Freewater

Chattel slavery existed in America for centuries: The earliest ship carrying enslaved people arrived on US soil in 1619, and the institution was not legally abolished until 1865. Countless people were abducted from Africa, then brought to the Americas and forced to work, often on agricultural plantations, to increase the profit margins of white plantation owners or businessmen. As generations went on, babies were born to enslaved mothers, and the law stated the condition of the mother determined the condition of the child; if the mother was enslaved, the child would be enslaved as well. Chattel slavery designated enslaved people as “personal property,” which means enslavers were allowed to “move” them by selling, trading, “gifting,” and more. Thus, enslaved people were stripped of legal rights, being unable to own property, sue white people, get married, or maintain parental rights, as their children could be sold without their consent or knowledge. Plantation owners often forced enslaved women to procreate in order to birth enslaved children for future labor—some sexually assaulting these women themselves. This is implied to be the case with Ada. Children of plantation owners often received extra abuse, especially from plantation owners’ wives who fixated on their husband’s infidelity rather than the sexual abuse of enslaved women. The extra abuse of Ada is what finally pushed her and Homer’s mother, Rose, to attempt escape.

Freewater depicts a typical plantation hierarchy. Enslaved people were mostly divided into two types of labor: fieldwork and housework. Generally, fieldwork was less desirable because the fields subjected workers to constant heat and were supervised by an overseer (in this novel, Stokes), who was often physically abusive. The plantation owner (in this novel, Mr. Crumb) mostly delegated tasks, both enslaved and paid. As for housework, it came with its own challenges—such as extra physical, sexual, and emotional abuse from the plantation owner’s family. Some enslaved people, like Ibra and Turner, directly worked for overseers or plantation owners—branding others, partaking in espionage, and the like. Although these enslaved people were put on a pedestal by plantation owners, they were still very much victims of a larger system, with Ibra being forced to brand his own child. Some enslaved people, like Ferdinand, worked as a traveling “chain gang” rather than staying on a plantation. They were chained together and tasked with cutting trees, digging ditches, and the like. With these tasks came abusive “gang leaders,” dangerous labor, and natural threats like snakes.

Several barriers were put in place to prevent enslaved people from escaping. Plantations were heavily staffed and supervised, and people without a freedom pass would risk being forcibly returned to their plantation, or sold elsewhere. People caught trying to escape were brutally abused, to discourage them and others from trying. Many were simply too ill, injured, or elderly to try in the first place, and many did not wish to escape without their loved ones. To make escape harder, literacy for enslaved people was prohibited, so they couldn’t read maps, signs, and abolitionist materials, forge notes, or correspond with people outside the plantation. Those who managed to escape were usually single, young adults without a disability, not families or young children.

In this novel, some people who escape plan to head to the Northern states, where enslavement has been abolished. Enslavement was once legal in the Northern states, but is no longer so in the novel’s timeframe: However, the North does not guarantee safety. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 asked Northerners who encountered formerly enslaved people to report them. Even before this law, some northerners may have still done so. Racism was still rampant in the North, making finding lost family and necessities difficult. Still, the North became a beacon of hope to many enslaved people seeking freedom, because it at least offered a chance at it. The North Star was used to navigate, especially by people who couldn’t read maps or safely ask for directions. However, the novel’s main characters seek refuge and freedom not in the North, but the supposedly uninhabitable swamps of the South.