ChapterSummaries

Chapter Summaries

    Chapter 1:We as the reader are introduced to many of the characters including Besa, Amari, and Kwasi. We learn that Besa and Amari are to be married. Also, we learn that a group of white men are coming to their village.     Chapter 2: The strangers arrive at Amari's village. Being proper hosts, the Ewe people throw a huge celebration to welcome the strangers. But then, the strangers attacked the Ewe people and killed the chief, Amari’s parents, Kwasi, and many others. Almost everyone in her village was killed                      <span style="font-size: 80%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"><span style="font-size: 80%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">  <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> Chapter 3: The white strangers took Amari and many others captive. They were chained and shackled into groups of six. <span style="font-size: 80%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"><span style="font-size: 80%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">  <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> <span style="color: rgb(32, 0, 255);"> <span style="font-size: 80%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"><span style="font-size: 80%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">  <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> Chapter 4: After walking for more days then they can count, the slaves were taken to a city. They were then taken to a huge building where the men and women were separated from each other, put in holding cells, and their chains were removed. Amari then meets Afi, who is speaks also speaks Ewe. She tells Amari the harsh truth about what is going to become of her, but also attempts to comfort her. Amari finds a friend in Afi. <span style="color: rgb(32, 0, 255);"> <span style="font-size: 80%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"><span style="font-size: 80%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">  <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> Chapter 5: Later, all of the women were taken from their cells and were examined by a white man. Then, Amari, Afi and some other female slaves were taken. All of them were branded and then were put into a holding pen. We then figure out that the white men also took Besa. The slaves were being prepared for a long journey to America. <span style="color: rgb(32, 0, 255);"> <span style="font-size: 80%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"><span style="font-size: 80%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">  <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> Chapter 6: In this chapter, Amari, Afi, Besa and all of the other slaves were put on a boat. They all knew that it was the last time that they would ever see their beautiful homeland again. <span style="font-size: 80%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"><span style="font-size: 80%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">  <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> Chapter 7: Amari and all of the other slaves were then brought to an even bigger ship that was already full of slaves. They were then brought down to the lower levels of the ships and were chained to the boat only a few feet away form each other. At the end of the chapter, Afi starts singing an Ewe funeral song, and eventually all of the females slaves start singing the same song too, even if they had never heard it before that day. <span style="font-size: 80%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"><span style="font-size: 80%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">  <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> <span style="color: rgb(32, 0, 255);">Chapter 8: All of the women were brought up to the main level of the ship, and had salt water poured all over them. Not only would the salt water be painful to them, it would immensely sting their previous wounds. All of the female slaves were then told to dance. One of the sailors was watching Amari very closely; but unlike the other sailors, he kept his eyes on her face instead of the rest of her body. Later that day the sailors were cleaning the ship very cheerfully, but all of the slaves knew what was coming later that night. <span style="color: rgb(14, 36, 200);"> <span style="color: rgb(14, 36, 200);"><span style="color: rgb(15, 189, 35);"> <span style="font-size: 80%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"><span style="font-size: 80%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">  <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> Chapter 9: Later that night, sailors starting coming into the place where the females slaves were being held, and were being taken one by one. Then, the red headed sailor who was staring at Amari before came to take her. But, instead of raping her, he calls her his child. He starts to teach her the language of the whites. Amari gets lead back to the top of the ship where she sees the fate that she escaped. All of the other women were curled up in balls, trying to erase the memories of the past few hours and were bleeding. Amari knew what she had escaped that night, but also knew that she would not always be so lucky. <span style="font-size: 80%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"><span style="color: rgb(15, 189, 35);">Chapter 10: Amari is taken to one of the sailors and raped by them. On some occassions she is saved by Bill but not all of the time. The ship is experiencing some turbulent weather forcing the women to be taken inside. When the storm ends, sixteen died during the storm and ten children died.

<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(15, 189, 35);">Chapter 11: The crew member immediately starts fixing up the boat. The prisoners and sailors are arriving at Sullivan's Island where they will be sold.

Chapter 12: A doctor checks each slave examining them. Amari wants to resist but is afraid of getting slapped. Soon they are accepted onto Sullivan's Island.

Chapter 13: When they arrive on land, Amari's legs are so weak that she collapses. They are prepared to learn the English language and are given new clothes. Soon, they are sold to owners and are never seen again.

Chapter 14: In Chapter 14, we get a new character, Polly who is an indentured servant to Mr. Derby. Mr. Derby buys Amari for his son who is turning 16. Polly watches as Mr. Derby struggles with Amari who is fighting back.

Chapter 15: When Mr. Derby goes pay for Amari, Clay arrives with Noah. He looks exactly like Mr. Derby but is much more cruel and spits a lot. When they arrive at the manor, Polly is amazed at how pretty the place is. Unfortunately, Polly is put in charge of Amari which is something Polly doesn't want to do.

Chapter 16: Amari and Polly try to get to know each other but it was hard. When Teenie walks in, she serves them food. Polly describes how she came here and how her parents died.

Chapter 17: Amari is adjusting to the plantation life pretty hard. She has to cook the food, cut, serve,skin fish etc. After a while she falls into the rhythm of getting up and working in the kitchen. At the end of the chapter, we see Amari and Clay together. Clay is nasty and never washes. He smells like dead fish.

<span style="color: rgb(232, 12, 237);"><span style="color: rgb(213, 16, 16);">Chapter 18: Amari joins Teenie in picking roots and herbs. On their small outing, Amari and Teenie talk about their mothers and fathers and Amari is shown Teenie's special cloth. This cloth was given to Teenie by her mother when she was sold. Amari and Teenie also talk about Mr. Derby's past with Clay and his wives.

