They’re mad… all of them! The white men are mad! How dare they capture me! I, Fanta! I feel so angry that they took me… I am embarrassed that they outsmarted me! Those horrid white men, with the aid of those Natives that betrayed us! But why are they doing this to us? What is going to happen? I’m worried and so scared of what they will do to us. And they were so rough to me! They knocked me to the dirty ground and put a rope around my neck, tying all of us together. They lead us to a beach where we were thrown in cages, like we were animals! They kept whipping me, with that horrid thing! It hurt so much! I am in so much pain! I was taken from my family to be treated like this?

My family… where are they? I miss them so much… but I know they will come and save me. I am sure they are already following my trail. But Kunta Kinte, that boy that came running through our camp and knocked over all of our food, he seems to know something I don’t, I’m just not sure what it is. He seems to think they aren’t okay. They are, though. They have to be. He doesn’t know my father. These white men are no match for him… I hope.

These evil white men… they treat us like we are of another species. THEY are the ones who smell so savage. THEY are the ones who act like beasts. THEY are the ones that want to take advantage of us. THEY are the ones who swat at us and attack us if we do not obey or do what they want fast enough. I am petrified of them, as they hurt me and make me suffer in more pain than I ever knew possible. And now they are loading us onto some floating house on a wide river with no riverbanks. I’ve never been here before, or on one of these floating houses, either. They confuse me.

We were all thrown onto these rough boards and chained down. We must eat food that is not edible… none of the 170 Natives here like the food of the white men. It makes our stomachs empty, and it is gross. It’s almost as bad as all the stuff on me. Almost. It is all so nasty. I can’t stand it, and won’t go into detail to spare you the agony.

I am beginning to doubt that anyone will save me now. We have been living this nightmare for days, now. The horrid boards on which we lay are rubbing the skin off of our backs, and when they took us out at last, they poured salt water on our wounds. Two words: sheer pain. As if being whipped isn’t bad enough.

I still miss my family, but I am glad they don’t have to go through this. I am terribly lonesome, though, without anyone that I know here with me. The only person I do know is Kunta Kinte, and I am glad he is with me. We keep each other company on this floating nightmare.

But there is a problem: the evil white men wish to take all of the women and r@pe us all! Just the thought! Ugh! They wish to take advantage of us! I am infuriated!

Then, the Wrestler from Kunta Kinte’s village gave this speech that was very inspiring and encouraging. We now have hope; we will all learn each other’s languages, and become one tribe. We will overcome these horrid white men, and we will all go home and be free. Now, at last, we have hope.

I like the “Outraged Princess” feeling to your essay. That is TOTALLY how I see Fanta, too! -Mr. Fladd

As I lie here on my sleeping mat I think about kunta kinta being ctured by the white men. I can’t imagine the torture he is being put through. So brave. Terrible, terrible way to go, he was looking for things to make his brothers drum with. If only he had fallowed the rules, he would still be with us. With me by my side, as ill as I am. I can only pray to ala with the time I have left, for him to be safe. No one was as brave as he was. Yet he never thought. I remeber the conversation that I had it happened. I was telling him how he would treat me. With respect! No matter how old he or I get. He decided to make a drum for his brother because it would bring his mother joy. I was so proud of him. But he did not make a plan. He did not ask someone to go with him. He went against all of the rules he was taught. I pray to ala that he is safe. I also pray that he is alive and not a slave. He is a warrior, not a slave. Help? Him Allah, help him think and plan.

This is a good start. I’d like to learn more about what she felt and thought. – Mr. Fladd

