ISP Blog Post #6 - Book of Negroes

After finishing "The Book of Negroes" we read that the focus of the last portion of the book is about Aminiata struggle to find a place to live, where she can be the strong and independent women that she has become. Their are many aspects of Aminiata's life that can be seen in light of the feminist movement. While living in Africa, Aminiata wants to travel back to her home town where she was born, Bayo. She was required to travel with a group of African scouts and hunter as they were the only people willing to make the dangerous trip into the interior of Africa. Aminiata did not like the way that the head guide spoke to her, "I didn't like the way Alassane issued orders. It made me wonder if men would try to speak to me like that when I got home, and if all my time of living independently had made me unfit for village life in Bayo."(Hill, pg485) Aminiata feels that the men are treating her as if she is stupid and uneducated because she is a women, but Aminiata over hears a conversation between Alassane and the other men "No. She is clever. She counts and reasons and argues like a man. Be carful. She speaks Temne, English and Bamanankan." (Hill, pg483) Now that she is back in her home country, it becomes apparent to her that she has grown far beyond any small feminist progress that has taken place in Africa. Aminiata now after travelling to far more progressive land and cultures she decides that African is still very much a male dominating country where she no longer fits in because of her strong feminist views.

Aminiata leaves Africa and travels to England to help support the Abolitionist fight in Parliament. Their fight is to abolish the slave trade but doesn't help to seek equality between men and women. This is apparent while Aminiata is being interviewed, as their main reason for inviting her to England was to record her life story and the abuse she suffer for being an African slave.  The men assumed that Aminiata would just let them write the story of her life. Assuming they were more capable of re-telling her life accurately and with proper attention to detail. Aminiata is quick to say that they will not be writing the story for her, and she is more than capable of writing her own life story. These men can't comprehend the fact that Aminiata is a brilliant and well education women who is more than able to speak for herself, women, and black peoples. The men seem oblivious to this concept. 

We learn through the feminist view point that Aminiata is an example of an early feminist leader, despite living in a time where women were considered inferior to men. Aminiata is constantly working to improve women's rights for equality even though the abolitionist in England are not. The abolitionist are using Aminiata, a women to accomplish their goal of ending the slave trade. 

Through the feminist literary criticism see are able to understand the concept that Aminiata goals were two fold. One to help abolish the slave trade, bring freedom to all people and two standing up for the rights of women. 

Blog Post #5 - Book of Negroes

The Book of Negroes can be view through a Post Colonial literary criticism specifically looking at hegemony. Aminiata left New York to seek freedom and a new life in Shelburne, Nova Scotia. She arrived pregnant, knowing no one and no contracts to connect with upon her arrival. Aminiata ventured down the main street in Shelburne looking for someone to talk to "I saw no familiar faces. Most of the people were white, and they walked passed as if I didn't exist". (Hill pg352) Aminiata spoke to a white women who was walking down the street towards her. She asked the women if is was in Port Roseway, however the women walk straight passed her without acknowledging that she was there. Aminiata then decided to enter a merchants coffee house to ask about work and a place to stay. In there a man "...took me by the arm and pulled me to the door."We don't serve niggers here"". (Hill g352) She was then told that Birch town was the place for "your kind". As she continued on her way down the main street in search of someone to talk to, Aminiata was further disrespected by two ragged British solders who were throwing peanuts are her. Aminiata had travel there in hopes of a better life as a free women, but her first impression of Shelburne re-enforced that thing were not that much different than where she had come from. To further the hegemony concepts the black people were forced to lived in there own town segregated from Shelburne where the white people live. In order for the white people to maintain dominance and power they humiliated, physically abused, and disrespected the black people. Most of the white people through that Aminiata would be less intelligent and therefore would not give her the time a day. This made it difficult for Aminiata to get a job and left her feeling helpless and unsure of what the future would entail for her and her unborn baby. The white people sought to oppress the black people in all aspects of there life to assure that they would not lose there power and dominance.

ISP Blog post #4 - Book of Negroes

Throughout the Book of Negroes the story can be interpreted through Archetypal literary criticism which looks at shaping the story by the cultural and psychological myths that lay within the story. In The Book of Negroes we can see the main character Aminiata in her earlier years as a slave. The community viewed her as a matriarch because of her caring personality and her naturing ways. She took on the role as a midwife in the slave community. As the midwife she brought new life into the world by delivering babies. Aminiata was considered the 'bringer of new life'. Her ability to help mothers through the process of giving birth and taking car of the babies made her a respected leader in the community. She was called upon to travel through other slave communities to help delivery babies as news spread about her wisdom and abilities.