Chapter 19: In this chapter, Amari, Polly, and Tidbit are sent by Teenie to go peach picking. While they are in the fields, up on the trees, many memories are recounted. Amari tells about her village and her brother, while Polly tells about how much her parents loved her. By the end of their outing, everyone was silent in remembering.

Chapter 20: Amari learns more about Mrs. Derby at the beginning of this chapter. Amari really admires Mrs. Derby because of her compassion to slaves, and because she doesn’t treat them like dirt. Suddenly, while Amari is on a walk, she runs into Mrs. Derby. They have a small discussion, but then Mrs. Derby says she must run along and leaves.

Chapter 21: Amari and Polly are sent to take buckets of water to Cato in the rice fields. While there, they learn from Cato about the rice fields, and the dangerousness of it. They also learn what might be their fate in a few months, where they will be working next. Just as the girls are about to leave, they hear a screech and turn around, only to find that Hildy, a worker, has been bitten by a snake. With that, the girls leave, worried what might come next for them.

Chapter 22: In this chapter, Amari and Polly are sent to the big house to help with serving dinner. While there, they listen in on the Derbys’ conversations and learn things they wouldn’t have known before. Everything goes great until Mr. Derby trips Amari while she is carrying a pie. He gets furious at the sight of the blueberry stains and he whips Amari. She will have those scars for the rest of her life.

Chapter 23: For many weeks, Amari was out cold from all of the whipping. She felt sick and her back was always burning. Teenie gave Amari ointment to help her heal. Everyday, Mrs. Derby would stop by with special tea that would help Amari heal faster. Mrs.Derby felt guilty for letting her husband do that to Amari. After a few weeks, Amari is healed and goes back, gradually, to working in the kitchen again.

Chapter 24: In this chapter, Clay decides to use Tidbit as gator bait for a game he and his friends want to play. The game is to use Tidbit to get the gators and then they would shoot the gators before Tidbit could get hurt. Everyone is very scared, and, unfortunately, Amari has to come along and watch as Tidbit flails in the water. The men have fun in their little game and eventually they give it a rest and go home. Tidbit ends up ok and everyone is happy about it.

Chapter 25: Mrs. Derby is due to have her baby and the doctor wont be at the plantation for about 4 hours. Mr. Derby can’t find anyone to help her deliver the baby, so he has Polly and Amari help her. Mrs. Derby is in a lot of pain, but she safely delivers it. Mrs. Derby is tired and doesn’t feel so well, but Polly and Amari reassure her that everything will be ok. The baby is adorable, but for the plantation owners, it is a disgrace… The baby is black.

Chapter 26: Mrs. Derby and the two girls have to think of a plan so that the baby is safe but Mr. Derby never finds out it is black. They decide to tell Mr. Derby that the baby was born dead, and it was all deformed so they buried it. Unfortunately, the plan backfires when Mr. Derby insists on having the doctor check her dead body. The new plan: Polly must stop the doctor’s carriage in its tracks before it’s too late.

<span style="color: rgb(248, 68, 188);"><span style="color: rgb(231, 140, 4);"><span style="color: rgb(249, 239, 52);"><span style="color: rgb(224, 6, 173);">Chapter 27:In this chapter Mr. Derby and Clay Derby figure out that Isabelle had a black baby and sadly kill both the baby and her father Noah.

Chapter 28:In this chapter Mr. Derby locks Teenie,Amari and Polly into the smoke room because they helped hide Isabelles baby. He also tells them that they will be sold the next morning.

Chapter 29:In this chapter Cato visits the slaves locked in the smoke house and tell them that the doctor is willing to grant them freedom and that once they are free they should go to Spanish town in the south.

Chapter 30:In this chapter TidBit and his mother Teenie make a heart breaking farewell knowing that they will never see each other again.

Chapter 31:In this chapter Doctor Hoskins frees Amari Tidbit and Polly giving them a few supplies for the long road ahead of them.

Chapter 32:In this chapter Amari Tidbit and Polly begin their long journy through the woods and eventually to freedom.

Chapter 33:In this chapter Amari and the rest of her companions continue their journy through the woods only stopping to eat berrys and roots that make them horrible sick afterwards.

Chapter 34:In this chapter Tidbit loses one of his dearest freinds Hushpuppy only tyo be joyfully reunited later onwards. <span style="color: rgb(217, 13, 13);">Chapter 35: In the beginning of these chapters, Amari, Polly, Tidbit, and Hushpuppy are traveling through the forest when Clay comes out of nowhere and grabs Amari. Polly takes the musket and grazes the side of Clays head, and they tie him up to a tree with rope and jet out of the place.

Chapter 36; Then, they meet a stranger named Nathan who happens to be night fishing. He takes them to his barn so they can sleep, but Nathan's dad finds them there the next day and they jet again. They stay in the swamp where bugs feast on their legs.

Chapter 37: Then, they find an abandoned storehouse, so they rest in there. Suddenly, a lady bursts open the door. She turns out to be the wife of a slave owner, and she helps them escape, when one of the slaves that works on her plantation is Besa. However, he refuses Amari's offers to come with them and be her husband.

Chapter 38: They come to a lake, so they hop on the horse and cross the lake.

Chapter 39: When they exit out of the lake, they are almost eaten by an alligator. Although they were all scared, they laughed it off and continued ahead.

Chapter 40: They finally reach Fort Mose where Amari becomes Tidbit's mother. When they arrive in front of the gates, they are overwhelmed by the vastness of the fort.

Chapter 41: They meet a friendly woman named Inez who takes them in and talks to them. Then, the head soldier comes in and works out how each of the characters is going to help in Fort Mose.

Chapter 42: Inez then tells Amari she's pregnant and tells Polly that Nathan had come through Fort Mose and was on his way back up, and thus the story ends under a copper sun. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"><span style="color: rgb(217, 13, 13);">   <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">  <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">