To Be a Slave

by Julius Lester

To be a slave. To be owned by another person, as a car, house, or a table is owned. To live as a piece of property that could be sold...

This book is about how it felt. The words of black men and women who had themselves been slaves are here, accompanied by Julius Lester's historical commentary and Tom Feelings's powerful and muted paintings, To Be a Slave has been a touchstone in children's literature for over thirty years.

"It is rare to find a book that enables children to identify as compellingly with slaves as this one does." -Publishers Weekly

"From history-and for our time-there's nothing better than To Be a Slave." -The New York Times Book Review

Awards:

A 1969 Newbery Honor Book
An ALA Notable Book
A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
A Smithsonian Magazine Best Book of the Year

Genres: Nonfiction, History, African American, American History, Historical, Biography, Middle Grade

Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1968

About the author

Julius Lester was an American writer of books for children and adults. He was an academic who taught for 32 years (1971–2003) at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He was also a photographer, as well as a musician who recorded two albums of folk music and original songs.

Reviews

[Jason Koivu · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a children's book. This is a Newbery Medal runner-up. This is essential reading.

I was ready to move beyond the biographies of Frederick Douglass and others to search for more depth into the day to day existence of the American slave, and yes, in this book for children, I found it.

To Be A Slave delves into the archives of ex-slaves' accounts, occasionally dry memories of daily life transcribed word for word. It details their capture in Africa and those horrible, confined passages across the Atlantic that they were lucky to survive, only to subsequently land in bondage.

This book offers an insight into slave culture, giving a glimpse into a field slave's monotonous toil on a plantation or a house slave's tenuous existence under the direct gaze of the master's wife. Coping mechanisms are elucidated. Feelings are occasionally bared.

To Be A Slave is not unedited, however. It picks wisely and mostly avoids event-summary as transcribed from the oral accounts of the mostly illiterate slaves. Not every memory is gripping and some lead to unsatisfactory meanderings on the mundane, or perhaps truth is avoided as it might've been too fresh at the time, too close to the heart to relate to a stranger.

[Erica Freeman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this when I was in 6th grade, maybe earlier...and read it several time afterwards.

This book terrified me, disgusted me, haunted me.

To read the words of people who'd actually been slaves...not of their grandparents...or great-grandparents...but the words of slaves themselves made a huge impact on me.

To read of the degradation and horror of slavery was incredibly difficult, especially thinking of my own "ancestors" (as if they were that far removed from me) suffering that way was so painful, I remember crying.

As valuable as the narratives are of survivors such as Harriet Jacobs and Frederick Douglas, being able to read the testimonies of multiple slaves in one book did a lot to demonstrate that an entire population of people were enslaved and future generations have had to survive the aftermath.

[Barb H · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was one of those assigned for a course I am taking: African American Children's Literature. Before discussing this book, which made a profound effect upon me, I think it is important to recognize and acknowledge the author.

Julius Bernard Lester (January 27, 1939 – January 18, 2018) was an American writer of books for children and adults and an academic who taught for 32 years (1971–2003) at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He was also a civil rights activist, a photographer, and a musician who recorded albums of folk music and original songs.

The son of a minister, Lester was 7 when he learned that his maternal great-grandfather was a German Jewish immigrant, named Adolph Altschul, married to a freed slave named Maggie Carson. He described that as the beginning of a journey that led to his becoming a Jew by choice in 1982.
Who am I? There are not enough words to describe who am I, who any of us are, because we all carry within us traces of lives going back 10,000 years and more. What a shame that there are those who would reduce the wonder of being human to such a narrow and restrictive a concept as race... he recalled in a 2015 essay.

Although this is a slim offering (160 pages, including Bibliography), it was a completely visceral experience to read. It is described as what it felt to be a slave, told in the voices of those who experienced lives of slavery. Certainly we have known of the horrors and despondence that existed for them, but seeing these words in print made an indelible stamp in my mind and caused a feeling of nausea and heartache. It is woeful to view the myriad measures slave owners and others took to abuse innocent enslaved people.

Chapters include : “To Be A Slave, The Auction Block, The Plantation, Resistance to Slavery and Emancipation”. Despite the brief contents, Lester clearly set out the tragedy voiced by the slaves themselves. This book won numerous awards for Children's Literature. The power of these words will long endure.

Although, as stated, it is called “Children's Literature” it is a powerful tool to teach what was inherent in America's past. I did not feel that it was too simplified for me, as an adult, to read and appreciate.

