Dear Diary,
I am now 15 years old and still a slave just as I have been my whole life. My mama and daddy were taken from daddy’s house as children when mama was visiting daddy. Daddy’s parents managed to get away somehow and he thinks they might have made it to a free state. Mama found out that her parents were killed because they would not tell the police where she was. Mr. and Mrs. Amison bought mama and daddy and they were taken back to their property to work. Daddy was to work in the fields and the barns, and mama was to work in the kitchen and the house to clean and cook. One-day mama found out that she was pregnant with my older brother Darryl. When he was old enough, he had to work with daddy in the fields and the barns. Then, mama had me, and when I was old enough, I had to work in the kitchen and the house with the women and daughters. When mama told Darryl and me that she was having another baby, we freaked out. I started yelling at her and I think I hurt her feeling because I said, “You and daddy don’t need another baby and you are making us suffer! Why are you having another child? You know what they will do to it and you will just make this child suffer too!” For the rest of the night no one said a word and the next day it was completely silent in the kitchen and I am sure it was in the fields and the barns too.
Your Friend,
Anna