As Aminiata's life progresses she gains knowledge through the teaching of Mr. Lindo one of her owners.  He taught her math and book keeping and rewarded her with new books as she learned the lesson that he had taught her. She was very intelligent and learn things easily. She sought knowledge throughout her life and used her knowledge to work for her ultimate goal which was to abolish slavery. At the end of Aminiata's life she is invited by the abolitionists to travel to England to help the cause and testify in parliament. Aminiata brings a creditable testimony to the abolitionist cause because of her life long struggle for freedom for all slaves.  Her intelligent and articulate manner about slavery gives her credibility and leadership when testifying in parliament. This names Aminiata as the 'heroine' of this story.

Hill, Lawrence. The Book of Negroes. Toronto ON: Harper Collins, 2007.Print.

Aminiata Testifying in Parliament

The Book of Negroes ISP Post #3

In The Book Of Negroes, Aminiata really starts to focus on the injustice of slavery. Aminiata comes to this realization when her slave owner Appleby fines her six months pregnant, and instead of helping her, he uses her as an example for all of the other slaves. Appleby stripes her naked and makes her burn all of her clothes including a fancy head scarf given to her by her husband Chekura. He then states that slaves should not have "white people"clothes. After all of her clothes were burnt he shaved her hair until Aminiata no longer recognized her self,noting that she had lost her clothes her hair her beauty and her "womanhood". Aminiata gave birth to a little baby boy who she named Mamadu after her father who she could always depend on and keep her safe. Once the baby was ten months old Aminiata was woken one night by his crying and realized that Appleby had sold her baby, she now felt like she had nothing.  Aminiata was depressed and refused to work because she felt like she had lost everything, Appleby continued to beat her but he still work not work for him. So eventually he sold Aminiata telling her she was stupid and no good.

This relates to the world issue today of men wanting to control, abuse and sell women in the sex trade industry. Some men feel the need to have power and control over women in work places and personal relationships. In the work place the men could feel that they need to be a higher authority which could lead to emotional abuse and harassment. Women who try to move up in there work places are sometimes put down and told that they are not good enough to fill a certain position. In personal relationships some men feel the need to control some aspects of there partners life. They often control the finances and and how much money they can spend and all of the decision making including deciding whether there wife/partner can work or whether she strictly has to stay home. Sometimes the control can include physical abuse and be extremely painful for the partner. This is a long historic battle that was a problem during slavery and is still a problem in relationships today. Aminiata's life in slavery was extremely harsh and very inhuman and she spent her whole life trying to abolish slavery.

Blog Post #2 - Book of Negroes

After I had done some more reading of The Book of Negroes (Lawrence Hill) I realized that looking a the story through a Feminist lens was a good way to view the main character Aminata Diallo. Aminata had lots of struggles being an African American and being a female in a time where that wasn't  excepted and was often frown upon. Aminata struggled just live everyday just because she was female. Viewing her through the feminist lens you can see the struggle she faced just to be heard or seen. Aminata faced situations like when she was riding the ship over to South Carolina to become a slave. To survive to took a lot of courage and strength as well as the will to want to live. "Beauty comes and goes. Strength, you will keep forever". (Hill pg20) This quote helps to describe the strength she carried with her and a sense of hope that was kept for a better future. Aminata saw smelt and heard things while travelling to the United States that no person should ever endure. The men were in charge and thought of the females as less good, weak and helpless. No to mention that they did not treated them well at all. Even though at times Aminata felt weak and helpless, she also had the perserverace and strength which is what sustain her sanity. "Many times during the long journey, I was terrified beyond description, yet somehow my mind remained intact". (Hill pg57) This is Aminata explaining that she is not quite sure how she was able to mentally stay strong when everyone else around her was falling apart.

The feminist lens has is important way to view The Book of Negroes as the main character Aminata is a female that is compelled to be a strong and independent women that wants it make an impact in the world. Aminata would not settle for anything less and that is how she accomplished so much.



Character profile of Aminata


Hill, Lawrence. The Book of Negroes: London. Doubleday, 2009. Print.

The Book of Negros Blog post #1 -Sarah L

The Book of Negros is a story that show bravery, perseverance, and the fight to survive. What I have read of the book so far its starts off with Aminata Diallo the main character who is now in her later years of life and is now living in London England. Aminata is now writing and reflecting back on her life and childhood experiences that changed her life. She shares the struggle of growing up in a third world country-Africa in a small town called Bayo. Bayo is a small undeveloped town that is in poverty and constantly being destroy by different authorities. Aminata shares her struggles and happy moments of being an only child with her parents. She loved spending time with her mother and learning how to "catch babies"which was very helpful in her community. Then tragedy stuck her and her mother one day on the way home after 'catching babies' in another village. It ultimately ended in both her mother and father's deaths and the destruction of her small community in Bayo.

