After Malinda and I were married, Gatewood stopped her from working in the house and sent her to work in the field alongside me. One afternoon, a slave whispered that my mother wished to see me. That evening after I finished work, I walked the five miles to the Bedford Inn. My mother told me that there had been another reason why David White had been so willing to sell me.
Harriet White married shortly after I did. Her husband was one John Sibley, an upcoming planter from Oldham County. The wedding reception was a lavish one, held at a hall in Louisville for the cream of society. It was paid for by selling me.
Harriet had told my mother that she and her husband would be moving to Missouri in a week’s time. Missouri was opening up to settlement and had become a slave state. It had become the land of opportunity for Whites, but another place of oppression for their slaves, who chopped down the trees, built the houses and grew the crops that made the White people rich. Three of those slaves would be my brothers. As for my mother, Harriet would leave her behind, in her father’s charge.
I put my arms around my mother and she laid her head on my chest. Her cries came out in heartrending sobs.
T
I obtained permission from Mr. Gatewood to see my brothers off. Walking to the Whites’ estate that Saturday morning, I tried not to think, but a thousand pictures crowded my mind: the slave dealers on the docks in Louisville pulling a baby from its mother’s arms as they sold mother and child separately. I could still hear the blood-curdling screams of the mother, and shivers went up and down my spine. I saw the forlorn face of Suzette, brokenhearted because they had sold her away from her husband and children. Now the same thing was happening to my mother, to my family.
David White’s yard was crowded with wagons of all descriptions. A number of slave people whom John Sibley had brought to his marriage milled about. I spied my brothers, looking lost, and my mother crying softly, standing away from the crowd. Shadrach was leaning against a tree, watching the scene.
I was determined not to surrender to the despair that was gnawing at my heart. I called each brother by name, and said, “Take notice of every place you travel. One day you will need the knowledge. Know in your heart that one day you will run from slavery. Do you understand?” Then I told them the story of the Africans who walked on water, and of those who could fly. My mother spoke. “My beautiful sons,” she sobbed, “you will always be in my heart.”
Shadrach entered our little circle, and embraced my brothers. “If I see you again in this life,” he said, “I expect you to be free men.” To each brother he gave a gift of money.
“Milly,” he said, “I am so sorry.” He paused as if to say something else, but thought better of it, and walked away.
We stayed embracing amidst the noise and sadness of other slave people crying and giving encouragement to their loved ones.
Harriet soon came out of the house with Mr. Sibley, David White behind them. At the foot of the steps, Harriet embraced her father. Her face was wet, and her father had tears spilling from his eyes, too.
Soon the cavalcade was on its way. Some of their slave people climbed into wagons, others followed on foot. My brothers, because they were young, were to ride. We embraced one last time before they climbed in. I, who had steeled myself to be strong, cried openly as they headed out of David White’s yard.
T
I returned to the Gatewood farm and told Malinda of how my brothers were stolen from our mother. Knowing that we would never see each other again in this life made me more determined than ever to escape. I swore to her that I would one day own myself and my family, or die trying.
That night, after our work was done, my darling wife took my hand. There were tears in her eyes. “I am now certain,” she said. “Henry, you will soon be a father.”
I held Malinda to my chest. Waves of joy, sadness and rage passed through me in equal proportion. I was to be a father, but the father of a slave.
That night while Malinda slept, I went out into the cool, quiet night. Fireflies blinked their way through the darkness. I walked toward the grassy area that fronted the estate and the big rock that the slave people sat on for quiet recreation. The stars twinkled down at me. I heard Shadrach’s voice loud and clear. “When you are ready to run, Henry, come and see me.” Then Pierre’s voice: “There are people ready to help you if you want to escape.”
A smile played across my lips. Malinda was still mobile enough to make a long journey. Tomorrow I would speak with her, then go see Shadrach.