Dessa Rose

This book seems interesting to read, but I feel like it jumps from several different things at once. I had to read it over a few times to fully understand what people were which. It has the slang that makes it alittle difficult to understand. I found it interesting to read about slave preventing conception. Along with the other readings we have viewed, things like slaves having this kind of power and control scares the whites greatly. What do you tink would have happen if slaves really never reproduced offspring?

The whole situation with Kaine confused me alittle bit? Not really sure if he is dead or alive? I feel once we get more in deth in the book it will be easier to understand.

Flight to Canada

This book has been very hard for me to follow, so far. I guess maybe if I had prior reading of Uncle Tom's Cabin and knew what it was about maybe I would understand what was going on.

A relationship in chapter 7 caught my attention when I was reading. The relationship between Cato and Swille. It appears int he beginning that Cato may just be a slave, but then the reader can get the notion that he is Swille's real son. A quesiotn that rises in my mind is if he is really his son, how does he have the nerve to say or do the things he does to him? How is asome one able to treat flesh and blood like that?

Similiar themes that I have noticed in books are community, power and control, bravery.

Harriet Black

During this part of the reading, one part stuck out when I was reading. It was towards the beginning of our reading about the woman Harriet Black. The way Gaines wrote about her situation made his reader know how much slavery had a huge negative impact on the slaves. It showed that it drove slaves to do things that were out of their control, even when they were doing things right they would get punished; for exam,ple Harriet Black. Harriet Black had gone crazy because of the amount of work and repetuation she was trying to hold. She was racing another slave and was missing alot of "wire grass" and Tom Joe, the overseer of the field slave, noticed and started beating her. She was eventually removed from the planation because she went "crazy". Nothing happened to Tom Joe. All of this readings we have done really makes me wonder: how can another person do this to someone else?

Slaves got punished all the time, and sometimes for no reason, but do you ever notice how when a white overseer commits a harsh act, he never gets in trouble? Later in the reading Tom Joe beat one of Samson's boys for having the wrong attitude towards a black man. His boy was sent away, but again nothing happen to Tom Joe. Justice was never served from slavery!

Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman

Aa like the other slave stories we have read, they are all very moving with their strength for freedom. In this book, I felt like it was very easy to follow along with Jane Pittman. She made it so her reader knew where she was going and what she was doing.

There were many parts where I felt very emotional for Jane herself because she sturggle in my ways. A major part of this part of the reading was when she was traveling to get to Ohio to meet Mr. Brown. She was trying to find out how to get there and all the other people were doing was putting her down. It all started on page 14 when they were told they were freedom and Jane was ready to go to Ohio. Unc Isom tried to convince her that she wouldn't make it anyways but back the hands of a slaveholder. Throughout the rest of the reading Jane meets many people that are not very helpful and who just tell her to go back to where she belongs, at the plantation.

I felt the relationship she had with Ned was a very important aspect in this reading. Although Jane was no reltionship to Ned except for a slave watching over another slave, they became veyr close. Jane had taken ont he role of a mother for Ned and when he had faced danger more than once it frightened Jane like it would his own mother. What do you think would have happened to Ned or Jane if they didn't stick togetehr for their journey?