[Sydney · Rating 5 out of 5]

This comes highly recommended. It was a VERY interesting read, that I can't do justice by trying to explain.

[Sheena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Let me start off by saying, this is a great historical children's book, and it should be required reading in schools across America. Where I grew up, we didn't learn much about slavery, the civil rights movement, or any African American history for that matter. This is such an important part of our history.

I loved that the book has different chapters based on each time frame throughout slavery, including how they made it to the slave ship, their horrible journey to America, plantation life and then the emancipation. Each section has stories from different sources and slaves. It really explains how life was for them, and the things they had to experience. Excellent book overall!

http://sheenathebookgeek.blogspot.com...

[Taylor Mayes · Rating 2 out of 5]

i had to read this for school. It was truly painful to read, but then again, i think that was the point.

[Alison · Rating 5 out of 5]

To Be A Slave, by Julius Lester, was one of the most moving books I have ever read provided with many detailed, first hand accounts of slaves captured in Africa by the English and Europeans and then taken to the new colonies in America. Full of greed, anger, frustration, sadness, horror, and pain, this book will set even the toughest heart aching for those slaves who went through so much sorrow. What I thought really made this book so amazing that I would recommend anyone to read, was the author gathered so many first hand accounts of slaves, songs that were made and sung by them, detailed drawn pictures, and a perfect account of how EVERYTHING was in that time. Lester gives us detailed and vivid descriptions of the exact food a slave would eat, what they wore, how the celebrated Christmas, went to a white man's church on Sunday telling them how God places the white men above the blacks and they were to serve them, what the family did when separated at the auction block so soon after a new child was born and sold, and how slaves escaped slavery with many being recaptured. To Be A Slave is not a novel, rather it's a concoction of many the slaves lives and how they lived through coming from Africa, moving to working on plantations, and going through the Emancipation. I do want to forewarn you of gruesome events taking place because this book focus' on ALL of slavery, especially the stories that are not wanted to be heard. Though almost all slaves hated slavery and the whites for containing them, some felt slavery was life-helping and they lived their lives trying to please them rather than go against them. For me, three stories stick out the most in this book: Going to work in the plantations, mothers who had babies were to put them in a trough (similar to those where water was placed for horses) far from the plantations so the mothers could not hear their babies cries and go comfort them. One day, it began to heavily rain and the mothers were not allowed to reach their children until after their work was done. Running to the troughs, the mothers found all of their babies drowned and the slave owner didn't even pay them a penny for their loss. Another story is when, at the auction block, slaves were lined up like cattle and though starved for many days, the slave sellers would rub meat on the slaves teeth to make it appear they were eating healthy as well as dressing up fancy to make a good presentation while being observed and later bought. Families were torn apart at the auction block. A husband and wife were separated and their child too bought by a different slave owner. The mother ran to the slave owner and begged to buy her as well. All the slave owner did was smile and kicked her, laughing as he did so and walked away with his new slave boy. Lastly, a slave owner trying to move his slaves to a neighboring state so as to keep them from being set free, rode upon his horse chewing on some food while over 30 of his slaves, the women tied together with rope and the men latched like oxen in metal cuffs around their necks and arms, strode behind him. A mother with her calves distorted and body heavily weakened, knelt in the road as she could go no farther. The man didn't hesitate and immediately shot her in front of her son because he didn't want to be held back. The slave owner left her there, in the middle of the road and continued his progression. Sadly, this book is so very real you'll feel the pain and hurt within the first page but it's so informative and written in a way that captivates the reader. So pick up the book and begin the story of the slaves.

[calearie johnson davis rogers · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was really young when I read this book, so I didn't find it very interesting, so I will have to re-read it soon, but from what I do remember, it's very diligent in explaining all about how it was to be a slave, which I found interesting and very sad. I would suggest 11-12+, that way the people reading it have already started learning about it and can understand what's going on in the story.

[Lobstergirl · Rating 3 out of 5]

- The election of Lincoln in 1860 touched off a rash of selling slaves. "There were others who thought that in case of war the South would win. They held what slaves they had and even bought more."

- "...Jefferson Davis thought so little of the Emancipation Proclamation that he issued his own proclamation, which stated that all black people in the northern states were to be considered slaves."

