DOWN RIVER

by Peter Rizzolo

The sequel begins as a mulatto enslaved person named Chambers, who had been raised as a white man, is transported down river to be auctioned off in the Baton Rouge slave market. Chambers was despised by the other enslaved people on the Louisiana plantation and hated by his ignorant master, John Tibbets. Chambers cannot make a daily quota of picked cotton and endures multiple vicious beatings. Unfit for farming, he was made a “driver,” an enslaved person who pushed the workers to produce up to levels demanded by the master. One of his duties was to deliver lashings to other enslaved people, an endeavor he performed with gusto. The enslaved people grew to despise him and conspired to murder him. He did not die but was severely crippled and of no use on the plantation. His mother, Roxy, a formerly enslaved person, bought her son’s freedom. They return to Dawson’s Landing. where they struggle to build their lives.

98 pages, Hardcover

Published July 25, 2022