already looking ahead to the gala they would throw to celebrate my sixteenth birthday and introduce me to society.
Anastasia, my birth mother, and Angelique, my white mother, exchanged knowing glances. If my birth had gone as intended, I might have been auctioned off to the highest bidder upon reaching my sixteenth birthday. Little did they know that Anastasia had given birth to the future bride of Louis Philippe de Lafontaine, seventh generation descendant of Louis XIII of France, in the male line, and heir to the largest sugarcane plantation, west of La Nouvelle-Orléans.
Anastasia give me that fancy name in hopes that I would one day have a better life than she had. Too bad, she could not see into the future as Madame Laveau of the French Quarter did. If so, she might have choked the life from me the moment I tore through the membrane that separated her body from mine. It would have saved her a world of suffering and …show more content…
When she said that, I completely quit associating with her. I told my mother, Angelique, that I no longer wished to have Anastasia for my servant. Angelique smiled lovingly, kissed me on the cheek, and then whispered, ‘que vous souhaitez ma chère’, ‘as you wish my dear.’
She never asked why I no longer wanted Anastasia as my personal servant; she just seemed relieved that I had given her up. After that, I rarely saw my birth mother; she was sent back into the fields to work alongside the other slaves.
Anastasia had other children, why did she have to mess with my life. Poor Angelique had never bore any more children. I had been content with my existence until Anastasia told me the truth. Once I knew the truth, there was no unknowing it. Once it was spoken aloud, there was no unsaying it either… for a while, I felt in limbo…
When my father was around, Angelique would smile lovingly at me, but when he was not there, she mostly ignored me.
Several times, I heard my father ask her why she had not been able to bear him any other children. She replied that it was not God’s will and that he should be thankful that she had at least given him one beautiful daughter. He said ‘but of course, my dear, it was just that I wished to have a