- "I remember hearing my pa say that when somebody come and hollered, "You niggers is free at last," say he just dropped his hoe and said in a queer voice, "Thank God for that." It made ol' miss and ol' massa so sick till they stopped eating a week. Pa said ol' massa and ol' miss looked like their stomachs and guts had a lawsuit and their navel was called in for a witness, they was so sorry we was free." (Annie Mae Weathers, Library of Congress)

- A 15 year old slave didn't know the war was over. "But one day Massa Bob, his son, was switchin' me in the woods playful-like and he say, "Why don't you strike me back, Mici? You's free. That's what the war was for, to free the niggers." I took that switch away and beat him hard as I could across the head till it busted. Then I run across the fields to some colored folks about six miles away." (Armacie Adams, The Negro in Virginia)

[Kirsten · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such a powerful book which I believe has been greatly overlooked. It combines the Slave Narratives into solid, well thought out chapters. It makes the book feel less like information and more like a story. I enjoyed most of it - towards the middle, the pace of the book slipped a little. It picked up at the end, and I found the last narrative to be gut-wrenching. It was completely fascinating to see this time period from the slave's point of view, unedited. Not to say I haven't read about the slaves, it's just always been from someone who took their points of view, combined it with research, and then gave the information. This was completely raw and bare, and I quite enjoyed. Highly recommend for anyone willing to explore this dark time.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

A raw, honest look at the experiences of ex-slaves, in their own words, as told in interviews as part of the Federal Writer’s Project in the 1930s.

The book covers Africa, the crossing, the Civil War, and emancipation, all while questioning common beliefs and teachings. A valuable collection, even if a few of the author’s own statements are dubious.

Written for the young reader, it is mostly PG.

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was slow going, plodding. I only read a few pages each evening. Maybe because none of this was new to me?

Given that this targets a young audience, I'm surprised that it doesn't have a chapter on 'Childhood.'

[Kaylee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Slavery differed from country to country. But it was in The United States that a system of slavery evolved that was more cruel and total than almost any other system of slavery devised by one group of men against another. No other country where blacks were enslaved destroyed African culture to the extent that it was destroyed here. Today there still exist, in South America and the Caribbean Islands, African religions, music, and language, which came over on the slave ships. Only fragments of Africa remain among the blacks of the United States. The slavery instituted by the founders of America has few comparisons for its far-reaching cruelty.

This is a difficult topic, and I feel like I can't say much about it, other than "go read the book." I feel like this is one of the best books on this subject. Other slave narratives that I've read are accounts of one person's life (which are also very valuable!) but this book is a collection of narratives from many different people: ex-slaves and their children, those who were captured in Africa and those who were born into slavery, and all the different shapes their lives took during and after slavery... so it shows a broader view of the combined experiences of many people. And I feel like this broader view shows the true scale of this era of inhumanity more than facts and figures ever could, and more than I've gotten from reading auto/biographies one at a time. "The whole is greater than the sum of its parts."

It's a short but powerful book. If you can get it, I recommend the audiobook to get the full impact of the songs. There's just something about hearing them sung... Otherwise, the printed book can be borrowed from OpenLibrary: https://openlibrary.org/books/OL24650...

(On a personal note, I haven't been well enough to read much, and the few times when I did read something, I didn't had the energy to write a review. I'm not feeling any better, but for this one I felt like I needed to write something. It's a book that should be read.)

[Kristin Tabb · Rating 5 out of 5]

(Teaching notes for later reference: High priority read for American Lit. High school only. Send out note to parents due to language. Include oral storying/community theme. Incorporate discussions of dehumanization then and now. Make sure to order the thirty year anniversary edition and have students read the moving intro by Lester and respond to the first two pages esp.)

[Robyn Severe · Rating 5 out of 5]

There should be nothing but stark reality surrounding this subject, so none of us delude ourselves into thinking the slavery was just part of the romance of the south as in Gone With the Wind. The life of a slave, told by slaves.

[Dee Dee G · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one heck of a book and should be required reading.

[Kyle Loehrke]

Personal Response
I enjoyed reading the book, To Be a Slave, this quarter. I found it a very interesting book to read. The book was about the slave era in North America. I learned many things from the book including: how slaves were transported, sold, and punished. I also learned the history behind how slaves came to be and why slavery was abolished. I am very glad I read this book, because I learned a lot about slaves. I also enjoy reading books about history, because I enjoy learning about the past.

