“Boy! You need to empty and clean the chamber pots right now!” A voice rang outside, to the shack where a young boy lived, “My wife is expecting company tomorrow, and they will need to be emptied tomorrow morning as well.”
The boy inside was drawing in the sand floor with his finger. Sore from his whipping earlier that day, George stood up and headed toward his master’s house.
The seven-year-old boy lived in slave quarters, which was about twice the size of an outhouse. Sold when he was five, George had vague memories about his family. He often wondered about them: where they were, what they were doing, and if they missed him. On the days that he was whipped, yelled at, and beat, the thoughts of his family were the only things that kept him going. …show more content…
Slavery is illegal there.”
Still confused, he nodded again, “Yes, ma’am.”
“Some people want to help the slaves get to the north. I am one of those people. There is something called the Underground Railroad. It’s a path to get slaves to the north, but it is dangerous to travel alone. However, I can offer you something else, if you wish to head north.
George pondered this. What about the man at his master’s house? Wasn’t this what he warned his master of? This would betray his master and infuriate him. Who would clean, scrub and help plant and harvest on the plantation?
Suddenly, George changed his mind. Being forced to work on his master’s property, he was unable to read or write. George hadn’t gone to school a day in his life, unlike the children that passed the house every day to go to school.
“What’s the ‘something else,’ ma’am?”
Miss Freedman looked him over again. “You’re light, about forty pounds, I’d say. How’d it sound if I put you in a box and shipped you to the north? It would be a larger box, of course, and with you, I will send a water and some
The boy inside was drawing in the sand floor with his finger. Sore from his whipping earlier that day, George stood up and headed toward his master’s house.
The seven-year-old boy lived in slave quarters, which was about twice the size of an outhouse. Sold when he was five, George had vague memories about his family. He often wondered about them: where they were, what they were doing, and if they missed him. On the days that he was whipped, yelled at, and beat, the thoughts of his family were the only things that kept him going. …show more content…
Slavery is illegal there.”
Still confused, he nodded again, “Yes, ma’am.”
“Some people want to help the slaves get to the north. I am one of those people. There is something called the Underground Railroad. It’s a path to get slaves to the north, but it is dangerous to travel alone. However, I can offer you something else, if you wish to head north.
George pondered this. What about the man at his master’s house? Wasn’t this what he warned his master of? This would betray his master and infuriate him. Who would clean, scrub and help plant and harvest on the plantation?
Suddenly, George changed his mind. Being forced to work on his master’s property, he was unable to read or write. George hadn’t gone to school a day in his life, unlike the children that passed the house every day to go to school.
“What’s the ‘something else,’ ma’am?”
Miss Freedman looked him over again. “You’re light, about forty pounds, I’d say. How’d it sound if I put you in a box and shipped you to the north? It would be a larger box, of course, and with you, I will send a water and some