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Authors: Marlen Suyapa Bodden
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more people in this transaction. While prosecutions under the piracy laws are rare, international trafficking in slaves is a capital crime, after all,” Mr. Heath said.
“Then we have no other recourse but to fund the remaining twenty-five percent ourselves. I can contribute an additional ten percent,” my husband said.
“I will put in another ten,” Mr. DeWolf said.
“And I will add the remaining five. Well then, the lawyers will create a second set of documents on Monday with different names for the captain and crew in the event naval officers board the ship on its return voyage. Captain, how much longer until the ship is completed and you can assemble your staff?”
“I believe in two more weeks.”
“I cannot stay in New York that long because we have to begin planting the cotton seedlings shortly after I arrive home,” my husband said.
“You don’t have to be here for these transactions. Once the contract is fully agreed to by all the parties, you may leave. We have your order for one hundred children and fifty adults to be delivered to Mobile.”
We remained in New York for five more days, during which time my husband instructed me to purchase Negro cloth and other items in bulk that were not available to us in the South. We then sailed back and retraced our steps through Charleston and Mobile. I looked forward to being home because my husband had promised me that, as soon as we arrived, we would conceive another child.
CHAPTER FIVE
SARAH CAMPBELL
BELLE’S ABSENCE AFFECTED ALL THE HOUSE servants. Everyone loved her because she was kind and had a serene demeanor, but there was another reason they were sad. Her sale enacted their worst fear, being separated from their families. The day after they took Belle, my mother told me to go to the fields and ask Miss Mary, the midwife to the slaves, to bring her herbs for curing fever. She had delivered Belle and me, and we thought of her as our aunt. She was so successful at her work that she never lost a baby or a mother. She began caring for a slave woman immediately after she was known to be expecting and attended to her for at least two weeks after giving birth. Because she knew so many of the women among us and sometimes helped with pregnancies on other plantations, Miss Mary was privy to information from all corners of the plantation and beyond. When Miss Mary arrived in the kitchen that afternoon, she and my mother and I went to our cabin to speak.
“Mr. Allen sold her and two others. I don’t know where,” Miss Mary said.
“But somebody must know something. Didn’t nobody say they had to drive the girls to some other plantation? What about the other girls’ families? Did they say anything?”
“No, Miss Emmeline. I’m sorry. I talked to everybody I trust and who know about these things. I ain’t heard nothing.”
“Miss Mary, please, when Mr. Allen hire you out to other plantations, please ask if anybody know if Belle got sold there.”
“You don’t even have to ask. I already started telling people at the fields and the coachmen when they get hired out or go deliver goods to other plantations to try to find out where they sent her and the other girls. But like I told them, we all got to be very careful about what we say and who we ask. Even you two. You all know we can’t ask questions about Mr. Allen’s decisions.”
“Yes, you’re right, and we understand that you doing the best you can. Thank you so much, Miss Mary.”
“You don’t have to thank me. Your girls are like my own.”
“I baked a cake and a pie for you to take back to your family, Miss Mary,” I said.
“Come here and give me a hug, my sugar darling.”
For about a month after Belle was sold, I felt no desire to do anything but sleep and read. My mother had to shake me to wake every morning, and she had to force me to eat. I performed my work, but I might not notice that the pot had boiled over or that I had made no progress in rubbing the
“Then we have no other recourse but to fund the remaining twenty-five percent ourselves. I can contribute an additional ten percent,” my husband said.
“I will put in another ten,” Mr. DeWolf said.
“And I will add the remaining five. Well then, the lawyers will create a second set of documents on Monday with different names for the captain and crew in the event naval officers board the ship on its return voyage. Captain, how much longer until the ship is completed and you can assemble your staff?”
“I believe in two more weeks.”
“I cannot stay in New York that long because we have to begin planting the cotton seedlings shortly after I arrive home,” my husband said.
“You don’t have to be here for these transactions. Once the contract is fully agreed to by all the parties, you may leave. We have your order for one hundred children and fifty adults to be delivered to Mobile.”
We remained in New York for five more days, during which time my husband instructed me to purchase Negro cloth and other items in bulk that were not available to us in the South. We then sailed back and retraced our steps through Charleston and Mobile. I looked forward to being home because my husband had promised me that, as soon as we arrived, we would conceive another child.
CHAPTER FIVE
SARAH CAMPBELL
BELLE’S ABSENCE AFFECTED ALL THE HOUSE servants. Everyone loved her because she was kind and had a serene demeanor, but there was another reason they were sad. Her sale enacted their worst fear, being separated from their families. The day after they took Belle, my mother told me to go to the fields and ask Miss Mary, the midwife to the slaves, to bring her herbs for curing fever. She had delivered Belle and me, and we thought of her as our aunt. She was so successful at her work that she never lost a baby or a mother. She began caring for a slave woman immediately after she was known to be expecting and attended to her for at least two weeks after giving birth. Because she knew so many of the women among us and sometimes helped with pregnancies on other plantations, Miss Mary was privy to information from all corners of the plantation and beyond. When Miss Mary arrived in the kitchen that afternoon, she and my mother and I went to our cabin to speak.
“Mr. Allen sold her and two others. I don’t know where,” Miss Mary said.
“But somebody must know something. Didn’t nobody say they had to drive the girls to some other plantation? What about the other girls’ families? Did they say anything?”
“No, Miss Emmeline. I’m sorry. I talked to everybody I trust and who know about these things. I ain’t heard nothing.”
“Miss Mary, please, when Mr. Allen hire you out to other plantations, please ask if anybody know if Belle got sold there.”
“You don’t even have to ask. I already started telling people at the fields and the coachmen when they get hired out or go deliver goods to other plantations to try to find out where they sent her and the other girls. But like I told them, we all got to be very careful about what we say and who we ask. Even you two. You all know we can’t ask questions about Mr. Allen’s decisions.”
“Yes, you’re right, and we understand that you doing the best you can. Thank you so much, Miss Mary.”
“You don’t have to thank me. Your girls are like my own.”
“I baked a cake and a pie for you to take back to your family, Miss Mary,” I said.
“Come here and give me a hug, my sugar darling.”
For about a month after Belle was sold, I felt no desire to do anything but sleep and read. My mother had to shake me to wake every morning, and she had to force me to eat. I performed my work, but I might not notice that the pot had boiled over or that I had made no progress in rubbing the
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