Captain Davies (after he saw Africa): When I took this job, I never thought I’d have to go against my religion, but I never go back on my word and I said that I could and would take charge of this ship. I intend on keeping my word. But sometimes I wonder, what would my wife and kids think of me if they saw me now? In Africa, the colored people were in cages like some sort of animal would be, and I just sat, watched and drank. I never have had any sort or alcoholic beverage, and I never wanted to. It’s just all the stress that’s coming down on me. It’s just pouring down like a giant waterfall ad it only gets worse. I didn’t do anything about the way the crew and the people who round up the slaves treat the slaves. I just sat there, trying to ignore it. It was hard to think that I had been the one who had ordered people to put them there, but I still didn’t do anything. I want to believe I am doing the right thing, but I don’t think I am. Is it ok to do something you know is bad and then feel bad about it or is it a sin? I hope my wife, children and all the other people I care about can forgive me for what I am doing and understand that I did this to be able to support my family.
Mr. Slater has been helping me get used to the way things are run here. He is and odd but a strangely confident man. It seems like he keeps testing me. He knows my views of slavery and that my religion goes against what he enjoys, but he keeps testing me. Oh well. He seems to know what he is doing, even though deep down, I fear and know that it isn’t right. I know that I should trust him because I have been following what he says ever since I got on the boat, but I do not think that he cares about me or my beliefs. When he brought that slave girl to my quarters, he told my it would be good for her vocal cords to scream a little. At first I was angry with him but he has a way of fixing his words so I can’t be. Deep down, I am furious that these pigs are my crew including Mr. Slater. I hope that when we finish the voyage, they will make better choices and treat women of all races better.
The living conditions that are set up for the slaves are horrible, but Mr. Slater says it’s fine and that when we reach land they will have a better life. I knew the living conditions for slaves wouldn’t be good but I didn’t expect them to be this bad. I thought that the slaves would be let out to go to the bathroom and exercise more than they are to keep them healthy, but they aren’t. They are packed in so tightly, with the hard rough wood shredding their backs, and the ones on the bottom are being vomited on. How can the slaves be in good shape to sell if they can get sick for being all locked up only coming out once every few days? Still, I am proven wrong. The whole crew seems to know what to do, and this is how the slaves are treated on a daily basis by every crew member so I must be wrong. The only ones treated half right are the slave girls, and that is for a totally wrong reason, for the crew, not for the slaves. How could my crew expect me to do such a thing? It sickens and weakens me to know that I am living with people who would do such a thing. That people out in this world even think like that.
Sometimes, I think that Mr. Slater and the crew think I am weak. They could all see the pain in my face when the first batches of slaves were brought up to get exercise and cleaned. They were all covered in sweat and vomit and huge scratches and sores from the hard rough wood they lay on. And all were screaming in pain as the cold, salt water hit their sores. But all I ever do is watch and bite my tongue. And as they chanted in their language something I couldn’t even understand, I knew whatever they were saying, we, the crew and myself, deserved it. And deep down, I hope they all get away and can sail back to Africa and to their families and their old life.

You really seem to understand what is going on in his head. Well done! – Mr. Fladd

Things I know about Africa:

Africa is a big continent. It is surrounded by the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Animals like zebras, giraffes, lions, monkeys, hippopotamus, snakes, and camels live there. It is hot. Mr. Fladd used to live there. There are a lot of people in Africa.
From reading the World Atlas I learned more things about Africa. The people in Africa wear bold and bright colors. Africa has gold and diamonds. Visitors from around the world come to Africa for the wild animals.

You have learned a lot about Africa! – Mr. Fladd

I think it would be very outward to be loading a slave ship full of touchier tools and shacks. Especially when being a black man that has been throe that voyage before. Throe he’s forced in to the job I think he’s probably feeling guilty carrying boxes and boxes of chains and keys and thump crushers and wipes all for the abuse of slaves. And all that is for money and tobacco. Most people in that age were thinking that it was good for the slaves to be doing that work and its not good for them to be alone in the wield trying to live in peace. There wrong because the slave is the same as a white man. So I think that they where wrong by making them do 5that. But I’m supposes to tell you about what the slave loading the save ship mites have thought or felt while he was loading the ship. I think that he may have thought other then weird or guilty or maybe even mad because he’s helping save drivers. But he’s probably confused and wondering why. He’s also thinking what the f**** why me, why my culture, why not us doing this to the whites, and why couldn’t we just all live in peace. Why couldn’t we have no ideas of hating each other and why couldn’t we just free each other and beat the white mans pouter stick that make big boom. This is my blog on the African that’s loading the slave ship for Africa.

