The Slave Dancer, By Paula Fox

One day Jessie was walking home from his unusual day of playing his fiddle for pennies at the dock, he remembers an unusual sailor who was watching him that day but he decided to not bother with it. The next day when he was walking home he was approached by the same man, a sailor he was, accompanied by another sailor. That night the men crept up on Jessie and through a sack over his head and kidnaped him.

Jessie’s fears trembled faster than a fast beating hart beat. They carried him in the sack and threw him on a tiny boat. They finally let him loose but the dark sea and black sky made the thought of an escape was impossib

Weeks past, days gone by, sunset after sunset. Living on the ship made Jessie go on the brink of insanity but after a while he got use to the sea. He ate bread, occasionally with meat, pickled vegetables with some water and rum. One day Jessie was ordered to clean the lower deck of the ship and he noticed chains, shackles, for what he wondered but he did not want to question any of the crew members.

The ship was sailing around the Carribean sea almost reaching shore a few knots away. The crew members realized a storm was coming. The storm became more horrendous as time passed. Rain, thunder, and raging winds rocked the boat from side to side destroying bits and pieces of the ship. Jessie tried to hold on through the storm on the ship. He saw the African boy who stared at him the other day and went to sit with him, they held each other tight as the waves through them from wall to wall injuring their bodies. The boys grabbed on to a piece of wood and jumped overboard because the ship was clearly going to sink. The boys swam all the way to shore, by the time they reached the shore the storm had settled.

The man spoke with them and fed them. Jessie asked the man where are they and he told them they were in Mississippi. Jessie was unsure about what would happen next, would he go home and go back to the way he was, being gone for four months his mother worried about him thinking he is dead he did not know what he was going to do. As for Ras the man told him that he will be brought to a safe place up north where he would be kept safe. A man that spoke Ras’s native language came a few days later and told him about going north. He got suited up and was prepared for the trip north. The two boys developed a bond towards one another, friends they were, a black and a white being equal was rare back then. To Jessie he was equal to Ras. Ras left with the man heading north, in a split second Ras was out of site and Jessie felt sad once again for another loss.

The ship tossed and turned through the ocean every day. The only fears the crew had was spotting an enemy ship, the British, Spaniards, and other pirates. There would be days where other ships were spotted and the crew members would prepare for a battle but there never was one.

The slaves were all in metal shackles around their ankles and wrists. Jessie was extremely traumatized by the way the slaves were being treated. The different expressions on their faces made Jessie realize his kidnaping could not even compare to what’s going on in their minds. He watched them wondering what they were thinking, being taken away from their tribal homes, put on a ship surrounded by water not knowing where they were headed and if they were

Some topics in this essay:
Captain Jessie, Ninety Eight, River Family, Claudius Purvis, Ras Ras, Ras Jessie, Ben Stout, Africa Stout, Mississippi Jessie, British Spaniards, dance slaves, ship jessie, day jessie, fiddle pennies dock, crew weeks, storm settled, weeks past, women children, walked shore, pennies dock, return home,