Prompt: It was impossible to retain one’s personal dignity and still be a slave.

Originally, I said yes it is impossible to keep your dignity and still be a slave, because the horrific acts of slavery deprive the human soul. But, after reading the book I changed my answer. Slavery is a terrible act but it isn’t impossible to keep your dignity and still  be a slave.  No matter how hard things got Amari never lost her faith.  She would not let her situation deprive her of her dignity.

I was born in the state of Kansas on January-27-2004. I have three siblings , two younger sisters and one older brother one is in the state of Texas. My youngest sister’s name is Lauren and she is 4 years old. She goes to Bussey and my other sister’s name is Payton and she goes to stevenson elementary. Payton is nine years old.My brothers name is Alondre and he is 14 years old , he will be turning 15 on November the 17. My brother is a sophomore too. My favorite color is orange and my favorite food is waffles.

One of the statements were, “It was impossible to retain one’s dignity and still be a slave.”  I believe this is possible. I believe slaves could still have their dignity. For example, Amari didn’t lose her dignity while being a slave.  She still had the hope that Afi gave her. Teenie made her realize that nothing is really gone. That stuck with her throughout the book. When she was in the woods with Polly she trusted herself instead of using an I dont know answer. If she hadn’t trusted herself, she wouldn’t be free. If she lost her dignity, she would’ve most likely killed herself.

On the anticipation guide, the statement that my answer changed for was “Most white Americans supported the institution of slavery prior to the Civil War.” Before we read the book, my answer was yes, but after reading the book, my answer changed to no. I now put no because in the book, there were several people that supported slavery, but there were also several people who did not. However, some of the people that did not support slavery had slaves, like Fiona O’Reilly. Fiona and her husband, Patrick, owned slaves but Fiona said that when she gets the chance to decide for herself, she finds it gives her pleasure to choose to help them be free. Another person that changed their perspective on slavery was Polly. Even though Polly did not have slaves because she kind of like a slave herself, she did not like the way Amari looked. She asked why God would create such creatures, but as she got to know Amari, they became friends, and Polly found herself becoming anti-slavery. These few people showed that not all white Americans support slavery and that there were some good white people back in that time.

Statement # 14

Statement 14 says that slaves who escaped to the North were granted freedom. When learning about slavery, or reading books, or watching movies that I have come across, slaves were always told to runaway North. From my previous knowledge I thought that when slaves ran away to the North they were granted freedom. When I read the book Copper Sun, I found that slaves who ran away North were often not granted freedom, they had to stay hidden and were often time captured before getting there. In the book when Amari, Polly, and Tidbit went to Fort Mose, even if Clay was to find them he had no power to take them back into slavery, that is why for post I put no that if slaves were to runaway North they could not be granted freedom.

Statement #6: A person could have white skin and still be regarded as a black slave.

Pre: No   Post: Yes

Reasoning: I changed my answer from no to yes because before we read the book Copper Sun I didn’t know that people with white skin were regarded as a black slave. Now that I have read the book I have changed my answer to yes because in the book the indentured white girl named Polly gets treated like a black slave.

“For some slaves, living conditions were good, and they preferred being a slave to having freedom”. In the first column for pre I put maybe, then I changed it to yes. I changed my answer to yes because after the slaves became free I read in Frederick Douglass that some slaves preferred being slaves rather than being free. It said that some slaves even went back to their old owners and got paid to work in the fields.

On the anticipation guide,  number eleven said that “children that were born in slavery were allowed to stay under the same household as their mothers”.  In the pre section, I said no but after reading “Copper Sun” I changed my answer to maybe. The characters Teenie and Tidbit lived in the same house with each other and they are mother and son. Even though that is only one scenario and the book is fiction, there still could be some other slaves that lived with their mothers and this book is historical fiction so it is a fictional story based on historical fiction.

The wives of slave owners accepted that their husbands would have sexual relations with women slaves they owned, if the women could have healthy babies.

No that is not the case. No women wants their husband to cheat and have another baby. For example, let’s take slavery out of the picture. If you had a husband and he cheated on you with another women and had a baby with her, would you be mad? Of course anybody would be mad because you have to deal with that baby. Every time you see that baby it will remind you of your husband’s mistakes.”Why would he have that baby with that creature!” That’s probably what a lot of wives of slave owners said.