Slave Day is a young adult novel written by Rob Thomas. It is very contemporary, and made me feel as if I were back in high school. This book tells the story of a single day from the vantage point of seven different characters. The day is Slave Day, a wacky fund-raiser at a suburban high school near Austin, Texas, in which students can purchase a slave for the day.
The Slave Day tradition is deep rooted at Robert E. Lee High School, Keene Davenport, an African American student, protests against slave day and tries to start a walk out. However, while Keene gets his way, and ensures that this will be the last Slave Day ever, Keene's walk out effort is a failure. As the day unfolds, Keene's efforts to demonstrate the evil nature of Slave Day get out of hand, and Keene can no longer control it. Students on the football team drop out right before a game, to protest racist comments made by the head coach. .
While Keene's story seemed to be the main focus of the book, there were other concurrent stories viewed from the vantage points of other students. These stories are all interconnected, and demonstrate how labels such as "nerd" and "jock" are really superficial and subjective.
The overall lessons from this book are that young adult's can have a positive impact to promote justice and to shake complacency. The book teaches tolerance, yet sadly it portrays an accurate picture of high schools today, complete with de facto segregation. In the end, all of the characters go home at night and will return to school the next day. The reader is left hanging, and wondering how they can change or help heal racial issues in their high school.
Slaves were not allowed to sit down at a table for meals except on harvest day, that is Thanksgiving Day. ... If it falls short of the previous day's weight the slave will be punished. If it increases then the master will expect the same the next day. ... When the end of the day finally comes there is still work to do. ... They must make dinner and the meal for the next day. ...
Slave Ship and Rice and Slaves The film "Slave Ship" seems to align significantly with the modern day view of how slaves were both treated and recognized. ... Littlefield's Rice and Slaves contradicts this modern day belief system in many ways. ... What both Rice and Slaves and "Slave Ship" do recognize is the involvement of both European and African parties in the trans-Atlantic slave trade. ... Slaves would sell for 20,000 shells a piece. ... Rice and Slaves offered a more sensible version of the slave trade. ...
Celia was the only female slaved he owned. He bought her and used her as his "sex" slave. ... She deposed of his body in her fire place, but confessed her murder to William Powell, a neighbor of Newsom, the next day. ... The book also stated that it was never truly known how many slave owners actually used their slaves for sexually purposes. ... The jury was made up of all males that were farm owners and most were slave owners. ...
Imagine if you have to wear the same shirt day after day for the long time. ... One of the former slaves remembers that they had only two meals a day. The first time they ate was at twelve o"clock, which was the middle of their working day, and the second time -- late at night when the work for the day was done (Lester 64-65). ... That was the only time when children could eat during the day. ... He remembers that in the end of the day, overseers checked everyone's row. ...
Imagine if you have to wear the same shirt day after day for the long time. ... One of the former slaves remembers that they had only two meals a day. The first time they ate was at twelve o"clock, which was the middle of their working day, and the second time -- late at night when the work for the day was done (Lester 64-65). ... That was the only time when children could eat during the day. ... He remembers that in the end of the day, overseers checked everyone's row. ...
Nor did all slave work on plantations. ... There were small farmers with two or three slaves, planters with ten to thirty slaves and big planters who owned a thousand or more slaves. ... Slaves made a distinction between taking and stealing. ... Twice a year the slave was issued a clothes ration. ... Slaves had no rights. ...
Imagine that you, yourself, are a slave. ... Despite all that, you wait for the day when there's an opportunity to escape. ... The male slaves worked manual labor in the fields and the women slaves worked in the home. ... Slaves were brutally beaten when they did the most insignificant things wrong and they were made to work the majority of the day without much of any breaks or a real compensation. ... Free Blacks, Whites, Native Americans and former slaves served as conductors by aiding fugitive slaves to their freedom. ...
The daily work for most slaves varied between 10 to 14 hours per day, sometimes even as high as 18 hours. Some worked under the task system where each slave had a specific task to complete each day. House slaves, who were mostly women, had lighter work than field slaves but were often on call 24 hours a day. ... One song went: There's a better day a-coming, Will you go along with me? There's a better day a-coming, Go sound the jubilee! ...
Evaluation Essay Christmas Day Christmas day is the best day of the year because on Christmas people can exchange gifts, eat excellent meals, and get together with family. ... This holiday is looked forward to as soon as the day after the past Christmas. Christmas is the one and only best day to exchange gifts. This is the day where the most gifts are given. ... This is one of the greatest aspects of Christmas because there are very few times that a family will slave over the hot stove to prepare a multi-course meal that leaves leftovers for days. ...