I like your writing! Please be careful with your spelling – sometimes it’s hard for your readers to know what you are talking about. – Mr. Fladd

What did I do to get treat this way? I don’t deserve this disrespect from the sailors. I deserve to be treated like a person not like an animal. I am trying to make the best out of this situation but I know it’s gonna turn out bad. I am scared to get r***ed by these white men. They want to r**e me, they make me do what they want or ill get beat. I don’t feel I should get treated this way I should get treated like human just like all the other people on this ship. I am in so much pain my shoulders are bleeding you can almost see the bones I think. It hurts to move just a little bit if the ship hits a small wave then my back is screaming in pain. They took me up top to the deck and I am so scared I am not sure what they are going to do to me. The white men will r**e me then they will just throw me back down in the cargo. I had to do training so when they sell me for goods I will be at a higher value. I don’t want to do the training but if I don’t ill get whipped, there are scars all down my back from getting whipped over and over again. I have to listen to the white men or they will whip me for no reason just because I didn’t listen to them. They think we are not human they think we are livestock and then can do whatever they want to us. I just want to go back home with my tribe. I don’t have a strong stomach so when I am on the ship I tend to puke a lot. I am on the bottom bunk so when the person above me pukes or goes the bathroom it gets all over me. I feel so gross and dirty, my back hurts even more because when I was on the deck they washed me with salt water. I am not sure where we are going bu I want to escape I want to get out of this miserable place. I try to fall asleep but all the people do is scream and wake me up. When we get to eat we barely get any food we got corn mash, it was gross and was clumpy with bugs in it. I am starving for food I need to eat to keep alive. I lay in my filth with bugs all around me and people are dying down here.

You did a great job of putting yourself in her position! (I know that it’s tough to write as a girl.) I particularly like that you focused in on the issue of respect. I think that women in her culture generally WERE treated with a certain amount of respect and losing that would have been almost more traumatic than the physical pain she was going through. Well done! – Mr. Fladd

Kailubo Kunta’s best friend (after kunta chases away the leopard)

I think Kunta Kinte is pretty brave to come face to face with a leopard just to try and save a she goat. If I were in his position at that time I would have ran away from that frightening creature and got a couple of other men from the village to help me scare away that leopard.
Today I was brought to manhood training, they put a bag over my head and tied my hands up and brought us all very far away from the village to be turned into men. Becoming a man should be challenging but I hope to succeed otherwise I wont be able to marry. The other boys here with me feel the same way including my best friend Kunta Kinte. Today there was a wrestler here teaching us how to fight if a enemy is close and we need to protect ourselves, and he was a big man and a good fighter. Kunta Kinte again today being the brave one and kept fighting the man. The wrestler just asked Kunta to talk with him for a moment and I wonder what they are going to talk about. This morning they sent Kunta out to catch a bird without harming it or using any weapons and he came back and told us that he saw white men with black prisoners. Than our teacher had us sit and listen to very important things he had to tell us. He told us not to go into the tall grass or the woods alone, and watch for signs of the white men like big clouds of smoke because the white men always build their fires too big

This looks like you had more to say. I’d like to read more about what your character thinks and feels. – Mr. Fladd

he dos not like it becus he got put on a ship and takein agents his will would u like dat not me. man that must have been bad for him. n he feels really bad it how would u like to be a slave huh.

I agree. I think being captured and taken on a slave ship would be just about the worst thing in the world. – Mr. Fladd

Brima Cesay ( The Village Leader – talking about Manhood Training)

Description: I have a a band around my head.

Listen to my advice and directions. Stay away from long brush, Never go out alone at night watch the monkeys – when they are afraid you should be afraid and follow them when they run away. Also watch for heavy smoke because white men burn more wood than we do. Listen to what I say and you will live and not die. If you don’t listen to what I say you might be captured by evil white men. It is very important to take being a man very seriously. You will go away with your friends for a while and go through Manhood Training like learning how to hunt and fight and just to act like a man. You will return back as a real man if you follow these rules. I have been through Manhood Training myself and I made it, it was not always fun but sometimes it was. You will learn a lot and you will fight a lot and become a better man. I will see you all when you return from Manhood Training and give you your own hut to live in all by yourself and then you can get married.

This is a VERY strong start! I’d like to hear more about what your character thinks and feels. Keep up the good work! – Mr. Fladd

Wow! You did this very well and ON TIME! Excellent! – Mr. Fladd