11 Feb / Copper Sun by Sharon M. Draper
Reading this phenomenal title four years ago was and remains for me one of the most searing literary experiences about the horrors of slavery. Something made me pull it out again and leaf through the pages, and viscerally recall 15-year-old Amari’s terrifying 1738 journey across the world.
In her remote African village, Amari is just on the verge starting her adult life, engaged to a caring young man, innocently happy, surrounded by love and the hopes of new possibilities. Brutally kidnapped by slave traders after witnessing the gruesome murders of everyone important to her, she is thrown on a slave ship, survives inhumane conditions, arrives in the new world, and is sold to a cruel South Carolina plantation owner for 60 pounds as a 16th-birthday present for his son. For as young as he is, Clay, Amari’s new master, could not be more evil. Amari finds moments of tender respite with Polly, a feisty indentured orphaned white girl, and the warm plantation cook Teenie and her young son Tidbit. Surprisingly, Amari shares kind understanding with the pregnant young second wife of the plantation owner who suffers her own private demons. But always and foremost, what Amari dreams most about is freedom. And she must risk all to escape her hellish imprisonment.
“I am the granddaughter of a slave,” Sharon Draper opens her award-winning title. “My grandfather – not my great-great-grandfather or some long-distant relative – was born a slave in the year 1860 on a farm in North Carolina.” Draper dedicates her book to all who came before her, “who lived, suffered, and endured”; she imbues Amari with their spirit. Although a work of fiction, Draper explains in the “Afterword” that “the facts of the story are true.” Her research is thoroughly documented, and she includes multiple resources for further examination, including almost two pages of websites for easy instant access.
As Draper bears witness to the unspeakable horrors of our collective American past, we readers must join in. No doubt this is a very difficult read; although it’s recommended for ages 14 and up, I would recommend at the youngest 17 or 18. Even adult readers are likely to be shocked.
And yes, we are nauseated, we are haunted, we are disturbed, but we learn. And we must keep learning. Slavery, especially sexual slavery, is STILL part of today’s reality in too many parts of the world, even right here at home in the U.S. [the “United States” section from sexual slavery link above has frightening U.S. numbers]. Amari’s story, carefully researched for historic authenticity, remains a contemporary tragedy.
The more we know, the more we can help change the world. For ways of making change, please check out Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn … if nothing else, turn to that book’s final pages and check out “Four Steps You Can Take in the Next Ten Minutes.” It’s the perfect place to make a start.
Readers: Young Adult, Adult
Published: 2006