Making different predictions I think that Aminata will have to undergo some different circumstance that will be physically and mentally challenging and also bring her close to her own death. But because of her own strength and metal encouragement she will be able to fight through and eventually make it to safety in other countries and get to London England where she is currently living at an elderly age.

The Book of Negros reminds me of the book "The Help" By Kathryn Stockett which I read last year and have seen the movie multiple times. Both stories connect together as they tell the stories of african american peoples who struggle to be notice and treaty with respect and dignity. The Help is a moving story about individual hired help to young mother that takes place in the Southern United States. The hired help gets treated with no respect and are forced to use separate washrooms simply because of the racial divide. So far this fits with The Book of Negros as they are both effect the African population and are forced to live and work in slavery and are told what to do by people that have authority over them.

After reading the beginning of The Book of Negros the imagery that I have is a place where happiness no longer exists and people work long hard days just to only survive on very little. I picture them to live in small run down huts made from dirt, sticks and mud. I see them having very little of clothing and things and just making it work with what they have.

I think the author is trying to help the reader to see what living in the end 1700 was like, in the perspective of young girl. How she saw the world and the community that she lived and the positive and negative aspects of her life. As well to give the reader perspective on the cultures and lifestyles of living in Africa.

After reading the first part of this story its hard to believe that parts of our world still live in such poverty and destruction even though this story takes place so many hundreds of years. As well lots of people live being mistreated and attack for the only reason being their religion, gender, or race. This is inhuman and should have never happened and definitely should not still be happening.

As a reader my weaknesses are that I struggle to stay focus when reading for long periods of time. And sometimes find myself re-reading lots of different parts because I didn't fully take it in the first time. My strengths when reading this story is that I am generally interested in this topic and I have enjoyed the story line so far.

Strengths and Weaknesses of writing Essay -Sarah Luxton

I often struggle when beginning to write an essay. I find it hard to take a topic and create a good strong thesis from it that then I can expand off of.  I also have difficulties when ordering certain sentences so that they sound good when when read aloud. Choosing the right words for a sentence can sometimes be challenging as I want to sound educated with big words without sounding too wordy. Also expanding on an idea sometimes gets me stuck. I find myself often rereading what have have written multiple times to see if I can expand on it and I sometimes I have no luck so I end up being more brief than I should be.
I think another one of my strengths and weaknesses is Introductions and Conclusions. I sometimes struggle to piece a good one together but one I have spent a good amount of time on them they often sound really good and create a good opening for my essay. I enjoy writing the hook but have trouble creating a hook that is interesting and that will capture the audiences attention right away. As well  making sure the hook is short and concise so that it instantly draws the reader in, instead of dragging it out for a couple of sentences.
My other strengths when writing an essay is that I am good at collecting and brain storming information. I am also good at writing the body of the essay especially when I have lots of information on the topic. I always think that my essays are better when I enjoy what I am writing about and have lots of knowledge about the topic. I also am good at editing and proof reading my essay so that it is the best that it can be.

About Sarah Luxton

Hello,

My name is Sarah and I am in grade 11. I have lived in London Ontario since I was two, so I really only remember London. I love to travel and explore new places. Last summer was my favourite trip when my family and I went to England for twenty days and explored the whole country.  My family also has a cottage near Kincardine where I like going in the summer.

I also love shopping and getting name brands on sale as well as getting my nails done. I also like home decor and decorating different spaces.  I enjoy painting with water colours and creating different pieces of art. I also like to scrap book especially the different trips that I have been on.

My favourite sport and hobby is figure skating. I currently skate four days a week with the Ilderton Skating Club. As well I skate on a synchronized skating team called the Ilderton Precisionnaires. Synchronized skating consists of a group between 12-20 skating but only 16 can compete at one time.  My synchronized skating team competes in five competitions each year and they travel all round the provinces and then we compete in the national championships which are held in different places all over the country. Synchro is great sport to make fun memories and hang out with a group of people that all have the same passion and love that you do. I have been skating for fourteen years and still love it .. well most of the time.



This is my current Synchronized Skating team

One my things that I seriously dislike is winter and snow which I know doesn't make sense because I am a figure skater but I feel that you can have ice and skate without is being cold outside...

Once I graduate high school I plan on going to University and one day become a physiotherapist and hopefully work with athletes and sports injuries. I feel this is a good career for me because I like helping others and things to do with sports.  As well I had a serious ankle injury from skating and spent lots of time in physiotherapy and realized that I could see myself doing that as a career.