Plot
In the beginning of the book, it talked about how the slave trade started. It explained how men from England sailed to Africa. They either attacked the Africans or tricked them into getting on the boat. It explained that the trip to the Americas was very bad and suffocating. Many people died on the voyage, and it was not a good sight. The book then explained what happened when the slaves arrived in America. Slaves were often sold to plantation owners for work through a auction. The slaves were made to look good when really most of them weren’t. Once the slaves were bought, they were marched to their new homes. A lot of them also died during that journey. Once they were on their new plantation, their lives were in the hands of their owners. The book gave many stories about how slaves were punished and whipped when they did wrong.
When owners punished their slaves, they often whipped them. Sometimes they had good reasons to, but most of the time they did not. I felt very sorry for the slaves during that era. When owners wanted to sell a slave, they took them to an auction. They made them look as good as they could. They would then sell them to the highest bidder. Once Abraham Lincoln was elected president, the world for the slaves started looking up. Lincoln led the North in the Civil War against the South. After the North won, it took awhile but the slaves were eventually set free. After reading all of the stories recorded in this book, I have learned so much, and I realized how terrible slaves were treated. Nobody should ever have to experience the events slaves went through.

Characterization
One of the main slaves in the book was a young man. It never said his name. I am not sure if he even had one. He explained how he was taken from Africa and brought to America. He was sold to a very mean owner who beat him often. He changed very much throughout the book. In the beginning, he was living in africa. He was with his family and he was happy. Then he was captured and brought to Virginia to be a slave. He worked very hard in the fields, and he hated his life. His owner often beat him, but he could not defend himself. He often considered suicide, and he tried twice with no success. His life changed so much throughout the book.
Another character who had her life changed throughout the book was a woman with four children. The book told about how she was working on a plantation in the beginning of the book. As she lived there she had four children, but she still had to work. One day she was working in a field when a huge storm came in. Her small babies were on the other end of the field in a hollowed out log. When the storm hit, the lady was on the opposite end of the field, and her babies drowned in the log. Her life changed so much after that and she was heartbroken. She developed into being a character that also hated her owner. Both of the previous characters were once satisfied, until they had major life crisis, which changed their character very much.

Setting
The setting of this book took place mostly in Virginia. In the beginning of the book it took place in Africa where the slaves were captured. After they were captured, the book takes place where there was a lot of slavery in Virginia. The book took place in the 1850’s and 60’s. During this time slaves were being used and the Civil War happened. The setting was very important to the book, because during this time period is when there were the most slaves in Virginia. It is also important because it explains what happened during the Civil War at that time. The place of the book is also very important. Virginia had the largest amount of slaves out of all the states, and it was the head state in the civil war for the south.


Thematic Connection
The biggest theme of this book was to always stand up for what someone believes and what they want to accomplish. All of the slaves were helpless against their owners until after the Civil War. If the slaves had not been against their owners, their wouldn’t have been a Civil War. They always fought to get free, and they always wanted to escape. Because they wanted to get free very badly, they fought in the Civil War against all of the slave owners. Eventually they were set free, and they were very happy.

Recommendation
I recommend this book to any males ages 15-16. This is because, the book teaches a lot about history boys that age should learn. I also believe that girls that age would also enjoy the book, but they may not enjoy it as much as males. Lastly, I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading and learning about history. This book tells about many eye opening experiences slaves had. Everyone who would read this book would respect and understand how terrible the slave era was. I enjoyed reading this book very much. I realized many eye opening facts about slavery, and I believe others would too.

[Audra · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was written for young adults so that they could understand the horrors of slavery without subjecting them to the totality of it that they may be too young to read about. However, these excerpts taken from various books that recorded the words and feelings of the enslaved is very powerful. This is not fiction, but actual interviews of the enslaved. They shared how they were dehumanized, terrorized, and brutalized and the animalistic conditions they were forced to live in.

Everyone should read this book. Everyone should have their children read this book. Slavery should NEVER be forgotten for the country we call America today is the most powerful country in the world because Africans and Black Americans built it. Our blood was spilled for it. Our culture was ripped from us for it. Our families were torn apart for it. Any other race can point to a very specific place in their home country and even go back and visit relatives there now that come from the same lineage of ancestors. Black people can never trace their family back beyond a bill of sale. Never. We can never "go back to Africa" and go to a specific country within that great content and say "you are my family." We were robbed of that.

If you read this book, you will understand from the words of the enslaved that slavery never truly ended. After it came sharecropping (another form of slavery), the white terrorist group called the Ku Klux Klan, then segregation and laws designed to keep black people from being able to be productive citizens, then Jim Crow, then the Civil Rights. Black people weren't legally truly free until 1970--the year I was born. Think on that.

Today black people are still murdered by the police in numbers that are comparable to the Jim Crow era. We are still discriminated against in stores, banks, schools, neighborhoods. We are still policed as if we are slaves. We cannot go about our daily lives without our defenses up because at any moment we may be harassed simply because of the color of our skin.

No, we should never forget slavery because it has never ended. This book is important to understanding how society operates today for if you read carefully and listen closely you can see it still exists, just in a different form.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for the Newbery Club in Children's Books: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Short book, but lots in it. Too much to read in one sitting... I keep getting up and doing something else, processing.

One thing I was never taught was about the different ways that the Negro people resisted slavery. Lester gives us two chapters on it. Very enlightening.

And then there's the last chapter, about the times after Emancipation, when it was/is still really tough to be Black in a White-dominated society.

Art, introduction, and bibliography also make this a special book. It really should be more widely read. And if it makes a child uncomfortable, well, just imagine the difference between just reading about it, and actually living it. Recommended for ages 8-108.

Available free to read on openlibrary.org

[Suzanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

To Be a Slave is an overview of the lives of enslaved and formerly-enslaved Black people in the United States, from the first arrivals until the 1930's, when the Federal Writers' Project collected first-person accounts of more than 2,300 formerly enslaved individuals. Julius Lester organized the book into themed chapters and filled them with FWP quotes and others taken down by abolitionists in the 1800's. Because the book contains so many direct quotes, the audiobook format worked especially well. Three different narrators were able to take on many different voices and even songs. This book packs a lot of horror into a short amount of time and doesn't end on a happy note just for the sake of doing so.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

a collection of recollections by ex slaves or their children.
I wish it had gone further with their stories but I'll just have to read other books.
Though I as most, already knew the horrors of slavery, it opened my eyes to the heartbreak brought by the promised freedom that they could not be prepared for. The realities of being dumped, with nothing and no means of support... What were they expected to do? How were they expected to live? -they were lucky if they had clothing - no homes, no food, no education, no information, no help...
and those that seemed like they might succeed, were then unlikely to survive the KKK! (is it a surprise to find that they were slave traders and slave owners?!)
so very sad

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was written to introduce children to the concept of the slavery in the US. It intersperses excerpts from slave accounts and interviews with explanatory remarks by Lester as well as black and white drawings by Feelings. I felt it did a good job of explaining and showing without showing too much of the real horror that slaves suffered. My intent in reading it was to determine if it is appropriate for my 11year old grand-nephew, and I feel it definitely is.

[Shella · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m glad to see a nonfiction book as I think that genre has been severely overlooked across all the decades for Newbery recognition. This would be a great book to show the strength and voice of primary sources. I’ve not read the 1949 Newbery Honor winner, Story of the Negro. I’m guessing that would be interesting to compare and contrast since they were written two decades apart and this title after the Civil Rights movement. This book gives insight to some of the movements in the 1960’s. I listened to the audio and it was done really well with a variety of narrators.

[Sonia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is geared to young adults which made it incredibly accessible. It is an overview of slavery with some carefully chosen narratives. Sad thing is this wasn't even that long ago. Lester describes slavery in the US being, 'more cruel and total' in the way it obliterated and destroyed African culture. We still see that played out today in the way assimilation is touted as being American and patriotic.

[Dewin Anguas Barnette · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for every American. Though it is published as a book for young readers, it is for everyone. It is a perfect overview, yet full of details, of just what the title states. No one should have an opinion on race relations in this country without first having read this book.

[Tabytha Boozenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

My rating is based purely on the fact that the way it was written bounced around too much for me. There were little snippets of conversations or thoughts from other books, some unfinished. Just very choppy and felt unorganized.

[Paula L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Harsh telling of the story of slavery in the words of slaves by means of the government’s Freedom Writers program in the 1930s.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

To Be a Slave is a book about slavery and it talks about people's real experiences being enslaved and some were better than others. The story genre is a biography. And is really well written it shows at the end of the book where they got their evidence which shows how much the authors/author worked on this book so that's why it is really well written. The author has written many books about slavery and racism problems. I feel like they should have focused on one person than just telling experienced former slaves. And I liked it was very scripted and had many details. and thats why I'm going to give To Be A Slave a 3.9/.

[Haley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I appreciate this book because it uses primary sources in the discussion over the horrors of slavery in America. These records are so important so we may never forget and continue to fight against modern day slavery.

[Anushka · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved how this book carefully weaved in the real words of ex-slaves and showed all perspectives, but most of all, there was no censorship. Julius Lester gave us the entire image. It truly changed my image of slaves and showed to me how the line between immoral and moral can be blurred to the extent that it is not apparent. This is the type fo book that you won't want to read again for some time, but you will not regret reading it. It leaves a lasting imprint.